Here’s one way H&M can help protect the planet

What happens to the brand new clothes that line store shelves? The unsettling truth is that many of them will be thrown away without ever being worn.

The fast fashion industry runs on a model of overproducing clothes, which is why 30 to 40% of all textiles head straight to the incinerator or landfill without even being worn once.

H&M is the second-largest clothing company in the world, producing around 3 billion garments per year. They could have a massive impact on the fashion industry if they adopted more sustainable practices.

The U.S. generates tons of textile waste

Every six days, the United States generates enough textile waste to fill the Mall of America.

And every single one of those garments takes an environmental toll. One cotton T-shirt uses more than 700 gallons of water to produce. If it’s part of a company’s overstock, that T-shirt could be headed straight into an incinerator or piled onto an ever-expanding landfill without being worn once.

Tell H&M: Publicly commit to protect our planet by never trashing or incinerating your overstock

The fast fashion industry is operating on a broken model, one that prioritizes a little more profit over the health of our one and only planet. That’s a model we have to change if we want to slow the tide of unworn clothes piling into our landfills.

If one of our world’s largest retailers publicly committed to more sustainable practices, it could have a ripple effect through the entire fast fashion industry.

Send your message: Urge H&M to never trash or burn its overstock.