Sales 2010: H&M cuts prices and… clothes!

According to the New York Times., For this latest season of sales H&M, the popular Swedish fashion chain, is not only cutting prices, but even (and in a literal sense) those items of clothing that are now obsolete and sold off! Jackets, sweatshirts, T-shirts, shoes, gloves etc .. all shredded before being thrown on the sidewalk with the rest of the garbage and then being burned.

Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

According to the New York Times., For this latest season of sale H&M, the popular Swedish fashion chain, is not only slashing prices, but even (literally) those obsolete and undersold clothing! Jackets, sweatshirts, T-shirt, shoes, gloves etc .. all shredded before being thrown on the pavement with the rest of the trash only to be burned.

Just behind the majestic shop window that reigns on 34th Street in Manhattan it was possible to admire mountains of garbage bags all containing clothing, destroyed, of the famous chain before being sent to the incinerators of the city! All this right during Christmas holidays with temperatures among the lowest in recent years and especially at a time when almost in Manhattan a quarter of its 1,5 million inhabitants live below the poverty line.

The question that arises is how it is possible that a shop of clothing may think it is a good idea to burn clothes once they have reached the bottom of the retail chain, rather than donating them to charities.

In fact, in clothing, the destruction and landfilling of surplus products is more common than you think, even at this time when businesses should take on more social responsibility. The beauty is that, ironically, H&M has just launched for next spring-summer, after the now famous eco-jeans, also a new line of sustainable clothing!

Just a few months ago, Åhléns, the H&M department store announced that it wanted to end this practice of collecting i unsold clothes in containers ready to be burned. According to reports from Dagens Nyheter Stadmissionen and Myrorna Åhléns, he would be ready to work with no-profits associations, making all unused items available to them.

But the words, it seems, are still lacking the facts. Also because if this practice is really based on the intention of "preserving the integrity of the brand", it would no longer be humane, sustainable, ecological and convenient for the company to do so by truly focusing on waste reduction?

Gloria Mastrantonio