Could Reinvention Solve Our Shopping Addiction?

Swedish retail giant H&M seems an unlikely poster child for ecological living. The High Street group, which owns brands including Monki and Cos and has more than 4,000 shops across the world, is one of the best known proponents of fast fashion. It’s a cheap and reliable source of trendy clothes which can be discarded as soon as another trend comes in. Yet it has pledged to become “100% circular”, ultimately using only recycled or other sustainable materials to make its clothes. It’s a journey that more fashion firms are beginning to take, with the so-called “circular economy” – which eliminates waste by turning it into something valuable – being seen as a possible solution to the vast amount of clothes that end up in landfill. Last year, a fifth of the material H&M used was sustainably sourced, and it has gathered 32,000 tonnes worth of old clothing in the collection bins it has had in all its stores since 2013. The move was aimed at keeping the garments out of landfill, where three-fifths of clothing ends up. Read more at BBC News.