For the purposes of this blog post (and keeping it as short and sweet as possible) I’m keen to highlight just one positive step I witnessed recently that gets us closer to a more sustainable fashion industry: the garment take-back scheme at global fashion giant H&M.
At its simplest, the scheme sees a clothing bin in every store that customers can drop their unwanted garments in for recycling and reuse. Best described in this short (and pretty cool) clip.

H&M, originally from Sweden, claim to be “the first fashion company to launch a global garment collection initiative”. They have some incredible goals to ‘close the loop’ in the fashion industry.

So, given that H&M aren’t (yet) in New Zealand I took the opportunity while traveling in Japan recently to check out one of their Tokyo stores. There I found a collection bin, pamphlets and signage encouraging people to take part in the scheme.

H&M are making considerable leaps and bounds in this space, like committing to 100% sustainably sourced cotton and zero toxic chemicals used in the making of their clothes by 2020.

I’m sure much of what you pick up off the rack in H&M presently could be termed ‘unsustainable’ and perhaps not 100% ethical either. This assumption seemed to be confirmed when I found one garment in the store (albeit it a smaller, one level store) that had a tag proudly displayed saying “The Conscious Choice.” Garments labelled in this way denote items from their ‘Conscious Collections’. They want to be transparent for the conscious consumer. Something I wholly endorse as someone that tries to buy sustainably and struggles to identify it whilst in any store!
While 99% of the garments in store didn’t carry this label it’s worth acknowledging the system changes H&M are putting in place behind the scenes that quite simply take time and money.

H&M are by no means the only retailer undertaking this kind of scheme. I also noticed Japanese brands Muji and Uniqlo were advertising similar strategies in store.

I’m yet to find a New Zealand retailer that offers a similar scheme (if you know of one I’d love to hear about it) – but then again we do have clothing bins scattered amongst the suburbs in most towns and cities nationwide. Most clothing bins, unless otherwise stated are managed by SaveMart. SaveMart collect and sort, price and sell the material that gets donated. They aim to sell items that hit the racks within four weeks. The items that don’t get sold are then shipped to Papua New Guinea to be given freely to communities in need (which is a whole other blog post). The clothing that isn’t high enough quality to go on the racks gets made into rags, blankets or insulation – generally overseas.

SaveMart does support charities such as the Child Cancer Foundation. By 2016 they expect to have contributed $3.2 million dollars towards the Child Cancer Foundation through our clothing bin donations.  That’s pretty impressive!

Of course clothing bins aren’t our only options to part with our clothing (should we really need to). There are plenty of great Op Shops, Secondhand or Vintage clothing stores that are doing their bit for sustainable fashion. There are plenty of great local organisations that will repair, mend, take-in or alter your garments if need be.

If you’re interested in further insights into sustainable fashion check out my dedicated Sustainable Fashion Facebook Page and click like to receive semi-regular updates.

Some clever entrepreneurs David Katz and Shaun Frankson have started The Plastic Bank.

The Plastic Bank focuses on developing nations with high levels of plastic pollution in their waterways and oceans. Locals are rewarded by collecting plastic that is lining their beaches and waterways which provides them with an income/supplementary income. The collected plastic is then turned into viable products, and can be done so within the community with their own opensource recyclebot – a 3D printer that can be used to produce items needed within that community. Or it can be sent to a nearby Plastic Bank affiliated centre to be utilised in many different ways. Companies can then purchase this commodity and make their own products out of it and can promote their use of Social Plastic® to consumers that value non-virgin materials.
Lush (North America) were the first company to trial the use of Social Plastic® for their Charity Pot products.
Katz and Frankson hope that consumers start to request Social Plastic® in the goods that they buy, creating more demand and an ethical and sustainable option where plastic is required.

Check out the three minute clip for an overview.

ethically sourced plastic that helped improve someone elses life and kept plastic from coming into the ocean

– Shaun Frankson

Pretty clever system really: cleanup waterways; create jobs where they’re needed most; create plastic products from non-virgin plastic supplies. #winning

You can follow The Plastic Bank on Facebook and other social media platfoms, here.
They also encourage supporters to sign their digital petition to show demand for Social Plastic® and create awareness of the conscious consumer movement.

And for further food for thought…

Image sourced from: https://www.facebook.com/PlasticBank