The future success of any company today, including H&M, depends on long-term sustainability work and responsible processes and without a doubt, the focus of all H&M activities is on sustainability. Head of Sustainability, Anna Gedda, is part of the executive management team and reports directly to the H&M CEO.
She holds the responsibility for the implementation of sustainability together with the top management team. In total, around 200 employees are working with sustainability as their core task.
There’s been talk that the industry will need to rethink its whole business structure to truly be sustainable. When asked about this Anna agree’s whole-heartedly.
“I think that’s very much at the core of our sustainability work and we actually just now set a new vision to become 100% circular – so only using recycled and sustainably sourced materials. We definitely agree with that, and we think if we want to exist in the next 30 or 50 years, we need to make sure we use resources responsibly and meet the consumer’s needs that are only increasing. For us, we can’t do more than agree with that notion.
“We’ve actually been working towards closing the loop in fashion for quite some time. We have a garment collection scheme – you know you can go to each store and hand in your clothes. We have also made closed loop products for the past couple of years, and we also have the H&M Foundation, which set up one of the world’s largest innovation challenges for closing the loop for fashion. So we’re doing a lot of things in this area to make sure that not only H&M but the industry as a whole can move in that direction.” (source www.dazeddigital.com)
H&M CEO (and Grandson of Erling Persson, one of the original founders of H&M) Karl-Johan Persson
says he is really proud of what H&M has achieved and the positive impact they are making.
“We are leading the way today within several sustainability areas, and I want us to continue to raise the bar. This is why I am so happy to see that sustainability is on the minds of so many people at H&M – every day and in all departments. When I hear colleagues discussing sustainability over coffee, I honestly feel we have come a long way. But it is a very complex issue, and we are certainly not at the end yet – there is more to do, for us and the entire industry.”
This Month....
