H&M to launch global clothes collection initiative

Swedish fashion retailer H&M is launching a worldwide

clothes collecting scheme next year as part of its sustainability offering.

From February 2013 in selected stores, customers will be able to hand in used and unwanted garments into H&M stores, in exchange for a 5 Pound discount voucher for each bag donated. The collected clothes will then be handled by H&M’s partner, I:Collect, which provides the infrastructure in which consumer goods are repeatedly reprocessed and made available for new use.

Commenting on the initiative, Karl-Johan Persson, CEO H&M, said: “Our sustainability efforts are rooted in a dedication to social and environmental responsibility. We want to do good for the environment, which is why we are now offering our customers a convenient solution: to be able to leave their worn out or defective garments with H&M”

The scheme is very similar to Marks & Spencer’s ‘Shwopping’, which is fronted by Joanna Lumley, however unlike that initiative which is limited to the UK, the H&M scheme will run in all 48 markets that H&M is present in, from the UK to America, across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The project has been introduces as part of H&M’s on-going sustainability programmes as its strives to reduce the environmental impact of clothes throughout their lifecycle, as well as to highlight the amount of textiles that are thrown out with domestic waste and end up in landfill.