Today, fashion is a huge, complex industry but – at its heart – it’s still about turning raw materials (like cotton grown on a farm) into products. It requires natural resources, and does so in a way that can be harmful to the environment.

In China, H&M launched an energy and water efficiency program to transform supply chains towards a more sustainable use of resources. This is achieved by equipping H&M China Suppliers with monitoring and data management tools, training them on sustainable practices, and providing them with technical support.

In 2016, H&M invited ten strategic suppliers to join a pilot project aiming to reduce supply chain resource usage. All the selected suppliers are wet-processing units with significant environmental and social impacts based on an H&M value chain impact mapping. Nine of the suppliers successfully reached their goals, realizing reductions in electricity, steam, water and chemicals use as illustrated below. 

(The above content was provided to IPE by the brand, who is responsible for the accuracy of the data.)