There has been quite the storm brewing over the article in the New York Times that ran the other day that reported that H&M and Wal-Mart were destroying new and unworn merchandise that they were not able to sell in their stores, because they wanted to make sure no one would wear them. The Times tried nearly a dozen times to contact H&M to comment about the bags and bags of clothing that were found slashed and discarded on 35th street near the 34th street H&M, but received no response. The items were found by a CUNY grad student who then tipped off the newspaper. However, last week H&M finally commented, given the anger and uproar from readers about the fact that these pieces of clothing had not been donated.
Nicole Christie, a spokeswoman for H & M in New York, remarked “It will not happen again. We are committed 100 percent to make sure this practice is not happening anywhere else, as it is not our standard practice.” She added that it was the store’s policy to donate unworn clothing to charities, and that she isn’t sure why the incident took place. The same spiel came from the folks over at Wal-Mart.
So much for all the postive hoopla that H&M has been generating recently with the release of the images of their Garden Collection, all of which is made from sustainable, organic, and recycled materials (think waste).
