H&M has launched its latest Conscious Exclusive AW20 collection that features garments made from Eastman’s Naia Renew Cellulosic Fiber. The fiber is made from 60 per cent certified wood fibers and 40 per cent recycled waste plastics such as carpet fibers and plastic packaging.
The collection includes fabrics and processes that transform food crop waste into a natural fibre, as well as fabrics made from sustainably sourced wood pulp or that use a unique garment-to-garment process. The result is a series of “opulent evening gowns in black and green jacquard taffeta, yellow jacquard, festooned with dusty green flowers, mingling with voluminous tops and tailored suiting”. In other words, a regular fashion collection designed to show that sustainability doesn’t mean materials have to be second-best.
It also includes a selection of accessories with a pair of sunglasses crafted from Made of Air, a material partly that comes from waste biomass. And there are shoes made from Vegea, a vegan leather partly made from wine by-products.
H&M has also reached a multi-year agreement with Swedish textile recycling company Renewcell to supply it with thousands of tons of its pioneering virgin quality Circulose fibers made from unusable textile waste.