Sustainable is in fashion thanks to retail giant H&M. The retailer developed a “Conscious Collection” featuring sustainable fabrics that debuted on April 14, 2011.  They expanded with a beautiful Fall line, and now they’ve added the “Conscious Party Collection” for Winter 2011 to celebrate the holiday season. 

Photo courtesy H&M Conscious Collection Fall 2011

The original line featured organic cotton and linen, as well as Tencel and recycled polyester pieces in shades of white. The line had a flowy and romantic feel to it, not to mention that white was one of the biggest trends for Spring/Summer 2011. It was able to draw in consumers because it embodied not only what the Conscious Collection was about, but was on point when it came to style savvy shoppers. Once again constructed from sustainable fabrics, the Fall 2011 Conscious Collection was equally as beautiful with embroidered wool coats, lace blouses, floral printed dresses and shoes.

Building on their vision for the line and the company as a whole, the Conscious Collection is expanding this holiday season. When people think of holiday wear they think of beading, shimmer, metallics, lace, and different textiles that could not be more different than the soft and flowy pieces of the Spring/Summer line. H&M has launched a Conscious Party Collection for the Winter 2011 holiday season that delivers on all fronts. Again they are using recycled polyester, organic cotton and Tencel. This line has everything that people want from a holiday collection because it’s perfect for cocktail parties and holiday gatherings. Even though it’s environmentally friendly, it doesn’t lack style. The Conscious Party Collection is fun, trendy, simply on point and even a little forward thinking. These pieces won’t become out of date anytime soon.

Photo courtesy H&M Conscious Party Collection Winter 2011

“It’s not just about organic cotton any more, the possibilities for creating a complete fashion statement with eco smarter materials are huge now. By designing recurring Conscious Collections we have the opportunity to show in a variety of ways what’s possible using more sustainable fabrics,” says Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M Head of design.

Their head of Corporate Social Responsibility Helena Helmersson, who has been with the company for over ten years, is taking to her new role. Her job description is simple, but entails a lot: make H&M’s entire operations, from sourcing to store, sustainable. This is a lofty goal and one that Helmersson is passionate about. Helmersson said in an interview with fashionetc.com that, “the goal for H&M is to be in the forefront of sustainability. That demands quite a lot of work, but that’s a goal and we have peers that we compare ourselves with that are also front-runners, but we also collaborate with them. We have a sustainability strategy for the company; the responsibility for sustainability lies with everyone. It should be completely integrated in the business.”

H&M is a large multi-national corporation, but they understand where the retail market is moving. Though they are a mid-price point company, they recognize that their customer wants to be able to wear clothing that is not harming the environment; and H&M is delivering. The popularity of their line, and the fact that they are creating clothing that is chic and hip shows that this model can be adopted by other companies. This holiday season anyone can be a sustainable fashionista on a budget thanks to H&M.
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