![]() “What cannot be re-worn will be reused and repurposed for things like cleaning cloths, insulation for houses and cars and other products.”īut only 5 to 10 percent of collected clothing is recycled into fibers that ultimately make new clothes. “Around 60 percent goes to re-wear, so secondhand and vintage,” said Catarina Midby, sustainability manager at H&M UK and Ireland. In Europe, they go to a plant near Leipzig, Germany, that’s as big as roughly 16 football fields.Ī recycling collection box for used clothes at an H&M store in Stockholm, Sweden, is shown here.Īt the German plant, clothing is moved around the factory in bags suspended from the ceiling and sorted into roughly 400 different categories. Garments collected in the US land in California. ![]() H&M works with a global recycling company called I:CO, which picks up donated clothes from H&M stores and takes them to sorting plants around the world. H&M markets it as a way to help customers “close the loop” in the fashion industry. The Swedish company’s most visible nod to the environment is its garment-recycling initiative, which offers customers a discount if they drop unwanted clothing off at any of the company’s 4,500 stores worldwide. Its “Conscious” and “Conscious Exclusive” lines highlight the recycled and sustainable materials they use. It promotes its use of renewable energy on billboards. The world’s largest fashion retailer touts itself as a leading buyer of sustainable cotton and recycled polyester. This is part an Across Women's Lives project: Wear and Tear series: The women who make our clothes. Each year, the production of polyester emits roughly 1.5 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases.Īs the fashion industry faces more scrutiny for the environmental impact of its operations, some fashion brands are trying to be more sustainable - and are advertising that to their customers.Ĭhief among them is global fast-fashion giant H&M, which is aggressively positioning itself as a leader in sustainability. The clothes we wear come with their own environmental baggage.Ĭonsider that a cotton T-shirt requires roughly 700 gallons of water to produce. ![]()
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