NEW DELHI: In 2012, Swedish clothing retail brand Hennes and Mauritz AB, or H&M, had launched its first ever Conscious Exclusive collection. Made with new and innovative sustainable material such as organic cotton and recycled polyester, the collection marked a departure from the fast fashion goods that the company was known for. With a focus on plant-based and recycled material, Conscious Exclusive marked H&M’s foray into “slow fashion" and spurred its sustainability programme. Every year since then, the brand has experimented with newer sustainable fabrics such as recycled glass and Denimite, a material made of recycled worn-out denim.
For the 2018 collection, one saw recycled silver and Econyl, a 100% regenerated nylon fibre made from fishnets and other nylon waste, being added to the gamut of materials.
And this year, the design team has pushed the boundaries of innovation further by creating three new fabrics—the Piñatex, or natural leather extracted from pineapple leaves, the BLOOM Foam, plant-based flexible foam made with algae biomass, and Orange Fiber, a silk-like fabric crafted from the by-products of citrus fruit juice.
However, the design process doesn’t just stop at using these fibres; the idea is to make them look good as well. Hence, the 2019 collection, launched recently, features a glossy statement jacket in Piñatex and jacquard, along with a pool slide in BLOOM Foam, with fluid silhouettes.
This new collection is in sync with the company’s vision to use only recycled or other sustainably sourced material by 2030. Another goals is for all the cotton to come from sustainable sources by 2020. This share was 59% in 2017, up from 43% in 2016.
H&M has also adopted a more circular approach to how products are made and used, and hopes to be a climate positive value chain by 2040.
As Pernilla Wohlfahrt, design director, H&M, puts it: “We keep pushing and trying new things as that is the right thing to do. It is really what makes a difference to the world, the planet and the people."
Edited excerpts from an interview:
How is Conscious Exclusive in sync with H&M’s overall mission to make sustainable design accessible to all?
As you know, H&M added sustainability to its business model five to six years ago. But we have been working on the idea for far longer than that. For instance, I was one of the first buyers of organic cotton nearly 20 years ago—much before the customers actually started asking for the same. It was the right thing to do. And today, of course, sustainability is a big part of our business.
The rest of our collections (such as the Spring Summer 2019) are made with nearly 57% sustainable fabrics. That’s a big chunk of what we do.
But with our ninth Conscious Exclusive, we are trying to push the boundaries of innovation with new fabrics. It also gives our design team the opportunity to experiment with ways of making the best out of these materials.
The off-shoulder corset-style top, which you see here, has been made from Orange Fiber. We came across the material at the Global Change Award (a competition for finding, supporting and scaling up disruptive innovations in fashion). And this year, we decided to make garments out of it. This is the only way of pushing the development forward and making the fashion industry more circular.
It is one thing to experiment with materials such as pineapple leaves and algae biomass. But how do you ensure that the garments created from these are wearable and breathable? If you could shed some light on the process of designing newer combinations with these fabrics?
For one, we got really excited about Piñatex, which is like leather. The team tried to make designs, which could fit in with the texture and malleability of the fabric. This had to match with what fashion is today and our style forecasts as well.
Our design process, for most collections, starts nearly a year-and-a-half in advance, with search for new fabrics, and finding ways to experiment with those, and more.
For Piñatex, I think, we probably made seven designs to test the various combinations. We asked ourselves if it looked best as a whole jacket or as something else. It took many tryouts to get to the right look. We also had to make sure that it was wearable. As it had never been tried before, it took a lot of designing, and trial and error to get to the final garment.
The aim of the Conscious Exclusive collections is to try new things, so that they can be used later for the bigger collections. For instance, we have been using a lot of recycled polyester in our garments. But 10 years ago, that was an innovative fabric. Today, it is a given. We keep pushing and trying new things as that is the right thing to do. It is really what makes a difference to the world, the planet and the people.
What has been the response to Conscious Exclusive, over the years, in India? Have consumers begun to accept the fact that sustainable clothing can also look good?
We are a fashion company. For me, the look comes first. We want to offer fashion equality at the best price in a sustainable way. We should do everything we can to get the sustainability right. But it needs to look good as well.
With the Conscious Exclusive, we are doing just that—pushing innovation in material and showcasing that sustainability can look beautiful. You can wear these clothes and walk down the red carpet. For that, we have to make sure that the bling and the beading from recycled sequins is just right. We shouldn’t give up on that. But sustainability is also a personal choice—for some it is equally important, if not more. I have three sisters, and one of them does jewellery in a recycled material. She would never buy anything which is not sustainable.
You have spoken extensively about the influence of technology in fashion. How do you combine traditional wisdom of upcycling and using naturally-sourced materials with cutting-edge technology?
There are many aspects to this. Technology is such a helpful tool in making us more efficient. The Conscious Exclusive is about nature-sourced fabrics, but it is also about the technology that helps extract these materials. Also, in the design process, we use 3D to make samples, which is so much better than first getting the garment made and then getting into the back-and-forth.
Many departments are now using this tool. It allows us to be more efficient while designing. We also have iPads that we draw on. So, you get the sensitivity of the hand, even when you draw things straight into the computer. Being efficient with time and materials is also a form of sustainability to me.
We also use technology, when it comes to data. We have to make sure that we track our customers’ likes and dislikes, so that we make the right designs to suit their sensibilities. And, by that, I don’t mean what they want now, but what they would like in the next year, or so, as well.
One can see H&M take a very minimalist approach in some of its recent collections. Does it stem from the company’s Scandinavian heritage?
It’s an interesting thing to reflect on, being here in India, where more is more, and it’s lovely. But yes, I am, personally, very minimalist in my style.
And also, at H&M, being a Scandinavian company, this is a part of our heritage. But I don’t think we see ourselves as that. I was part of the team that created COS (a contemporary fashion brand, part of the H&M Group, offering reinvented classics), and people remarked how we had made it so Scandinavian. It was not a conscious decision, we had just made something that we loved! Having said that, today, there is a lot of influence from big fashion names such as Gucci, where Alessandro Michele has brought in much more embellishment and colour. He has mixed prints and velvet. I don’t always wear it myself, but I love it. That is influencing fashion a lot.
The company has entered into design collaborations in the past, such as with William Morris or with GP&J Baker. Are there any such collaborations coming up in India?
I see a lot of potential. I love India and it is such an inspiring country to be in. I first came here 20 years ago as a buyer and was amazed by the extraordinary colours.
We had gone to Tirupur and I was fascinated by the colour of the houses, and women dressed in bright orange mixed with pink, and with yellow flowers in their hair. It is so inspiring and I see so many possibilities and potential in collaboration here.
