Anna Gedda, Head of Sustainability for H&M, talks about the challenges involved in sustainable fashion.VICE: Why do you feel fashion should think about sustainability?
Anna Gedda: I think that sustainability is a prerequisite for any business in any industry that wants to grow and be successful in the future, and the fashion industry is no exception. We know that the world is using more resources than the planet can afford and, at the same time, the number of people continues to grow. In a few decades, we'll be 9 billion people — and they will all need clothes and will want to express who they are through what they wear.
Anna Gedda: I think that sustainability is a prerequisite for any business in any industry that wants to grow and be successful in the future, and the fashion industry is no exception. We know that the world is using more resources than the planet can afford and, at the same time, the number of people continues to grow. In a few decades, we'll be 9 billion people — and they will all need clothes and will want to express who they are through what they wear.
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So the challenge for our industry is to make it possible to enjoy fashion, continue to contribute to growth and development, but do so within the planetary boundaries. To do this, we need to decouple growth from resource use and move toward a circular business model. As part of this, H&M has set the vision of becoming 100 percent circular, including only using recycled or other sustainably sourced materials and taking a circular approach in how products are made and used.This means, among other things, that we want to create a closed loop for fashion where old clothes can be turned into new ones without using additional materials. We still have more to do, but already now we have a global program to collect unwanted garments, and we have also managed to do so-called closed-loop products of recycled fabric from the garments you hand in.Another initiative is the Global Change Award, one of the world's largets innovation challenges to close the loop, run by the H&M Foundation. Twenty-six hundred ideas from all over the world were entered and five winners were chosen — for example, microbes that can eat and recycle polyester and a wonderful textile fabric made out of citrus waste.In your opinion, how can the fashion industry become more sustainable?
Just like any industry, the fashion industry is using more resources than the planet can afford, so decoupling growth from resource use will be key for this industry to become truly sustainable. The way to do this is to move toward a circular business model, which means developing solutions for extending product life spans — looking at design, durability, and easy solutions for garments to be used over and over again, before they can be recycled in a closed loop.
Just like any industry, the fashion industry is using more resources than the planet can afford, so decoupling growth from resource use will be key for this industry to become truly sustainable. The way to do this is to move toward a circular business model, which means developing solutions for extending product life spans — looking at design, durability, and easy solutions for garments to be used over and over again, before they can be recycled in a closed loop.
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Another challenge for the fashion industry is that it takes place in complex markets, like Cambodia and Bangladesh, where working conditions and wages still need to be improved. However, this is an industry-wide problem and not something that a company can tackle alone, no matter its size. To address such issues, brands, suppliers, unions, and governments need to collaborate and find long-term and sustainable solutions, including well functioning social dialogue, an effective legal framework, and systems for regular and fair-wage reviews, to mention a few examples.Last, this industry need to become more transparent in order to create real change. As a company, you need to know how and where products are made to address the right things in the right way. And you need to be open about what works and what doesn't to foster synergies and collaboration toward sustainable solutions.Do you think our actions as consumers — consuming less, pushing for positive change — can lead to two-way change in the industry as well?
I think that consumers today really have the power to create change, and I am very happy to see that the interest from our customers around sustainability is increasing every year. As a consumer, there are many things you can do on a daily basis to contribute to a more sustainable fashion future, like washing in lower temperatures and recycling your clothes. But I don't think that consuming less is the answer to making this industry sustainable — rather the opposite, but doing it in a responsible and sustainable way.
I think that consumers today really have the power to create change, and I am very happy to see that the interest from our customers around sustainability is increasing every year. As a consumer, there are many things you can do on a daily basis to contribute to a more sustainable fashion future, like washing in lower temperatures and recycling your clothes. But I don't think that consuming less is the answer to making this industry sustainable — rather the opposite, but doing it in a responsible and sustainable way.
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Millions of people are depending on the jobs provided by the textile industry, and for many, this is their best chance to make a living and provide for themselves and their families. As such, it has helped reduce poverty for millions of people all around the world. So there is no doubt that the textile industry is a key driver for growth and social development, and that it has been the starting point for many countries to develop into more industrialized ones. This is what happened to my home country, Sweden, many years ago, what China is doing right now, and what Bangladesh will do in the years to come.What questions should consumers be asking brands in order to reinforce the changes we need?
As a consumer, you can really make a difference just by starting to ask questions about companies' sustainability work, such as where and how the clothes are made, how they are transported, and how you as a customer can get engaged and contribute to change. The growing interest around sustainability encourages us to continue our work, to challenge ourselves, and to make it even easier for customers to make more sustainable choices and be part of the solution. One example is our global garment-collecting program, where our customers have handed in more than 28,000 tons since we started in 2013.This really shows that customers want to be engaged and that they together can really make a difference.How do you see yourself as an agent of change?
For a company with the size and scale of H&M comes a responsibility but also an opportunity to help lead the way toward a more sustainable fashion industry. We want to be a force for good and use our leverage to raise ambitions, push for change, and break new grounds. I think that our work toward a closed loop for fashion, fair living wages in the supply chain, and transparency are all examples of this.At the same time, it is important to remember that the challenges we face are not specific to H&M. Issues like working conditions, pollution, and carbon emissions are industry-wide issues that no company can tackle alone. Therefore, the key toward a sustainable fashion future is broad collaboration where actors from different organizations and directions come together. The ACT group, a collaboration of 19 brands working together toward fair living wages, is one example of this. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a large multi-stakeholder collaboration to develop a common standard to measure sustainability performance, is another one. I'm convinced that we will see more and more of such collaborations, because we all share the same interest in creating a sustainable fashion future.This article was paid for by Copenhagen Fashion Summit and was created independently from VICE's editorial staff.
As a consumer, you can really make a difference just by starting to ask questions about companies' sustainability work, such as where and how the clothes are made, how they are transported, and how you as a customer can get engaged and contribute to change. The growing interest around sustainability encourages us to continue our work, to challenge ourselves, and to make it even easier for customers to make more sustainable choices and be part of the solution. One example is our global garment-collecting program, where our customers have handed in more than 28,000 tons since we started in 2013.This really shows that customers want to be engaged and that they together can really make a difference.How do you see yourself as an agent of change?
For a company with the size and scale of H&M comes a responsibility but also an opportunity to help lead the way toward a more sustainable fashion industry. We want to be a force for good and use our leverage to raise ambitions, push for change, and break new grounds. I think that our work toward a closed loop for fashion, fair living wages in the supply chain, and transparency are all examples of this.At the same time, it is important to remember that the challenges we face are not specific to H&M. Issues like working conditions, pollution, and carbon emissions are industry-wide issues that no company can tackle alone. Therefore, the key toward a sustainable fashion future is broad collaboration where actors from different organizations and directions come together. The ACT group, a collaboration of 19 brands working together toward fair living wages, is one example of this. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a large multi-stakeholder collaboration to develop a common standard to measure sustainability performance, is another one. I'm convinced that we will see more and more of such collaborations, because we all share the same interest in creating a sustainable fashion future.This article was paid for by Copenhagen Fashion Summit and was created independently from VICE's editorial staff.