H&M's reuse and recycling collection worldwide 2013-2022 | Statista (2024)

FAQs

How much of H&M is recycled? ›

The share of recycled materials was 25 percent in 2023, and the group aims to double that by 2030. Currently 79 percent of its polyester is recycled, but much of that comes from PET plastic bottles and the company wants to move to textile-to-textile recycling.

What happens to the collected garments? REWEAR — Clothing that can be worn again is marketed worldwide as second-hand goods. REUSE — Textiles that are no longer suitable to wear are made into other products, such as remake collections or cleaning cloths.

Our garment collecting program was rolled out in 2013, and we have recycling boxes in stores across the globe.

H&M is the world's second largest clothing retailer, after Inditex, and the UK is its third-largest market.

In 2023, 68% of the textiles collecting in our stores were resold, 24% repurposed or recycled and 8% were disposed prioritising incineration to recovery energy. At the H&M Group, we are categorically against clothing becoming waste and it goes against our work to circulate products and materials at their highest value.

According to the lawsuit, H&M's created illusion “that old clothes are simply turned into new garments, or that clothes will not end up in a landfill” is misleading, adding that “recycling solutions either do not exist or are not commercially available at scale for the vast majority" of H&M's products.

H&M incorporates some lower-impact materials like organic cotton and recycled polyester in some products, but the majority of the materials it uses are not eco-friendly. For these reasons, we give H&M a score of “Not Good Enough” for the environment—downgraded from “It's a Start” in our November 2023 review.

FREE IN-STORE RETURN OR EXCHANGE

You are always welcome to return or exchange for free in any H&M store in the US, excluding Puerto Rico.

At H&M Group, we use Textile Exchange's definition of preferred cotton. This includes organic, in-conversion, recycled and regenerative cotton, as well as cotton sourced through organisations like Better Cotton.

We do business with over 574 commercial product suppliers who manufacture products for our brands in over 1,027 tier 1 factories in Europe, Asia and North America. China and Bangladesh are the largest production markets for clothing. The European Union is the largest production market for our beauty assortment.

What is H&M Consciousness Collection? ›

We also have Conscious choice: pieces created with a little extra consideration for the planet. Each Conscious choice product contains at least 50% of more sustainable materials — like organic cotton or recycled polyester — but many contain a lot more than that.

H&M was the first fast fashion giant to launch a sustainable fabrics line, releasing the Conscious Collection in 2011. According to the company, products are made from at least 50% sustainably-sourced materials, such as organic cotton and recycled polyester.

Trendy designs: H&M's clothing line is modeled on fast fashion concepts. Hence, most of their apparel is designed based on the latest trends. They are often an almost similar copy designed by another luxury brand. H&M does not have its designs, and this lack of uniqueness is one of its biggest weaknesses.

H&M Group's alternatives and competitors. See how H&M Group compares to similar products. H&M Group's top competitors include Chico's FAS, SHEIN, and La Redoute. Chico's FAS is a fashion company operating in the retail industry.

Zara jumps ahead of H&M to become second largest apparel brand in Europe. GlobalData's Apparel Market in Europe to 2027 report shows that Inditex-owned retailer Zara has overtaken Swedish fashion retailer H&M to become the continent's second-largest apparel brand, behind sports brand Nike.

All materials have an impact on climate, nature and people - from production, through the use stage and to the end of life. To reduce this impact, we aim for 100% of our materials to be either recycled or sustainably sourced by 2030, and 30% recycled materials by 2025.

It is an open secret that fast fashion brands destroy their unsold clothes. A team of journalists from the Danish television programme Operation X revealed in 2017 that the Swedish brand H&M had been burning up to 12 tonnes of clothing a year since 2013.

Just 8% of old clothes are reused and only 10% are recycled across the globe. It can take more than 200 years for clothing to decompose in landfill sites. 60% of new clothing materials are plastic. The average lifespan of clothing is just over three years.