Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) Group has been named the biggest user of sustainable cotton. The company is well on its way to become super sustainable by using materials which are either recycled or sourced from sustainable means by 2030.
H&M is also the biggest user of man-made cellulosic materials in clothes. The company is ahead of its 111 peers in using sustainable cotton and aims to fully make use of sustainable cotton in its clothes.
It was placed first in the annual ‘Preferred Fiber & Materials Benchmark Insights Report’ published by the non-profit Textile Exchange.
The Swedish retailer, which owns fashion brands H&M, Monki, Cos, Cheap Monday, Weekday and & Other Stories, has also been named the world’s biggest user of sustainably sourced down and one of the biggest users of sustainably sourced wool in the ‘Preferred Fiber Materials Market Report.’
In 2017, 59% of the group’s total cotton use was organic, recycled or better cotton. The retailer has pledged to use 100% sustainably sourced or recycled materials by 2030, having achieved a rate of 35% in 2017.
“With our yearly and steady increased use of recycled or other sustainably sourced materials, we not only push the demand of widely used materials such as organic cotton but also influence the scalability of new sustainable materials,” said Cecilia Brännsten, Environmental Sustainability Manager at H&M Group, in a statement. “We hope to inspire other players in the industry towards a sustainable fashion future.”
Other brands that were mentioned in the Textile Exchange report include Nike, for being the biggest user of recycled polyester; C&A for its leading use of organic cotton; IKEA, as the leading user of recycled cotton and Deckers Brands (which owns UGG) as the leading user of “preferred wool.”