In my last post, I briefly touched on greenwashing, which is when a company markets themselves as being sustainable when, in reality, they are not. Today, I wanted to dive further into this issue, focusing on fast-fashion giant H&M. I read up on the issue and am feeling much more conflicted about H&M now than when I woke up this morning. You can read the articles that informed this post from Vice, Observer, Quartz, and The Guardian.
A brief history of my relationship with H&M. We didn’t get an H&M in my hometown until I was in high school. But once it popped up, H&M was my favorite shopping destination. Their designs were more my taste than the Forever 21 styles I had grown up with. I remember donating old clothes to their recycling program, receiving a coupon and thinking “neat!” before going on with my day. H&M fell off my radar once I started college, ceased being a size 2, and found myself unable to fit into anything they sold. (Their sizing issues are not the focus of this article but they are quite unsettling)
Once I started getting into sustainable fashion, I learned about greenwashing and H&M essentially at the same moment. It seems you can’t speak about one without the other. After my brief research, I have confirmed what I already knew, H&M is very guilty of greenwashing. But these articles raised an interesting point.
Could H&M’s greenwashing actually be a step in the right direction?
H&M has made various “sustainable” collections and initiatives. Remember when I talked about recycling my clothes at H&M? This is a program they started in 2013 (my peak H&M consumption years) however in April 2016, they made a huge push with it in what they were calling "World Recycling Week." They asked their customers to bring in their unwanted clothing in exchange for a voucher. Their goal was to collect 1,000 tons of textile waste to recycle into fibers for new clothes.
Doesn’t that sound awesome? Unfortunately, there are some issues. Due to the intricacies of the fiber recycling process, it would take 12 years for H&M to use 1,000 tons of textiles waste.
In addition, while H&M might supposedly be diverting 1,000 tons (a huge quantity!) of textile waste from landfills, they produce 1,000 tons of new clothing in just 48 hours.
Imagine if a company asked their fans to make donations so they could plant 1,000 trees as a one-time thing, but that same company was cutting down 1,000 trees every two days. It would definitely raise some eyebrows!
Let’s ignore the impracticality of recycling that much fiber and say that H&M’s World Recycling Day is actually doing some good and diverting 1,000 tons of textiles from landfills. That good is pretty much overshadowed by the fact that in less than one week, they will have produced triple the amount they “saved from landfills.” Pretty shady if you ask me.
This is just one of H&M’s recent efforts to be more sustainable. They have also introduced some new, more sustainably sound, materials for their garments. The issue is that no matter what strides this company makes in an attempt towards sustainability, they will still be overshadowed by the outrageous overproduction of this company, which is the epitome of fast fashion.
However, I have to ask myself, am I being overly critical? After all, doing something is better than doing nothing. These baby steps H&M is taking are better than ignoring the issue of sustainability altogether.
My biggest complaint about H&M’s “Conscious Collection” and their other initiatives is that they were used as marketing strategies to attract more customers without doing much actual good. If I were to break it down, H&M’s initiatives are 95% gimmick and 5% positive change. But I would be remiss not to point out that at least these misleading advertising campaigns are getting people talking about sustainability. Someone who may have never even considered sustainable fashion now at least has an idea it is something they should care about.
Would I ever shop at H&M? No, they just aren’t up to snuff for what I consider a sustainable brand. However, I do applaud that they are at least trying to be more sustainable, even if their motives are financially driven.
I’ve got a secret for you: All businesses' motives are always financially driven. What we as consumers can do is make sustainable business practices a necessary economic move for businesses by demanding the places we throw our money at be sustainable and ethical. You can make a difference and your dollar is a powerful tool to create the change you want to see. Use it wisely
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