Greenpeace leans on H&M

LEEDS – Greenpeace is now calling for H&M – Europe’s second largest clothing retailer – to match the efforts of Nike, Adidas and Puma by committing to eliminate all uses and discharges of hazardous chemicals throughout its entire supply chain.

The call is part of the pressure group’s ongoing ‘detox’ campaign, which hit the headlines recently when Greenpeace launched its ‘Dirty Laundry’ report. The report identifies commercial links between major clothing brands and suppliers responsible for releasing hazardous and hormone-disrupting chemicals into Chinese rivers.

A couple of months into the campaign, the world's three biggest sportswear brands – adidas, Nike and Puma ? have now all committed to eliminate discharges of all hazardous chemicals across their entire supply chains, and their entire product life-cycle by 2020. All three say they are now preparing individual Detox Action Plans in consultation with Greenpeace campaigners.

However, this week, a blog entry on the Greenpeace website is now calling for H&M to match the efforts of Nike, Adidas and Puma by going beyond its general information about its Restricted Substances List and instead, calls on the company to reveal more detailed information about where its suppliers are located.

It claims that H&M has links to factories discharging a range of hazardous chemicals into China's rivers, and that clothing it has tested ? including kids clothing ? sold by H&M, contained nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) that break down into the toxic nonylphenol (NP), chemicals that are known hormone disruptors and can be hazardous even at very low levels.

The Greenpeace blog asks for H&M “to be honest with both its customers and the people living near its factories about where its suppliers are located and what hazardous chemicals these factories are releasing into our precious waterways during the manufacture of its clothes.”

Up to now, several brands have firmly defended themselves against the allegations made in the report. H&M, for example has stated that its links with the Youngor Group – one of the offending mills highlighted in the report – is used solely for cutting and sewing garments, not dyeing and finishing processes.

“H&M is not in any way using the wet processes within the premises of Youngor International Garment City and is therefore not contributing to discharging toxic chemicals in the Fenghua River,” said a statement from the Swedish retailer in response to the report.