With transparency the focus for many fashion brands in 2019, international fashion retailer H&M has released a new sustainability report summarising their 2018 endeavours, keeping customers in the loop regarding their commitment to environmentally friendly practices.
Anna Gedda, Head of Sustainability at H&M, released a statement celebrating their improved practices. “From the beginning, our role has been to democratise fashion. Today, that means making it sustainable: it’s the only way we’ll keep making great fashion and design available today, tomorrow and for generations to come. We will continue our work to lead the change towards a sustainable fashion industry.”
According to the report, 57 percent of all materials used by the H&M group are now sourced sustainably, with 95 percent of the cotton used being sustainable also. The group have made commitments to further heighten their transparency, allowing customers to engage with their brand on a more frequent basis.
Sustainable practices for the group extend beyond environmental responsibility and into social. One of the stand out features of the report was their movement toward their Fair Living Wage strategy. This includes workplace dialogue and wage management systems incorporating 655 factories and 930,000 garment workers.
Other standout actions highlighted in the report included reduced CO2 emissions by 11 percent, the launch of the Afound programme which aims to give unsold products a new life and thus reducing industrial waste and accelerated movement towards AI systems which will reduce the ratio of production and demand.
Additionally, the group announced a range of new programmes and goals for the coming years which they will be making efforts towards. This included a Take Care concept which educates consumers on product lifecycles, new goals to reduce GHG-emissions and a pledge to make 100 percent of packaging materials recycled or sustainably sourced by 2030.
