For Immediate Release
Contact: Tara McNally
(212) 645-6900 x 115
tara@jerichopr.com
H&M Introduces New Bathing Suit to Benefit Water Aid 10% of Sales
To Be Donated To Improve The Quality of Water in Asia and Africa

NEW YORK, March 26, 2003 — This Summer people will truly have the opportunity to make a fashion statement on the beach. H&M, Europe’s leading fashion retailer, is introducing a new bikini bathing suit, called “Water” and 10% of the sales will be donated to Water Aid, an organization that improves access to and the quality of water for people in Asia and Africa.

“Clear, running water is something many of us take for granted. But for one and a half billion people, getting a supply of water is a daily battle,” explained Karen Belva, public relations manager, H&M. “We thought that it would be a great opportunity to create a bathing suit – since it has such a direct connection to water, that would actually help to bring water to others.”

Customers can read for themselves a label on the bikini describing what it means to be a woman in developing countries: women in Africa and Asia sometimes walk for up to six hours every day just to fetch water.

The “Water” bikini will be available at all H&M locations that have a Women’s Department. The bikini retails for $9.00/piece and $18.00 for the complete suit.

H&M is Europe’s leading fashion retailer offering fashion and quality at the best price. Marketing its own brand of clothing with a team of 95 in-house designers, H&M receives daily deliveries of new fashion styles and sells more than 600 million garments a year. H&M opened its first store in Sweden in 1947 and expanded with the first U.S. store on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 2000. Today, H&M has 52 U.S. stores, primarily in the Northeast region, and globally has more than 800 stores in 14 countries. H&M has more than 30,000 employees all working to the same philosophy: to provide fashion and quality at the best price. To visit H&M’s web site please go to http://www.hm.com.