John,

Clothes should be made to last, not thrown away or burned if they aren't sold fast enough.

But too many manufacturers are treating clothes less like your dependable old winter jacket, and more like disposable plastic bags or paper napkins.

Millions of perfectly good garments are being thrown away every year.

That's a colossal waste.

We're calling on H&M to publicly commit to not throw away unsold clothing in the United States. Tell H&M: Commit to end clothing waste.

H&M alone produces about 3 billion garments every year.1 You might think that no one could possibly sell that many clothes, and you'd be correct.

Globally, almost a third of clothes go unsold.2 In 2019, reporters revealed that mountains of perfectly good H&M garments were being thrown away, or even used as fuel for power plants.3

All this waste comes at a real cost. Creating a single cotton t-shirt takes about 700 gallons of water, and that's not even counting the energy being used to create and transport it.4

Tell H&M to commit that none of its unsold clothing in the US gets burned or thrown away.

H&M has an opportunity to set a new standard by taking a firm stance against clothing waste. If H&M started producing only clothes it was likely to sell, it would mean a new chapter in sustainable clothing production.

We think consumer action could go a long way with H&M. The company has already announced new recycling initiatives.5 But we're still waiting to see whether the company can meet its sustainability goals.

The world has enough waste already. We don't need to add an avalanche of disposable clothing to the pile.

Send a message to H&M: Don't turn new clothes into more waste.

Thank you,

Faye Park
President

1. Elizabeth Seagran, "H&M is one of fashion's biggest polluters. Now its foundation is on a $100 million quest to save the planet," Fast Company, January 27, 2021.
2. Marjorie van Elven, "Infographic: the extent of overproduction in the fashion industry," Fashion United, December 12, 2018.
3. Elizabeth Seagran, "H&M is one of fashion's biggest polluters. Now its foundation is on a $100 million quest to save the planet," Fast Company, January 27, 2021.
4. Marjorie van Elven, "Infographic: the extent of overproduction in the fashion industry," Fashion United, December 12, 2018.
5. Elizabeth Seagran, "H&M is one of fashion's biggest polluters. Now its foundation is on a $100 million quest to save the planet," Fast Company, January 27, 2021.

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