Big Brands Go Green: H&M’s Conscious Collections
By Ashley Urban
These days many big name fashion brands are trying to make their production cycles more sustainable. This is especially important for brands like H&M who are mostly known for making inexpensive and trendy garments. Even though the whole notion “trendy fashion” is inherently unsustainable, H&M is challenging this in a few ways. First they are collecting old clothes to be reused and recycled to promote reusing old clothes until they are too old to be worn and can be recycled for raw materials. They even say that zero waste is their goal, and trust me that is a lofty one. They also have designed three different Conscious Collections for Spring: the women’s Conscious Collection, the men’s and women’s Conscious Divided Collection, and the men’s and women’s Conscious Exclusive Collection
The Conscious Collection, as modeled below by Vanessa Paradis is the epitome of spring: florals, brights, with touches of army green and fun accessories. These clothes can be worn by all age groups and look effortlessly chic.
The Conscious Divided Collection is for the younger set. It reminds me of a Southern California skater chick who is cool enough to wear a Japanese floral kimono. The men’s stuff is more toned down, but still bright and nature-inspired.
The Conscious Exclusive Collection is the crown jewel of the three collections. It is modeled around upscale party dressing and each piece is absolutely beautiful. The women’s dresses and separates are like something out of a fairytale and the men’s suits are sharp and modern. There are even high-end accessories like shoes, headbands, and bowties in the collection.
So with big brands like H&M making conscious collections it seems like a win/win situation. Big brands lessen their carbon footprint and consumers feel better about what they are buying. I would say this is definitely true for this year’s Conscious collections by H&M because not only are the clothes sustainably made, but also extremely beautiful. Hopefully we will be seeing more collections like this one in the future not only from H&M, but from many different brands.
*All images from H&M’s website.
