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Waste culture pioneers turned sustainability advocates: for real?
After a successful pilot concept in Hamburg and its first permanent location at the H&M Lafayette earlier this year, it’s Norway’s turn to experience the H&M Take Care project, an initiative to reduce waste and prolong the lifespan of garments. Given the retailer’s position as a pioneer in the throw away culture with its ultra-affordable not to say cheap fast fashion, it’s a bold and intriguing move, one no doubt aiming at improving its image with the growing demand from consumers for sustainability conscious goods.
The Paris flagship store had been closed for over eighteen months prior its reopening with the new clothing repair space that features sewing machines, supplies of patches and embroideries as well as accessories to purchase for better after care. This ultra-sleek area is unsurprisingly what drove so much attention from the press upon the reopening which commercialises all six brand collections, across 5,000 square metres spread over six floors and jammed between the iconic Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores.
Customers are guided and encouraged to clean, re-design and mend their clothes through the use of a new range of Take Care specific in-store products, including smartly marketed “sneaker wipes” and sustainable detergents, repair kits and laundry bags that promise to capture…
