H&M and Zara: Can fast fashion be eco-friendly?

We’re constantly bombarded with media

that puts pressure on us
to buy newer and trendier clothes.

Just to throw them away
when they’re no longer in style.

An estimated 93 million tons
go to landfill or are burned every year.

“And that’s roughly
about a garbage truckload of textiles,

every second going to landfill.

Every second!”

Producing clothes also pollutes
our water and churns out CO2.

The fast fashion model pioneered by Zara

means that brands are churning out
double the amount of clothing per year

as they did in the early 2000s.

But companies say that’s about to change

because we can now
buy eco-friendly fast fashion.

And also recycle our clothes
when we don’t want them anymore.

But can we believe them?

Inditex, Zara’s parent company,

and H&M Group

are two of the biggest
fashion retailers in the world,

and both have collections
that claim to reduce

the environmental impact
of making clothes.

Not only that, but the two fashion giants

say they are making
their entire brands more sustainable.

Let’s take a look at these promises,
starting with the materials.

[MATERIALS]

Main materials at Zara & H&M,
as well as worldwide, are polyester,

which accounts for around 52%
of total fiber production,

and cotton, which is around 24%.

PET is a different name for polyester

and is the same type of plastic
that's found in water bottles.

Actually,

60% of PET production goes to textiles,

and only 30% to water bottles.

The material is produced from petroleum,

and the process uses lots of energy

and releases CO2,

as well as acids and ammonia
into the water supply.

Recycled polyester uses up to 60%
less energy than virgin material

and can be made from textile scraps

or plastic trash.

But inconsistencies in the threads
can make it require more dye,

and experts say

that polyester fabrics can shed
700,000 microplastic fibers

with every wash,

which end up in the ocean,

and also in our food.

Cotton doesn't have these problems,

but is still a chemical
and water intensive crop.

According to the World Wide
Fund for Nature,

it takes 20,000 liters of water
to make one kilo of cotton,

which is enough for one T-shirt
and a pair of jeans.

Also, around 11% of the world’s pesticides
are used on cotton fields.

So is organic cotton better?

"Essentially there's a massive difference
between organic cotton and cotton."

This is Suki, a representative
of Fashion Revolution,

which is an organization
that advocates worldwide

for transparency and sustainability
in the fashion industry.

“Organic cotton is, in the long term,
much better for the farmer that grows it

and the environment
and the soil that produces it,

and it's less water intensive

and doesn't require
as much irrigation as such.”

We requested an interview with H&M

about the sustainability
of their products,

but they declined.

Over email they said,

"We are happy to say
that by the end of this year,

all cotton we use will come
from sustainable sources."

Zara also responded
only through email, saying,

"In 2019, the Group [Inditex,
Zara's parent company]

used over 38,000 tonnes
of sustainable cotton in its clothing,

(up 105% from 2018)."

But what does sustainable actually mean?

There’s no standard definition,
and it doesn’t equal organic.

H&M says that sustainable cotton
can also mean recycled

or cotton that uses
less pesticides and GMOs.

Zara portrays its cotton as sustainable,

but calls it ecologically grown
instead of organic.

It claims the cotton uses
natural fertilizers and pesticides,

and is certified
by the Organic Content Standard

and the Global Organic Textile Standard,

which say they control
for chemical and water use

in the whole production process.

Terms like "conscious"
and "ecologically grown"

are hard to fact-check,

as well as confusing for the consumer.

But according to the non-profit
Textile Exchange,

in 2016, H&M was the second largest
user of organic cotton in the world.

Zara was the fourth.

Let’s focus on synthetics.

In H&M's sustainable collection,

the synthetic clothing has to be
at least 50% recycled.

Zara doesn’t specify their percentage,
and their labeling can be confusing.

This jacket says
it’s 100% recycled polyamide,

which makes it seem like
it’s completely recycled.

But the filling is polyester.

That’s a different material.

And this isn’t the only time this happens.

The percentage recycled statement
often doesn’t refer to the whole garment,

making it look like the item
is more recycled than it actually is.

On the subject of transparent labeling,

the Join Life tags
are also on the Zara website

and are stamped by
the Forest Stewardship Council.

This would seem to imply the clothing
is certified by this organization.

The stamp, however,
is only referring to the tag,

not to the whole clothing item.

Talk about misleading.

Zara has committed to sustainable cotton
and polyester by 2025.

H&M says all of their materials
to be sustainable by 2030,

and for 2019, that figure
was already at 57%.

If they stick to these commitments,

it could mean big changes
for the industry.

But material is only part of the story.

[SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY]

To find out if that cotton
is actually organic,

or that polyester is actually recycled,

consumers need to be able
to check the production process.

With an H&M Conscious T-shirt,

you can find out

in which specific factory it was made

so it’s theoretically possible
to check the factory’s sustainability.

Zara only lists how many suppliers
it has in one city,

but not their names and addresses.

They were both evaluated
by Fashion Revolution,

an organization advocating
for transparency

and sustainability in fashion.

None of the 250 large brands
scored over 80%,

but for 2020, H&M was the highest
scoring brand, with 73%,

so quite transparent.

Zara scored a 43%.

Not so much.

This is important because:

"Suppliers are one of the few stakeholders

with a front row seat
to brands' inner workings."

Kim has a background in human rights

and was a garment
factory manager in Cambodia.

"They uniquely have access
to the information that consumers

need to be able to crosscheck
brands' actions against their words."

So being able to research suppliers

allows people to hold brands accountable
to their sustainability claims, but -

"Just because you're transparent,
it does not mean you're sustainable,

It does not mean that at all.

And that's really, really important."

Even for brands [that] know
their whole supply chain,

making an eco-friendly garment is hard.

Jessie Li: Let's pick up a denim.

You can see the dyeing is done
in a more environmentally responsible way,

but the cotton is not produced the same.

N: Jessie has worked
in different industries

from product inspection to purchasing,

to product development,
in both China and Cambodia.

JL: Or take another example.

The whole piece of the clothes
is made out of the waste,

but not dyed in a responsible way.

So, they're green,

but it's different degrees of green

or different degrees of less bad.

N: Because an item of clothing
is made up of many different materials

all manufactured in different ways,

it’s hard to make each piece
less harmful to the environment.

This is also the reason

why recycling clothing is much harder
than H&M and Zara would seem to claim.

[RECYCLING]

N: H&M’s advertisements

say that the company is working
towards a circular future for clothing.

According to the website,

you can bring your clothing to any store,

and it will be resold
as second-hand clothing,

reused as other textiles, or recycled.

Zara has a similar campaign.

It says it partners
with different local organizations,

which then take over
what happens to the clothing.

So what does happen?

They are resold, reused, and recycled,

but not in the proportions
you might think.

Over half of donated clothing
is sold overseas.

The rest is mostly turned
into industrial material,

burned, or goes to landfill.

Less than 1% of the material
in used clothing

is recycled into new clothing.

A big reason is lack of technology.

Remember how many materials
were in the jacket?

Well, they need to come out
again to recycle it.

Maxi Bohn: "Garments
that are made from mono materials,

or can easily be taken apart into pieces,

can be recycled.

N: Maxi started her career
as a certified dressmaker

over ten years ago

and has headed product development
for Hugo Boss and major online retailers.

MB: But think about your wardrobe.

How many pieces would fulfill
these requirements?

N: So giving back clothing
is better than throwing it away,

but the chances of it
actually getting recycled

are very low.

H&M and Zara are investing
in recycling research,

but we looked at their annual reports,

and the amount is 0.5% and 0.02%
of their profits, respectively.

They say returning clothes is circular,
which isn’t really true.

And even if it were -

“That's not the solution
to our overconsumption.

Or our overproduction.”

N: The problem is that too much clothing
is produced, and bought,

whether the clothing
is eco-friendly or not.

“Let's just say you're putting
one person here who says,

"You know what? I don't give a bleep
about anything recycled or organic.

I will, once a year,
buy a nice pair of pants,

and I don't care about anything,

and then there are
these people who are saying,

"Yes, I'm really aware, I want to do that.
I want to commit to the environment.

And the pair of jeans
that I'm going to buy every four weeks

will always be sustainable.

So -

still this person is "better?"

N: Buying clothing every four weeks
is relatively new.

Before the 90s designers made clothes
for two fashion seasons per year,

and now fashion retailers put out clothes
in as little as two weeks.

More clothes mean
cheaper prices, lower quality,

and more ending up
in the landfill or burned.

But it’s not just big fast fashion brands;

it’s the fashion industry in general,

and our desire for constantly changing
outfits that need to hit pause.

“We need to think about how we shop
and what we're really calling for.

But there is a bold step

in a number of notable fashion brands
and fashion houses now

going seasonless,

and hats off to them
it's an important thing to do.”

N: The concept doesn’t mean
sacrificing style,

but instead making clothing to last
rather than be thrown away.

Karishma Khan: “So all in all,
what we're trying to do

is working with clothing
that is not very seasonal, so to say.

It should be something
that you can wear year after year.

We want to focus in quality.”

N: Karishma is the founder of Ka-Sha,

an Indian brand featured in magazines
like Forbes and Vogue

for championing eco-friendly fashion.

KK: So we try to make products

that try to fit into different places

depending on who's wearing it
and how it's worn.

So we have a lot of different
aspects to our clothing.

N: So what do you do
when you want to buy new clothes?

H&M and Zara say their eco-collections
are better for the environment,

and they actually are.

If you want to make sure
the whole supply chain is sustainable,

there are many smaller brands

that can account for every step
of their production process.

And buying seasonless
instead of trendy clothing

means it won’t go out of fashion
and end up in the trash.

Because this is a rare industry

where consumers actually
have a real influence.

“When I look at the whole picture,

I realize maybe only end consumer
is the power [that] can balance brands

and can push them,

give them pressure to make some changes.”

So ask yourself not only who made
your clothes and what they are made of,

but also, "Do I need these new clothes?"

And go from there instead.

And if you want to see
more videos like this,

we post about environmental
topics every Friday.

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Subtitles by Maurício Kakuei Tanaka