H&M unveils second-hand clothing website /

Earn your stripes / In 2019, after launching its Conscious collection (clothing made from more sustainable materials like organic cotton, recycled polyester and Tencel), H&M was called out for greenwashing by the Norwegian Consumer Authority for failing to sufficiently back up its sustainability claims. As a fast fashion giant, H&M is an easy target for this sort of accusation – how much recycling and organic cotton would it feasibly take to offset its enormous footprint? So Rewear and previous initiatives (including a pledge to use 100% recycled or sustainable materials by 2030, a clothing recycling scheme, and a virtual fashion collection) are important steps for the retailer to earn its sustainability stripes and begin to be taken seriously in this area. By enabling customers to sell non-H&M items as well as H&M clothing, the brand positions itself as a leader in the space and stakes a claim on the high street fashion resale market.

Lucrative market / Moving into resale is also a savvy business decision. The fashion resale market is thought to be worth $40bn and estimated to grow to $77bn globally by 2025, significantly outpacing the growth of traditional fashion retail. Crucially, Rewear isn’t a buy-back or refurbishment scheme like we’ve seen from Ikea and Nike, or a rental scheme like Selfridges and UpChoose now offer – H&M is simply offering up a platform for people to buy and sell things customer-to-customer and taking a 15% cut of the sale in return. This means, if people use the platform to sell non-H&M items, H&M makes money from items it didn’t produce in the first place. Meanwhile, by offering sellers the option of receiving payment as a gift card with an added 20% in value, the retailer incentivises further shopping at H&M, creating a more circular shopping experience.

Challenging perceptions / As a pioneer of fast fashion, H&M is guilty of speeding up fashion cycles by churning out new styles from concept to store more and more frequently. Produced in bulk with ever shorter supply chains, this clothing is very affordable – but while low prices attract consumers, they also imply that the product is low quality, and therefore disposable. By creating a platform that gives a second life to H&M items, the brand challenges perceptions that its clothes are disposable and therefore drives associations with quality.