H&M proves doing good is always in style.
The fast-fashion mega chain will launch its global Bring It campaign on Thursday. The recycling drive supports the company’s garment collecting initiative, which launched in 2013. Since then, they’ve collected more than 40,000 tons of clothing.
Through Bring It, customers can drop off unwanted clothing items—from any label—for reuse or recycling. The campaign will launch with a film on the retailer’s website, which depicts the clothing’s journey after it gets dropped off. For some clothes, that means another life in H&M’s Close the Loop collections. The next recycled collection will feature two denim styles.
To further underscore its commitment to keeping clothing out of landfills, the H&M Foundation recently announced a partnership with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel on a research and development project to create technologies that will recycle blended textiles. This would be a huge breakthrough for product lifecycles because currently it’s only possible to mechanically recycle single fiber fabrics.
In other corporate social responsibility news, the H&M Foundation announced Tuesday that its campaign to aid refugee children raised $3.3 million over the holidays. The funds will go to the UNHCR, a United Nations refugee agency, to provide textbooks and stationery to support education.
“Refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school than other children. This is why providing the supplies they need to go to school is so crucial. With this donation, UNHCR can ensure an education for many children in crisis settings across the world,” said Diana Amini, Global Manager for H&M Foundation.