LONDON — H&M and Stella McCartney are building an insights team with the aim of making sustainable fashion more relevant to people’s lives, and helping the end-consumer shop — and live — greener.
On Tuesday, the two partners will unveil the members of their new Insights Board, a group of women with different profiles and skill sets whom they are hoping will spark ideas and offer insights that will translate into concrete action around materials, circularity, innovation and communication, bringing “a sense of hope” to the sustainability conversation in fashion.
The members are Kiara Nirghin, a tech innovator who specializes in finding AI solutions to climate change; the model Amelia Gray; fashion writer Susie Lau; the model, actress and Gurls Talk founder Adwoa Aboah; the singer and activist Anitta, and topic experts from H&M. The conversations are being moderated by retail and brand consultant Julie Gilhart.
The Insights Board was revealed last December and coincides with McCartney’s second design collaboration for H&M, which showcases organic, recycled and next-generation materials and lower-impact fibers.
The board had its first meeting earlier this month where members discussed “the importance of relevant, accessible and transparent communication” about materials used in products and brands’ sustainability performance, animal welfare, and how tangible commitments “can bring sustainability back to the forefront” for customers and the wider industry.
McCartney believes the board has a big role to play.
“I think that sustainability on the whole is not perceived as sexy or fun or fashionable or cool. It can feel very worrying and fearful and like there’s no real solution or hope,” McCartney said in an interview, adding that the purpose of the group is to get a conversation going that is “less fearful,” and generally more constructive about the possibilities and future of sustainable fashion.
She said the Insights Board will be “solution driven. I don’t think anyone wants to sit around and chat, and I am determined that something comes from this.”
Daniel Ervér, chief executive officer of H&M, said the board offers a golden opportunity to engage the end-consumer.
“Of course, we are close with specialist researchers, but the big part of sustainability transformation needs to be customer-centric, and in tune with the industry, so this is an opportunity for us to get diverse perspectives and to challenge ourselves,” he said.
Although H&M has made progress in its research into new materials, methods of making clothing, and investment in sustainable businesses such as Sellpy, now one of Europe’s largest circular platforms for pre-owned clothing, Ervér said there is still much work to be done.
“That work will require creativity and curiosity about the consumer, how they are changing the behavior and how we can nudge them. We want to combine the different voices from the Insights Board with our own technical, research-driven perspective. The board’s insight will be tremendously valuable,” he added.
Ervér believes the possibilities are endless.
“This is a very complex area, so I expect a lot of the ideas will be ‘trial, fail and course correct,’” he said, adding that the most interesting part for him — and possibly the most difficult one, too — is coming up with solutions that are appealing and easy for the consumer to adopt, and ones that create a behavioral change.
“At H&M, we want to be forced to think about new ways of garment collecting, of extending the life cycle of garments, of making the process of recycling something that is relevant, that has a monetary value to the consumer. We want to ask ourselves, ‘How do we build in secondhand? How do we give a longer life to the garments? How do we find smart ways to scale out?’” he said.
Ervér added: “We want there to be a clear incentive for consumers to do the work, to understand that what they are doing is better for the planet and for them. For me, that’s a North Star. How do we put the consumer first in this conversation? How can we work with the consumer mindset? That’s where I believe this board can play an important role.” he said.
Asked about the other efforts H&M is making in the sustainability space, he said the company is working closely with its suppliers to help them to transition into sustainable energy sources, and looking at every step in the supply chain “to really make sure we become more precise in matching supply to the demand. We have already reduced the stock-to-sales ratio quite significantly.”
He said another challenge is “working with the material basket and getting more recycled materials into the collections. Using recycled materials has a lower CO2 impact than if we worked with virgin material, so we are continuously increasing the share of those materials,” he said, adding that recycled materials account for around 30 percent of the overall collection.
McCartney believes her latest H&M collaboration has pushed the limits of what fast fashion can do in terms of materials and manufacturing at scale. “It is possible to work with fast fashion and use well-sourced, well-made, humane materials and manufacturing systems,” she said.
The new collection includes a trench made from Regenerative organic cotton; a car coat done in Responsible Wool Standard certified wool, and a cropped bomber jacket made from a bio-based faux leather with a python print.
H&M and McCartney have used organic cotton denim for jeans with stars on the pockets, or with trompe-l’oeil details; recycled glass or brass embellishments on slinky tops; forest-friendly viscose for satin dresses, and recycled polyamide slingback heels for the collection, which will land on the shop floor and online later this spring.
