Making more conscious choices about our everyday purchases matters, whether that means buying ethically sourced goods or supporting environmentally friendly production. H&M’s bottle2fashion kidswear range is a great example: it uses recycled plastic and helps reduce marine plastic waste, while still being soft and comfy enough for kids to actually want to wear.
Plastic bottles as clothes? It sounds like an unlikely combination, but it’s actually a smart way to reduce plastic consumption and put existing plastic waste to good use instead of letting it pollute the environment further.
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H&M bottle2fashion Range
Plastic pollution is a serious and ongoing threat to marine environments. Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest contributors to ocean plastic waste, has been actively working to tackle the problem and cut down the amount of plastic ending up in its waters.
H&M wanted to play its part too, by finding alternatives to conventional polyester (which is itself a form of plastic) to make more sustainable, affordable kidswear. That’s how H&M teamed up with Danone AQUA on the bottle2fashion initiative — turning bottles that would otherwise end up in landfills or oceans into fashion instead.
How Does It Work?
PET bottles are collected on the islands of Indonesia, cleaned, shredded, and recycled into polyester fibres. These fibres are then blended with organic and recycled cotton to create a comfy collection of kids’ hoodies and joggers.
Making recycled polyester from existing PET bottles saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions compared to sourcing brand-new raw materials. In fact, by avoiding conventional polyester for this collection, H&M saved CO2 emissions equivalent to the electricity needed to charge 24 million mobile phones.
Did You Know?
Polyester fabrics shed microplastics every time you wash them. If you want to help protect our oceans a little further, you can wash polyester clothing inside a laundry bag designed to filter out these tiny fibres before they reach the water system.
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FAQs
What is H&M’s bottle2fashion initiative?
It’s a partnership between H&M and Danone AQUA that turns collected PET plastic bottles into recycled polyester fibres, which are then blended with cotton to make kids’ clothing like hoodies and joggers.
How are plastic bottles turned into clothing?
The bottles are collected, cleaned, shredded, and processed into polyester fibres. These fibres are combined with organic and recycled cotton and spun into fabric for garments.
Does recycled polyester clothing still shed microplastics?
Yes — any polyester fabric, recycled or not, can shed tiny plastic fibres in the wash. Using a laundry filter bag designed for this purpose can help catch microplastics before they enter the water system.
Why does reducing marine plastic waste matter?
Plastic that ends up in oceans and waterways can harm marine life and ecosystems for a very long time. Initiatives like bottle2fashion give some of that plastic a second life instead of letting it pollute the environment further.
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