As one of the main names in the fast fashion industry, H&M might be considered a trendsetter for its customers and competitors alike. The company’s brand of affordable, personal-looking clothes has been consistently profitable over the last several years. H&M has become an internationally successful company, with outlets in over 400 countries worldwide, including China, whose market is traditionally difficult to penetrate. However, as recently as 2021 the company was erased from Chinese social media app stores in response to a boycott H&M declared on a Beijing cotton producer in response to forced labor allegations.
This issue ties back into the topical conversation on the ethics of fast fashion, sustainable consumption and the human rights debate within the global business context. As evident from the industry title, fast fashion caters to the mass consumer with its emphasis on the comparatively cheap clothes (Javed et al, 2020). Yet to achieve the profitability within the low-cost pricing strategy, fast fashion brands attempt to cut production costs (Rutter, Armstrong & Blazquez, 2017). As a result, many engage in questionable employment practices and below-minimum wage salary payments using the loopholes in local legislation.
At the same time, the phenomenon of responsible consumption has been steadily growing over the last several years, as well as the demand for business awareness of its social power. Companies, especially the large-scale ones, currently exist under scrutiny within the public eye, with customers factoring their production methods into their process of making purchasing decisions. Thus, the situations arise, where the firms and the supply countries operate at odds with each other (Hiller Connell & Kozar, 2017). For H&M the event indicates clear financial risk, yet is also likely to be perceived as a PR win by western customer base (Xiao, 2021). As for whether there is a risk of the trend continuing with other countries with unfair labor allegations, for now it is too early to say.
References
Hiller Connell, K., & Kozar, J. (2017). Introduction to special issue on sustainability and the triple bottom line within the global clothing and textiles industry. Fashion And Textiles, 4(1). Web.
Javed, T., Yang, J., Gilal, W. G., & Gilal, N. G. (2020). The sustainability claims’ impact on the consumer’s green perception and behavioral intention: A case study of H&M. Advances in Management and Applied Economics, 10(2), 1-22. Web.
Rutter, C., Armstrong, K., & Blazquez Cano, M. (2017). The Epiphanic Sustainable Fast Fashion Epoch. Sustainability In Fashion, 11-30. Web.
Xiao, E. (2021). H&M Is Erased From Chinese E-Commerce Over Xinjiang Stance. Web.