This past year has been saturated with warnings about the current state of our planet. We have read Doomsday-esque predictions concerning the amount of plastic in the oceans (predicted to outnumber fish by 2050) and we have watched a 16-year old girl take on world governments in an attempt to raise awareness of the urgency of this issue. We've been told, countless times, that fashion's carbon impact is larger than that of the airline industry's. And yet, fast fashion boomed in 2019. In fact, as the year comes to an end, the New York Times has reported that members of Generation Z are purchasing outfits for Instagram, while Fashion Nova, the hugely successful label that made its name copying celebrity and designer outfits, is paying its employees illegally low wages.
A dichotomy has emerged, then, between concern for the climate crisis and actual shopping habits. While this may only become more convoluted before any sort of solution is found, H&M may have an answer. The high street behemoth has added a new tab to its product pages online, which allows us all to see exactly where items were made.
On each item online, clicking on the Product Sustainability tab will reveal information on the materials used and the supplier. The general idea is that this new degree of transparency will prove that H&M has nothing to hide when it comes to safe working conditions, fair pay and environmental practises.
Pascal Brun, the head of sustainability for the H&M brand, said: 'It is not going to change the world. But it is about building a foundation for real change, given we can’t build this industry from the ground up all over again.'
While it is clearly a small step, there is a precedent that suggests transparency helps to improve both manufacturing processes and working conditions. Fashion Revolution, the organisation established after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in 2013, has been publishing its annual Fashion Transparency Index for the past few years, and has already seem some improvements.
The Index ranks brands across the spectrum of fashion according to how much information they provide regarding – among other things – their supply chains, manufacturing processes and implementation of workers’ rights. While there is no obligation to participate, it is very telling when a brand is more eager to reveal its practises. Those who do not naturally raise the question of why.
Brun is right, the industry cannot be remodelled overnight. So, H&M's new initiative is a positive step forward on what is going to be a very long road. We can only hope that 2020 brings more positive change.