H&M has a long track record of integrating ethics into
its business notably with its ‘Conscious Collection’ line of clothing and also
through its sustainable supply chain strategy. But during London Fashion Week
one of its stores in the capital was the venue for a ‘Boycott Fashion’ protest.
The irony - and perhaps inappropriateness - of this was
further emphasised shortly afterwards when H&M announced the launch of a
new clothing rental service aimed at making premium items available at an
affordable price and extending the use and lifecycle of garments.
H&M isn’t the first retailer to announce this sort of
initiative - Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, Scotch and Soda and Ann Taylor
Loft have all launched subscription rental services this year - but the negativity that the company is facing
from the anti-fashion lobby has left its CEO, Karl-Johan Persson, exasperated.
In an interview with Bloomberg, he warned that curtailing fashion retailing “may
lead to a small environmental impact, but it will have terrible social
consequences”. Perhaps not surprisingly, this only enraged his opponents
further.
Britons buy more clothing than any other European country, and
its estimated that £2.7bn is spent fashion that they only wear once so it’s not
surprising that retailing is increasingly under scrutiny. And, of course,
property has a similar challenge: the built environment is responsible for
almost half of all carbon emissions in the UK.
So where property and retailing come together in the form shops
it’s clear that we can make a difference in terms of how those spaces are
created and operated. In London, major landlords such as Grosvenor, Shaftesbury
and The Crown Estate are leading the way in this respect and retailers are
responding to their lead.
In this context, it’s perhaps not surprising that streetwear
brand Napapijri felt that Shaftesbury’s Carnaby Street was the right setting
for its first London store. The brand recently launched ‘Infinity’: a 100%
recyclable jacket that’s been made using recycled fishing nets and which you
can ‘trade in’ after two years of use.
Given changing attitudes in society there is tremendous
opportunities for retail and property to collaborate on sustainable responses
to what shoppers demand. Hopefully, this week’s MAPIC retail property
exhibition will generate many ideas which can support this process.