H&M succumbs to Greenpeace headlines
21/09/2011
After forcing sports brands Puma, adidas and Nike to make similar public announcements over the summer, Greenpeace turned the attention of a campaign it calls Detox to H&M in September, with activists applying ‘Detox’ stickers to storefronts in H&M’s home market, Sweden. Greenpeace published a report in July that gave details of toxic samples found in two rivers in China, with two apparel manufacturing firms, outsource partners of the brands named, held responsible.
“By committing to detox its supply chain, H&M is not only setting the trend for this season and the future; it also sends a clear message to other brands that using toxic chemicals to make our clothing is no longer in vogue,” crowed Marietta Harjono, so-called ‘toxic campaigner’ at Greenpeace International. “H&M’s landmark commitment has the potential to be a catalyst for wider change across the fashion industry.”
Contrary to the implications of the Greenpeace statement, H&M, like the sports brands that first suffered the glare of Greenpeace’s deliberately negative and divisive publicity, has never believed that using toxic chemicals to make apparel was ever “in vogue”. All the companies involved were already running far-reaching programmes to improve all aspects of their environmental performance.
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