"H&M, one of the fastest growing, fast fashion brand which with more than 4,000 stores in 62 countries kicked off its campaign for recycling of clothes. The brand which believes in sustainable fashion took back 12,000 tons of clothes to support the recycling of clothes initiative. In a recently launched, star studded high profile campaign the brand announced “There are no rules in fashion but one: Recycle your clothes."
H&M, one of the fastest growing, fast fashion brand which with more than 4,000 stores in 62 countries kicked off its campaign for recycling of clothes. The brand which believes in sustainable fashion took back 12,000 tons of clothes to support the recycling of clothes initiative. In a recently launched, star studded high profile campaign the brand announced “There are no rules in fashion but one: Recycle your clothes."
Brands launch promotions to recycle clothes
With ‘fast fashion’ becoming a environmental concern recycling of clothes seems to be the future mandate. While all global brands are rallying for it, H&M is leading it from the front. The Swedish firm launched a €1 million contest to seek ideas for turning old clothes into new, invested in Worn Again, a company developing textile recycling technology, and now enlisted hip-hop artist MIA to produce a music video called ‘Rewear It’ that aims to "highlight the importance of garment collecting and recycling."
Along with H&M, Nike is also the global partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which is dedicated to drive a transition to a circular economy — an industrial system in which everything at the end of its life is made into something new, in contrast to today’s economy, where most consumer goods are produced, used and then thrown away. And as Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M explains they have to go from a linear model to a circular model and to do it at scale.
Much like H&M, Nike too has taken sustainable initiatives. Explaining Nike’s ambition to achieve its "moonshot ambition" of cutting its environmental impact by half while doubling its business, Hannah Jones, the company’s chief sustainability officer says incrementalism and efficiency measures will not get them there. Similarly, Anna Gedda, H&M’s head of sustainability reveals that the company needs to decouple growth from resource use, so that economic and social development can happen, but within planetary boundaries. In fact. not just H&M, almost all major global brands including American Eagle Outfitters, Eileen Fisher, Levi-Strauss & Co, Nike, the North Face, Patagonia and Zara collect their old merchandise. Clothing designer Eileen Fisher has called her industry 'the second largest polluter in the world, second only to oil.
Though H&M is the front runner in promoting recycling of clothes the company has been facing controversy as its low-cost range of clothes (women’s T-shirts for $5.99 and boys’ jeans for $9.99) is believed to be one of the major reason why apparel industry is growing so fast .The global apparel industry generates an estimated $2.5 trillion annual revenue and that it will double in the next decade. Adding to the concern efforts to collect old clothes by retailers and nonprofits such as Goodwill Industries, the overwhelming majority of items eventually wind up in landfills, at least in the US. Americans dispose of about 12.8 million tons of textiles annually, which amounts to about 80 pounds for each man, woman and child reveals the US Environmental Protection Agency. Also increased use of cotton, the most used fabric in fashion use up a lot of natural resources and agricultural chemicals increasing the industry’s environmental hazard. In spite of the tactical measures taken up by the major players, the industry needs to undertake more radical action together if it wants to balance sustainability.
