H&M’s “Green” Garden Collection
Written by Urban Sherp on April 8th, 2010
Still not fully sure how I feel about H&M’s new ‘green’ collection, the Garden Collection. All of the pieces are made from organic or recycled fabrics, but I keep thinking about the piece in the news about H&M’s organics being not so organic (see Treehugger) and their slashing of the perfectly good unworn clothing instead of donating them (see NY Times), not to mention how the clothing is actually manufactured… not very green. So, it’s difficult to think about the amount of waste that may have gone into the production of this collection before it reached the stores.
On the other hand, it is good to see a large retailer making an effort to present more eco-friendly options at more affordable prices. Most people are not comfortable or able to spend $60 on a t-shirt when they could spend, literally $3 at Walmart (actually for even less, I went in there the other day and saw a misses sweatshirt and tank top set selling for a total of $3 – how is the ‘green’ market supposed to compete with that when most people would take cheap over quality and cheap over ethical and cheap over eco-friendly, but I digress…. ). The line is made from fabrics made of organic linen, organic cotton, tencel & recycled polyester.
And I’ve got to say the collection has some great pieces (had to buy a couple just for the sake of research). They’ve got vibrant florals, soft pinks, bold blues, breezy tops, frilly dresses, boyfriend jeans, shoes, a linen biker jacket which is kind of awesome and a red rosette dress that is amazing if it weren’t so incredibly short. The entire collection has a hippie chic vibe but with more modern silhouettes and a bit of Lady Gaga thrown in there. Definitely appeals to the ‘tween’ crowd with uber short hemlines ( I am dating myself here), but If you need some fun pieces for your spring wardrobe, there are plenty of pieces that could work for ladies of all ages.
The hope here is that this line sells well and retailers begin to realize even more the value of adopting green practices one step at a time. So, hopefully this is not a passing trend with H&M and they continue to make collections from real, green fabrics and one day with green manufacturing/shipping/labor practices as well.