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H&M Pledges to Raise its Ethical Profile

The Industry London
04 July 2015

As documentary ‘The True Cost’ comes out on Netflix today, what better time to be writing about the ethical and environmental issues crippling fashion. The film realistically decries the harsh conditions faced by workers in Bangladesh and Cambodia as well as the appalling environmental and health consequences of textile factories and pesticide spraying in cotton farms. Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M, already on the sustainability band wagon for a little while now, has announced that it is hoping to raise its ‘ethical profile’ all round.

Anna Gedda, H&M's new head of sustainability —who reports directly to Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson— is keen on more transparency when it comes to the brand’s supplier-to-store production chain. Edda said that customers are more aware of such issues in the fashion industry and are writing in or voicing their complaints everyday asking for better information on the supply system and origins of H&M's apparel. The fashion industry has been under scathing criticism for decades, which is no surprise when you find out in ‘The True Cost’ that fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world after oil production.

Olivia Wilde fronts H&M's Conscious Exclusive Campaign 2015

Olivia Wilde stars in H&M's Conscious Exclusive Campaign 2015.

H&M promised to give employees working in manufacturing factories producing at least 60% of its garments “fair living wages” by 2018. It also pledged to use only sustainably sourced cotton by 2020, hoping to ameliorate the current 20%. "This is by and large a condition for future growth. What we invest now, we'll get back later, in that we grow because we will stay relevant," Anna Gedda said to Reuters. She also added that the new costs will not transpire into the stores.

However, not everyone seems to agree on the authenticity of H&M’s quest for sustainability. Most workers rights groups and fashion commentators approve of the retailer’s pledge for change but Clean Clothes Campaign accuses the group of pulling a marketing coup to capitalise on the current environmentally-engaged mindset of customers. Carin Leffler of Clean Clothes Campaign beseeched H&M to give a number to what they call a "fair living wage” rather than continuously speak in vague terms. Green fashion activist, Livia Firth, the executive producer of ‘The True Cost’, also voiced concerns over H&M’s refusal to quantify their pledge of fairer wages. The 2018 target seems rather unrealistic to people involved in fashion’s sustainability war, fully aware of the timescale necessary to implement such massive changes. "They lack credibility when they don't back up words with action," Leffler said.

On a more supportive note, Corporate Knights magazine ranked the world's 100 most sustainable companies and listed H&M 75th. The only other fashion companies to make the cut were Britain's Marks & Spencer at #16 and Germany's Adidas at #3. H&M was amongst the first fast-fashion retailers in the world to release its suppliers list and voice the desire to have better control over its production chain. The sustainability team at H&M is hoping for full transparency at some point in the future, dreaming of a time when it might be possible to trace a garment’s history through its label… 

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