In the fallout of last week’s toxic waste in fashion revelations, H&M is one of the biggest fashion companies looking to detox their stock, spearheading the newest form of sustainability.
From February 2013, H&M, aka Swedish global fashion firm Hennes & Mauritz, will be one of the first companies to start accepting used garments in their stores, in a worldwide effort towards promoting sustainability. It’s dubbing the effort the, “Conscious Foundation.”
The program first began in Switzerland and H&M has now decided to expand into their 48 markets. H&M’s newest campaign towards sustainability has been regarded to as their response to Greenpeace’s latest article, targeting fashion companies in a campaign called, “Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up.” In the article, H&M’s factories were revealed as one of the worst offenders ofor releasing toxins into the waters of foreign countries.
By avoiding textile waste, H&M’s Conscious Foundation will be their innovative support towards reducing their environmental impact. CEO Karl-Johan Persson states, “Our sustainability efforts are rooted in a dedication to social and environmental responsibility. We want to do good for the environment, which is why we are now offering our customers a convenient solution: to be able to leave their worn out or defective garments with H&M.”
Customers will be able to bring bags of their used garments from any brand or designer in any condition, into H&M stores around the globe for an H&M voucher for future purchases per bag. These clothes will then be collected by I: Collect, a global recycling company, sent to Germany for sorting, then injected into their production process as reusable textiles that will be reprocessed and redesigned for new clothing.
Thus, instead of creating 100% of their textiles and throwing tonnes out every year, H&M will be using as much as 95% of the donated clothing towards reducing their environmental impact. How’s that for sustainability?
By CheRima Manayan
