H&M has joined forces with Danone AQUA for the bottle2fashion project, which transforms plastic bottle waste from the shores of Indonesia into recycled polyester. This season, bottle2fashion will collect and recycle around 3.5 million PET bottles.
For the H&M kidswear collection, the recycled polyester is blended with organic cotton and recycled cotton to create everyday pieces. Available from the end of December, the kidswear collection will be in stores as well as online at hm.com.
Commenting is Nellie Lindeborg, who is responsible for assortment sustainability at H&M. “Helping to keep beaches and oceans clean, bottle2fashion is another exciting step forward for a more circular and collaborative approach at H&M. To give a second life to disposable plastic bottles as recycled polyester is valuable in so many ways; to Indonesia’s environment, economy and social values. But also the world and our customers.”
Once kids outgrow the clothes, H&M offers a garment collection initiative for further recycling.
The collaboration with bottle2fashion also supports the Indonesian government’s initiative against marine pollution. Plus, it generates local jobs. This is via collecting PET bottles, sorting, cleaning and shredding them into flakes, and then making them into recycled polyester fibres.
Senior sustainable packaging manager, Danone Indonesia, Ratih Anggraeni, adds; “Through the bottle2fashion initiative that we’ve conducted alongside H&M, for this season, Danone-AQUA has successfully collected around 71 tons of PET bottles from Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Island) and Bandung Area. This is to show our commitment to prevent plastic from going into the ocean, which is also the manifestation of our #BijakBerplastik movement.”
The entire collection uses a blend of recycled polyester from the bottle2fashion project, organic cotton and recycled cotton.
Comfortable and coordinating hoodies, joggers and long-sleeve tops form the collection. Details include twist knots, colour-blocking, cropped length and tie-dye. Commenting further on the collection is Sofia Löfstedt, head of kidswear design at H&M. “For this collection, we wanted to focus on pieces that kids could really be kids in; playful, comfy and confident.
“So, hoodies, joggers and some long-sleeve tops. Though the garments can be coordinated, we put together a wide-ranging colour palette that could be easily mixed and matched. I always love to see what kids come up with. I hope they will also learn about the bottle2fashion project along the way.”
