H&M to offer 1m euro prize for clothing recycling ideas
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is awarding a €1m grant to five people who can provide the best new ideas for recycling clothes, the company's chief executive Karl-Johan Persson announced on Tuesday.
“The (prize’s) largest potential lies with finding new technology that means we can recycle the fibres with unchanged quality,” Persson commented.
The Global Change Award aims to boost the company's ethical credentials and address the shortage of raw materials after critics have slammed the culture of cheap throw-away clothing.
“H&M wants to create a closed loop for its textiles, in which the fabrics from unwanted clothes can be recycled into new ones. The aim is to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry, by limiting waste that goes to landfill and saving on natural resources used in the production of fabric,” the company explained in a press release published on its website.
The retailer is launching a line of jeans containing recycled cotton next week.
The company's revenues have doubled since 2006, up to €15.8bn in the year to November 2014, which makes it the second biggest fashion retailer after Spanish Inditex.
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