H&M Group continues showing progress towards sourcing all its materials in a more sustainable way

H&M Group is recognized as the number one company sourcing preferred cotton. This includes organic cotton, recycled cotton and cotton sourced through the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), among others. The company has been progressively taking steps toward its goal that by 2020 all its cotton should be either organic, recycled or sourced in a more sustainable way through BCI.

“We are delighted to see H&M Group committed on all fronts. As an industry leader in material change, H&M Group features in our Material Change Leaders Circle and achieved a leading position in the family of indices: including the Sustainable Development Goals, Cotton, Manmade Cellulosics and Down. From a climate change and natural resource perspective, it is going to require both adopting recycled and preferred renewable materials and building truly resilient supply communities – and relationships. The industry needs leaders like H&M Group to find holistic, inclusive solutions to interconnected problems. That's what the Textile Exchange Material Change Index is designed to support,” says Liesl Truscott, Director of European & Materials Strategy, Textile Exchange.

“Being ranked as a leading company in sustainable materials sourcing is a great recognition to all the hard work we do every day to make our business more sustainable. But that doesn’t mean we are done yet, there is still work to do to increase the use of recycled materials and push for innovative materials. We are fully committed to use our size and scale to lead the way towards a more sustainable fashion future,” says Cecilia Brännsten, Environmental Sustainability Manager H&M Group.

The group is also one of the world’s biggest user of recycled materials, such as recycled nylon – from old fishing nets, carpets and leftover waste from production – and recycled polyester. Last year, H&M Group used recycled polyester equivalent to nearly 537 million PET bottles.