By: Omarni Whight-Webb

AND SUSTAINABILITY
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions
under which humans and nature can exist in
productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social,
economic and other requirements of present and
future generations.
SUSTAINABLE
MATERIALS
Organic Cotton
H&M is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative which develops and
promotes good farm practices. A BCI farmer uses less water and chemicals,
cares for the soil and natural habitats, and promotes good working
conditions on his land.
H&M is one of the biggest users of Organic Cotton in the
world.
Organic Cotton is grown without the use of chemical
pesticides and fertilizers.
*According to WWF, the
cotton in one pair of jeans
needs 8,500 liters of water
to grow!*

Eliminates excess doses of run-off from
farms that harm ecosystems.
Organic Linen

Linen is a soft and durable material thats made from flax plants.


Its grown without chemical pesticides or
fertilizer
It doesnt contain any genetically modified
fibers
Organic Hemp

Unlike many other plant-based materials, hemp grows well even in
cold climates.

The hemp plant actually improves the soil it
grows in
Organic hemp is grown without chemical
pesticides and fertilizers
It doesnt take much water to grow hemp
Organic Silk

Silk comes from silk worms; organic silk comes from silk worms living
in organic mulberry trees which are better for farmers and for the
environment.

Organic mulberry trees mean no chemical
pesticides, fertilizers or GMOs
Natural Rubber

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global, independent, not-
for-profit organization that protects and supports millions of acres of
forest around the world.
FSC natural rubber comes from well managed rubber tree forests.

Its a renewable and recyclable material
It requires little energy or chemicals to
produce
Closing the Loop
REDUCE
REUSE
RECYCLE
Garment Collecting
95% tons of textiles thrown away each year could be re-
worn or recycled.
To encourage shoppers, they get 15% a single item for every bag of
unwanted clothing donated to H&M Recycle program.
H&M Conscious
Recycled Wool
Recycled wool comes from the waste or cut-offs created during
production, or from clothes gathered via our garment collecting
initiative.


By recycling wool, we save raw materials
and reduce what ends up in landfill
Recycling wool means we use less
chemicals, water and land
Recycled polyester & polyamide
Polyester and polyamide are oil-based artificial fibers that are
unsustainable but used all around the world.


They save natural resources and reduce
what ends up in landfill
Recycling these fibers = less chemicals,
water and energy
Recycled Plastic
PET plastic bottles, plastic bags and shampoo bottles are some
sources of recyclable plastics. They are used to make anything from
shopping bags to accessories.


Recycling plastic means less oil out of the
ground and less waste products in landfills
It takes less energy to recycle plastic than it
does to make new plastic
Shopping Bags
All shopping bags are made from recycled materials.
It uses 50% less energy to produce shopping bags with recycled
polyethylene.
So far, H&M has:
Collected 3,047 tons of garments. Thats the equivalent of about 15 million t-shirts.
Used the equivalent of 9.5 million plastic bottles of recycled polyester.
Bibliography
1. www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm
2. http://about.hm.com/en/About/sustainability/commitments/consc
ious-fashion/more-sustainable-materials.html
3. http://sustainability.hm.com/en/sustainability/commitments/redu
ce-reuse-recycle/shopping-bags.html
4. http://simplyq.com/2014/04/17/Home/Go-Green-Stores-Offering-
Recycling-Incentives-Year-Round_843#.U6eZIfldU8I