Now that spring is finally on its way, it’s time to clear out your closet to make room for your warm weather wardrobe. And our friends at H&M have a brand new campaign to help make the “closet cleanout” process easier – and more rewarding – than ever!
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Garment Recycling with H&M x CF Video
To help introduce their fantastic new global garment recycling effort, H&M asked CF blogger Emma to clean out her closet and make an “unhaul” video to share her closet cleanout process and show you how you can do the same. Check it out below:
The Details
As Emma explained in the video, all H&M stores now offer garment recycling collection services – any piece of clothing, from any brand, is welcome and you can donate up to 2 shopping bags a day.
The best part? You will receive 1 voucher for15% off any one item of your choice for each bag you donate (limit two bags a day). Even better, if you donate before March 31st, you will receive a special ticket that will bump up your discount to 15% off your entire purchase and will offer you a chance to win fabulous prizes!
Overall, this is a fab way to update your wardrobe, clean out your closet, AND contribute to a great cause. What could be better?
Don’t Let Fashion Go to Waste – Get Involved!
For all the information on how the clothes are recycled and full details on how you can donate your old clothes, visit HMconscious.com.
Also, be sure to take a photo or video of you giving your donation to H&M and include the hashtag #LongLiveFashion to join this great cause and share your “unhaul” with fellow fashion fans!
What do you think?
Are you going to take advantage of H&M’s garment recycling service? What do you think of their global effort? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to share your Unhaul photos and videos as well!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by H&M and Style Coalition. The opinions, as always, are our own. For more information, see our Disclosure page.
It is a good idea, and in some coments there are good and bad points of views towards this. What happens to the donated clothes? Where does it go to?
I live in the frontier in Mexico and many used and semi-new clothes come here every day and I dont really see it affect in a negative way anybody´s economy, many families, go for the clothes in the US choose it and bring it back and sell it here. People who do not have many oportunities buy in those markets but those who have a little more can go to other stores (and some of them are mexican products) and those who can cross to the us go to any store they want.
I think people are very pessemistic when they talk about clothes donated, since some families can make there economy get better selling these old clothes.
Every solution given to make fashion a more ecofriendly economy has a good and bad side. (sorry for my bad grammer)
In response to Zephyr:
I guess most big business stores do support consumerism, but I think it was more the contradictory and hypocritical nature of H&M’s program that bugged Irene and I. If you are a store, you care most about making money. In the end, this program is meant to spur more purchases, which demands that factories produce more clothing, which will eventually go out of fashion as waste again. It’s just perpetuating a cyclical process that’s beneficial to them, and doesn’t pose a long-term solution to reducing waste at all. It’s creating more waste and finding a creative place to put the old waste.
I actually don’t think that sending clothing to underdeveloped countries is a good idea (although distress/disaster relief is a different matter). This is because it can be quite disruptive to local economic systems. It gives people “stuff” but in many cases, stunts job creation.
I believe his family’s factory was one that supplied local clothing (and also employed people in the community). Since this is the case, then the factory and the people it employed are really the ones losing out.
I agree partially with Irene. I guess it’s a decent initiative in that it encourages recycling of clothing, but it promotes consumerism, which is not really green at all, since, as she mentioned, it just means that you are continually throwing your stuff out to go back and buy more stuff from H&M.
I think it’s better if you really want to be conscious, to give it to a local thrift shop, since they don’t waste resources transporting the old garments to a whole other place to process. As well, no resources are wasted processing the old garments if you donate them to a local thrift store. With H&M industrializing the process, they are wasting more resources than saving them.
Also, if they plan to give the clothes out in underdeveloped areas, that is also not really good, because it disrupts local businesses. This actually happened to a friend of mine living in Ghana. His family owned a clothing factory that local people bought from (this was good because it kept their money circulating within their own economy) and because a number of charities started giving out donating clothes and putting his local business out of business.
I feel like I’m being overly pessimistic, but I just feel like these initiatives only make the consumer feel better and the company gain more. They are not really altruistic endeavours at all…
Phidias – Thanks for commenting! I agree that consumerism isn’t usually green, but isn’t the act of operating or promoting a clothing store in any way, really, promoting consumerism? Stores want you to buy things – otherwise, they’re out of business. So I don’t see how any store could promote recycling without being accused of promoting consumerism by, well, being a store. So are you saying that stores should never promote green practices at all? I don’t think I agree with that.
I also agree that local thrift shops are great, of course! But I don’t think it’s ever a bad thing to have more places promoting recycling. And even the Red Cross, Goodwill, etc. still transport their clothes places once you donate them. So yes, thrift stores are ideal, but it’s not always so cut and dry. For example, where I live, the nearest Goodwill is a 25 minute car ride away (each way), while the nearest H&M is a five minute walk away. So which one is better then, since both options require the clothes to be transported after donation anyway?
That’s awful about your friend and his family – I’m really sorry to hear that. However, again, I don’t see this as so cut and dry. I am all for supporting local economies, but issues like this are so complex – are you really saying we should stop donating clothes to underdeveloped areas? If you are against consumerism, wouldn’t a clothing factory be counter-productive to the cause? There are just so many factors at play here.
Again, I really appreciate your comment! You’ve given me a lot to think about. I definitely don’t have all the answers, either, but I do think this campaign is more helpful than it is harmful.
Irene – Interesting take! I agree in general that “fast fashion” isn’t necessarily sustainable (though one might argue that fashion in general isn’t the most sustainable industry, regardless of price point, since things go in and out each season). What I really liked about this particular campaign is that it’s encouraging downsizing – as in “give us a full bag of clothes and we’ll give you 15% off one item”, meaning trading 10+ pieces (which will be recycled) for one new piece.
Although your thoughts about fast fashion in general are definitely valid, I see this as H&M’s way of balancing the fact that they’re a fast-fashion company by doing something good for the environment – and isn’t that balance what sustainability is all about?
I’m a green marketing student, so this H&M campaign interests me a lot.
I think it’s good to teach people to donate old clothes, and to encourage them to do so by giving them a discount on future purchases.
But in my opinion this doesn’t really make H&M “conscious”.
The company is using something that people already do (donate clothes) to give a green impression of their business (selling cheap, poorly made clothes: not very green).
H&M is working on the production, too (for example, using organic cotton) and I admire that. But this particular campaign sounds a little greenwashed to me, like it’s trying to draw attention away from the bigger problems.
High street fashion right now is not a sustainable industry, and initiatives like this aren’t doing much about it.