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This week I decided to do some research on black Friday advertising. Using twitter and google, I wanted to see if anyone was going wild over eco-friendly fashion.
Personal Life: I probably did a full months’ worth of shopping between black Friday and cyber Monday (not proud of this, but necessary). Because I was looking for Christmas gifts for other people, I wasn’t totally on the lookout for environmentally purchases. However, I have been writing and seeing info about H&Ms conscious collection since I began this blog. So when I went into H&M to look around it finally hit me to actually look for said collection. What I realized is that I had wandered this section once or twice before without knowing it was the conscious collection! I had always thought this section was a sale section because right in front of it are two circle racks that always have sale items. Nevertheless, I started looking at some very basic looking items and found something’s I’d be interested in and then looked at the price (of course). Prices for the items that are said to be “good for people, the planet and your wallet,” aren’t so wallet friendly.
I think that people go into H&M expecting higher quality clothes than Forever 21 or Joyce Leslie, yet not too high quality that it’s J Crew. I think this may be where the collection falls short. H&M has similar items that are just as basic and able to be pieced with almost anything, for a lot cheaper than this conscious collection. Then again, people who are more concerned with #slowfashion may be more willing to pay a little extra for something that is SAID to be better for the planet. But check this out…
Just to make sure I am not making this all up, I did some more research. Huffington Post posted a story in April titled, “H&M’s “Conscious”Collection? Don’t buy into the hype.” The story explains how a sustainability report explains a strategy of “planned obsolescence.” With H&M being one of many fast fashion companies, it is nearly impossible to be that environmentally friendly. Which makes sense.
If they are not willing to change their “fast fashion business model,” they are not doing as much as they can, or think they already are, to make a change in the fashion industry. Good work Shannon Whitehead.
Not to mention: there were no conscious collection ads or sales for black Friday
Online: I tried to google some ads that may have pertained to eco-friendly fashion this black Friday and cyber Monday. I came across a Forbes article that listed 50 green companies who were joining the ever so famous discounted days. I didn’t know any of the listed companies.
My point here is solely that some of the major named companies that claim they are pledging to be sustainable or helping the environment, aren’t doing so to actually do so. It is all about publicity and looking good (from what I can tell and find). If you are truly passionate about sustainable fashion, organic products, and natural processes there are much better, smaller name companies that are strictly focused on the same things (check the link for the Forbes article).