H&M and Sustainability Fashion

Sustainability is significantly necessary for fashion industry due to consumers’ increasing awareness of environment. Generally, sustainability is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development). This new supports and promotes the idea for people to be environmentally conscious. As you can see, green is now everywhere. For example, when you go to the market, you can find that there is sustainable packaging that will integrate to the planet after its use. Now many people take their own cloth bags to carry the products that they purchase so they don’t use plastic bags, so that this has become a fashion as well. To be more environmental friendly, why not use sustainable clothes? We can wear fashionable clothes, and support the planet as well. As a result, sustainable fashion is designed to be completely environmental friendly.

Environmentally friendly fashion has increased its popularity in the past decade.In addition, fashion industry has huge impacts on global environment . Many fashion companies recognize the importance of sustainability in business and incorporate green practices into their supply chain such as H&M, Uniqlo, The North Face, and New Balance. One of the outstanding and famous companies of sustainability is H&M that has constructed its sustainable supply chain in developing eco-materials, providing safety training, monitoring sustainable manufacturing, reducing carbon emission in distribution, and promoting eco-fashion. According to Henrik Lampa, corporate social responsibility manager of raw material at H&M, H&M has used organic cotton for many years and invested a lot of money on sustainable cotton production, with the increasing awareness of environmental sustainability. In September 2010, H&M surpassed Walmart as the world’s largest buyer of organic cotton, consuming more than 15,000 tons, an increase of 77 percent compared the previous year. The milestone is linked to H&M’s aim to source all of its cotton from more sustainable sources by 2020. H&M is also a founding member of the Better Cotton Initiative, which introduces more sustainable practices at every step of the cotton production supply chain. In addition to organic cotton, H&M has also experimented with other eco-fibers, including recycled polyester, recycled polyamide, recycled plastic, organic linen, recycled cotton, recycled wool, and organic hemp.

For more information:

http://sustainability.hm.com/