Was disgusted by this story in the New York Times where clothing retailer giant H & M routinely rips holes in brand new clothing and throws them in the trash to be put in a landfill. I certainly understand they don’t want people coming into the store and returning them for store credit (with no receipt), but they could cut the tag out or put a “X” on the inside tag in red marker and donate to local shelters so kids and adults can get free clothes.
They must spend a lot of money on “sustainability” and may do a lot of great things but be careful that something like this can really set back your customers image of you. ACTIONS must mesh with the WORDS.
Read the excerpt below and the full article is at the link.
PJ Stafford
Green Irene Eco Consultant
New York
It is winter. A third of the city is poor. And unworn clothing is being destroyed nightly. Each piece of clothing had holes punched through it by a machine.
They were found by Cynthia Magnus, who attends classes at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York on Fifth Avenue and noticed the piles of discarded clothing as she walked to the subway station in Herald Square. She was aghast at the waste, and dragged some of the bags home to Brooklyn, hoping that someone would be willing to take on the job of patching the clothes and making them wearable.
During her walks down 35th Street, Ms. Magnus said, it is more common to find destroyed clothing in the H & M trash. On Dec. 7, during an early cold snap, she said, she saw about 20 bags filled with H & M clothing that had been cut up.
“Gloves with the fingers cut off,” Ms. Magnus said, reciting the inventory of ruined items. “Warm socks. Cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor. Men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls.” The jackets were tagged $59, $79 and $129.
H & M, which is based in Sweden, has an executive in charge of corporate responsibility who leads the company’s sustainability efforts. On its Web site, H&M reports that to save paper, it has shrunk its shipping labels.
“How about all the solid waste generated by throwing away usable garments and plastic hangers?” Ms. Magnus asked in a letter to the executive, Ingrid Schullstrom. She volunteered to help H & M connect with a charity or agency in New York that could put the unsold items to better use than simply tossing them in the trash. So far, she said, she has gotten no response.
UPDATE: After a flurry of publicity following the New York Times article, H & M has promised to stop the practice of destroying discarded clothing, but the damage to their image is done.
