Fashion retailer H&M has revealed plans to further expand its presence across regional Australia.
The international brand will open new stores at Wollongong Central in New South Wales and the Toowoomba Grand Central shopping centre in Queensland later this year.
Further details about the stores are expected to be revealed later this year before they open.
Since entering the Australian market, H&M has opened 10 stores including in major cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Its expansion through regional Australia comes as H&M accelerates its store presence on a global scale.
In 12 months, H&M says it plans to add more than 400 stores to its portfolio and as of May this year, the brand had a total of 4077 stores worldwide.
The company also prides itself on being a sustainable fashion retailer and earlier this year ran their annual recycle week collection campaign.
Despite mixed reviews, the campaign attracted well over 1000 tonnes in donated clothing from its stores across the world.
It also recently established a textile factory in Ethiopia which it declared would create 4000 new local job opportunities.
“H&M wants to contribute to a long-term sustainable textile industry in Ethiopia taking social as well as environmental dimensions into consideration,” said H&M’s global head of production Helena Helmersson.
The development was led by development financier Swedfund and industry group DBL.
“Job creation is crucial to help people find their way out of poverty and the cooperation with such a great partners like H&M and DBL will make this a role model for other similar projects”, said Swedfund managing director Anna Ryott.
Dinushi Dias is a freelance journalist and a former StartupSmart reporter and multimedia content producer. She is the co-founder of Melbourne-based production house Dinushi & Power.
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