[vc_row][vc_column][dfd_spacer screen_wide_spacer_size=”100″ screen_normal_resolution=”1024″ screen_tablet_resolution=”800″ screen_mobile_resolution=”480″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1666801412626{margin-top: 30px !important;margin-bottom: -20px !important;}”]

 H&M’s sustainable clothing.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][dfd_single_image image_size=”medium” image=”10904″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row dfd_row_config=”full_width_content” css=”.vc_custom_1592711876147{margin-top: 90px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1679639880277{margin-top: -70px !important;}”]H&M, also known as Hennes & Mauritz AB, is a multinational fashion retailer headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The company was founded in 1947 by Erling Persson and has since grown to become one of the largest fashion retailers in the world, with over 5,000 stores in 74 markets.H&M’s success can be attributed to its fast fashion business model, which focuses on providing fashionable and affordable clothing for everyone. The company’s product line includes clothing, accessories, and beauty products for men, women, and children. It is the second-biggest clothing retailer after the Inditex Group consisting of Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, and Stradivarius (Olanibu, 2018). H&M Group’s Hennes & Mauritz AB annual revenue for 2022 was $22.422B, a 4.01% decline from 2021. (H&M, 2022).

H&M is one of the most recognized examples of fast fashion retailers. Fast fashion is a “global trend that is characterised by the ability of fashion companies to respond quickly to fast-changing fashion trends and consumer tastes while maintaining low prices” (Hall, 2018). The global fast fashion industry produces 1 billion garments annually. This causes 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions every year (7billionfor7sees.com,2018).

The Conscious Collection

In 2010, the company launched its Conscious Collection, a line of clothing made from sustainable materials, in an effort to promote environmentally conscious fashion. The collection includes garments made from materials like organic cotton, recycled polyester, and Tencel, a sustainable fabric made from wood pulp.The Conscious Collection is a response to growing consumer demand for sustainable and ethical fashion. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental and social impact of fast fashion, and are seeking out brands that prioritize sustainability and transparency in their production processes.

The conscious collection was criticized for being just a small part of the total products H&M sells, and for being vague about the sustainable elements in the clothing.In January 2020 H&M launched a new Conscious Collection containing new fabric technology as alternative biological materials and recycling methods. These new garments were produced by Pinatex material which is a leather-like fabric made from sturdy food wastage as pineapple leaves and orange peelings. This food waste-based material is considered highly valuable for alternative material usage in fashion and textile products.  However, the materials of the Pinatex isn’t appreciated by environmentalists when deeply looked into the numbers because food-based material also contains chemical additives. One square metre of Pinatex fabric requires 480 pineapple leaves. This wastes 16 pineapples because only longleaf fibres are usable. Moreover, Pinatex contains plastic and petroleum-based additives which are not bio-degradable (Gan, 2019).Though this is still a valuable improvement for the transition to biological materials, this attempt is also considered as greenwashing by some activists.

Recycle, and Buy more

In addition to this, H&M has a clothing collection initiative for recycling textile and fashion waste into new materials. Consumers can bring their old clothes and receive a discount coupon to use in their next shopping. This initiative is criticised for being vague. The company does go into detail about the types of items they’re recycling, how they’re recycled, how they’re produced, and what the carbon footprint of these products is. Moreover, just a small percentage of the donated clothes are actually recycled

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