H&M Boosts Organic Cotton Content
Clothing retailer H&M plans to increase its organic cotton use this year by 50 percent, starting with its latest spring line. Read More
Since H&M first started slipping organic cotton into its products in 2004 it has quickly ramped up the amount of organic cotton in its offerings, and this year the clothing retailer plans to use 50 percent more organic cotton than last year.
In 2008 the company used about 3,000 tonnes (about 6.6 million pounds) of organic cotton, putting its goal for this year around at least 4,500 tonnes (almost 10 million pounds).
This year’s efforts start with its latest spring line, which will see organic cotton used extensively throughout men’s, women’s and kid’s clothes, including shirts, skirts, dressed, boxer shorts, socks, jeans, vests and more. Items that include organic cotton are labeled as such, making it easy for customers to identify them.
H&M took its first tentative steps into using organic cotton in 2004, using 5 tonnes (11,000 pounds) in children’s clothes, an amount that represented about 5 percent of the material in the clothes. The items were not labeled as containing organic cotton.
In the following years H&M used 50 tonnes (110,000 pounds) in 2005, 30 tonnes (66,000 pounds) in 2006 and about 160 tonnes (350,000 pounds) in 2007, when the company started to release items made of 100 percent organic cotton and some items that were a 50-50 blend of organic and conventional cotton. That number took a huge jump in 2008 when H&M used 3,000 tonnes of organic cotton.
Also this year, H&M plans to integrate other alternative materials into its lines, including polyester made from recycled plastic bottles and recycled polyester, and recycled cotton.
All of the organic cotton that H&M uses is certified by the Control Union.
