Upcycling, dancing, fishing. The quirks of H&M — an unexpectedly strange clothing store

H&M — that same story

The H&M company originated... from a hunting and fishing store. Initially, it had no connection whatsoever to the fashion industry.

It all began in 1946, when Erling Persson decided to open his own women's clothing store in the city of Västerås, Sweden. He gave it the symbolic name — Hennes, which translates from Swedish as “hers.” Sales were going well, and a few years later Persson decided to expand the business. That’s when he noticed the barely surviving hunting and fishing clothing store — Mauritz Widforss.

The stores merged and began selling men’s and women’s clothing. That’s when the Hennes and Mauritz store was born, today known as H&M.

H&M — Amazing Facts

• Although the company began its existence in Sweden, most H&M stores are located in the USA.
• According to company tradition, when a new store opens, employees perform a choreographed dance for the press and customers. For example, when a store opened in Australia in 2015, more than 100 employees performed a lively “fiesta” for waiting customers.
  
• H&M don't just know how to dance, they can introduce a new product in stores in just two weeks!
• Some retailers, such as GAP, take up to six months to develop and produce new styles, but H&M does it in just two weeks.
• At the headquarters in Stockholm, H&M has more than a hundred designers who monitor fashion trends and then bring them to life in new products. Suppliers around the world help get the product to stores in less than a month. This probably explains why new clothes appear in the store every time. 
• H&M owns a number of other stores, including the premium brand COS. Which sells more expensive products at a higher price. COS stands for “Collection of Style”. H&M also owns the brands Weekday, H&M Home and Arket.
  
• At one time, H&M had many significant collaborations. One of the most outstanding is Timeless Maximalism from the Colombian designer Joanna Ortiz. Her design is inspired by color and nature. The brand's clothing has been worn by other famous women — Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Alexa Chung, Jessica Biel, Lady Gaga.

Innovative H&M Waste Recycling

The fashion industry depends heavily on natural resources, and this is one of the reasons why H&M Group has set clear goals: “our mission is to use only recycled or other materials obtained from environmentally friendly sources by 2030.” This is about thousands of tons of old clothing regularly thrown away along with household waste.

Like Levi’s, H&M are working carefully on recycling and reuse. And they invite their customers to leave their old clothes and unwanted textiles at many H&M Group stores.

Recycling and H&M

In 2019, H&M Group collected about 29 000 tons of textiles for reuse and recycling. This is about 145 million T-shirts!

In American stores, boxes for dropping off old unwanted clothes have long appeared. Then a whole revival process begins: H&M partners collect the boxes, sort them into three categories, and then send them for recycling.

For every kilogram of fabrics collected by H&M in the region, €0,02 is transferred to a local charitable organization.

Upcycling at H&M

Some H&M Group brands have launched initiatives for recycling clothing. One example is the Weekday Re-Made denim collection. COS (an H&M partner) also organized a similar project. They produce clothing made from restored or returned items that have been carefully repaired and cleaned. This is clothing that is given a second life: it can be recycled and sold again. The project came to life under the name Looop and works like this:

• it all starts with spraying ozone on your favorite clothes to remove all microorganisms.
• then your clothing is shredded into small clumps of fabric fibers.
• the shredded clumps are filtered to remove dust, and virgin fibers are added for strength.
• the fiber mixture is straightened into a fibrous web and then stretched into slivers.
• slivers from several fibers are combined so everything proceeds uniformly and evenly.
• the slivers are spun to create a single yarn thread.
• single yarn threads are doubled and twisted to increase their strength.
• finally, Looop knits new H&M styles from the recycled yarn.
• the finished sweater can be worn, and when it wears out, the cycle starts over.

By the way, here you can see exactly how the recycling project works.

What can you buy on HM.com?

The brand's prices are indeed very low, and this does not affect the quality. But let's find out what's trending now!

• Ribbed. Golf socks, sweaters, suits and even underwear. Convenient, simple and stylish. Such a cute turtleneck in flesh color today will cost only $25.Long ribbed dress also for $25. Soft snow-white pants that go best with a cardigan or loose sweater.
  
• Cardigans.Loose cardigan with large buttons, neckline and voluminous sleeves, available in several colors — $15. Or cropped cardigan that suits culotte jeans — $17.
  
• Bodysuits. They are also available in ribbed! But smooth ones are also trending. With necklines and mock necks. Look great under anything: leather or denim, skirts or pants. Ribbed with neckline for $18. Mock neck — $10.
• Faux leather. Especially skirts and dresses. Everyone has seen and knows about ZARA leather skirts, but H&M has them too and they are often cheaper. Leather pants for $25 look amazing. Leather skirt for $20, under a cropped cardigan or blouse.
  
• Tops. Available even for $2. Very cute ruffled top for high-waisted jeans. Massive gold-plated chains make great accessories. $20. And that very Top ribbed for only $2!
  
• Collars. Blouse with huge collars, elegant spring style. Can be worn around the city with jeans or pants, or for a serious interview.
  
• Wide jeans.
  

  H&M order and delivery from America to Russia

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