H&M Launches Kinda Unintentionally Ironic UNICEF Intiative

Fast-fashion giant H&M is developing a new line of children’s clothing that partly benefits UNICEF. Twenty-five per cent of the proceeds from H&M’s “All for Children” line, which hits stores in October, will go to the charity. Reports Women’s Wear Daily, the funds will be used “to promote children’s rights to education and protection in vulnerable communities,” particularly in southern India and Bangladesh. It cannot have escaped H&M’s notice that Bangladesh and India are two of the countries where many of the child laborers who are employed in terrible circumstances making clothing for foreign retailers — including probably H&M — live; it’s not impossible that children might even end up sewing some of the very clothes intended to be sold to fund UNICEF’s anti-child labor initiatives. The rag trade is notoriously dangerous and low paying to workers of all ages; last year, 21 Bangladeshi workers died in a fire at a garment factory that supplied H&M and other brands. [WWD]
H&M had a decent quarter: same-store sales rose 11% and 2% over last year in April and May, respectively, and revenue rose 2% overall, to $4.4 billion. [WWD]
Meanwhile, according to a new book, “the average female invests in 62lb of clothing each year, has upwards of 20 garments hanging in her wardrobe that she has never worn and owns four times the amount [of clothing] today than she did in 1980.” These numbers are based on studies conducted at the University of Cambridge. Furthermore: “Women are expected to spend £133,640 in a lifetime on fashion. In 2007, three pairs of jeans were sold each second. Between 2001 and 2005, while spending on womenswear rose by 21 per cent, the price of individual items dropped by 14 per cent.” [Telegraph]