Making more conscious choices when it comes to our everyday purchases is important, whether that is ethically sourced or environmentally-friendly produced. The new H&M bottle2fashion kidswear range uses recycled plastic and also helps to reduce marine plastic waste – and it’s cute and soft enough for kids to enjoy wearing!
Don’t miss the chance to have your say! We’re looking for parents to get involved and give their feedback on all aspects of family life. Find out more here.
Plastic bottles as clothes? Sounds like an unlikely combo, but in fact is a great way to reduce plastic consumption and reuse plastic waste already affecting the environment.
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H&M bottle2fashion Range
The unavoidable truth is, plastic pollution is a huge threat to marine environments. Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest contributors to this, has set an admirable goal to cut its marine plastic waste by 70% by 2025.
H&M also want to tackle their own plastic problem by finding alternatives to conventional polyester (a kind of plastic) to make more sustainable, affordable kidswear. So, H&M joined forces with Danone AQUA for the bottle2fashion initiative, which (you guessed it) turns bottles that were destined for landfills or oceans into fashion.
How Does it Work?
PET bottles are collected on the islands of Indonesia, cleaned up, shredded and recycled into polyester fibres. These fibres are then blended with organic and recycled cotton to produce a comfy collection of kids’ hoodies and joggers.
It saves energy and CO2 emissions to make recycled polyester from existing PET bottles, rather than sourcing more 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 micro-plastics when you wash them, so to help protect our oceans even further you can wash polyester clothing in laundry bags that help to filter these out.
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Have your say! What do you think of the bottle2fashion concept? Would you buy it? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!