The Dutch television station, TV2, is accusing H&M of incinerating multiple tons of wearable, unsold clothing.
As reported by Racked, TV2’s Operation X program found that, “H&M has burned 60 tons of new, unsold apparel since 2013.”
And while H&M doesn’t deny burning unworn clothing, they do deny that burning that clothing is wrong. Per their statement, “When test results show that certain products do not fulfill our safety regulations they should not under any circumstances be neither sold to our customer or be recycled. They will therefore be sent to destruction in accordance with our global safety routines.”
The statement went on to claim that “the clothing featured in TV2’s Operation X program was incinerated because it had been damaged by mold or contained unsafe levels of lead.”
Operation X, however, claims they conducted their own tests, which found “safe levels of chemicals in the garments, implying that H&M was burning good product.”
Regardless of where the truth lies, the staggeringly wasteful practice of incinerating inventory – damaged or not – very much flies in the face of H&M’s new sustainability-first persona. Quelle surprise.
You can read more about it at Racked.
