Unsold Clothes Destroyed by H&M and Wal-Mart

[jplikejayz]

in these rough times, this is just one of those disheartening stories to read about

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[h1]A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed[/h1]
By JIM DWYER

Published: January 5, 2010

In the bitter cold on Monday night, a man and woman picked apart a pyramid of clear trash bags, the discards of the HM clothing store that reigns in blazing plate-glass glory on 34th Street, just east of Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

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Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Cynthia Magnus with mutilated clothing she found on West 35th Street last month. She said she was appalled by the waste.

[h4]Related[/h4] [h2]Times Topics: Jim Dwyer[/h2] [h2]Update: H & M Says It Will Stop Destroying Unworn Clothing[/h2]
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At the back entrance on 35th Street, awaiting trash haulers, were bags of garments that appear to have never been worn. And to make sure that they never would be worn or sold, someone had slashed most of them with box cutters or razors, a familiar sight outside H & M's back door. The man and woman were there to salvage what had not been destroyed.

He worked quickly, never uttering a word. A bag was opened and eyed, and if it held something of promise, was tossed at the feet of the woman. She said her name was Pepa.

Were the clothes usually cut up before they were thrown out?

"A veces," she said in Spanish. Sometimes.

She packed up a few items that had escaped the blade - a bright green T-shirt that said "Summer of Surf," and a dark-blue hoodie in size 12, with a Divided label. The rest was returned to the pyramid.

It is winter. A third of the city is poor. And unworn clothing is being destroyed nightly.

A few doors down on 35th Street, hundreds of garments tagged for sale in Wal-Mart - hoodies and T-shirts and pants - were discovered in trash bags the week before Christmas, apparently dumped by a contractor for Wal-Mart that has space on the block.

Each piece of clothing had holes punched through it by a machine.

They were found by Cynthia Magnus, who attends classes at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York on Fifth Avenue and noticed the piles of discarded clothing as she walked to the subway station in Herald Square. She was aghast at the waste, and dragged some of the bags home to Brooklyn, hoping that someone would be willing to take on the job of patching the clothes and making them wearable.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Melissa Hill, said the company normally donates all its unworn goods to charities, and would have to investigate why the items found on 35th Street were discarded.

During her walks down 35th Street, Ms. Magnus said, it is more common to find destroyed clothing in the H & M trash. On Dec. 7, during an early cold snap, she said, she saw about 20 bags filled with H & M clothing that had been cut up.

"Gloves with the fingers cut off," Ms. Magnus said, reciting the inventory of ruined items. "Warm socks. Cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor. Men's jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls." The jackets were tagged $59, $79 and $129.

This week, a manager in the H & M store on 34th Street said inquiries about its disposal practices had to be made to its United States headquarters. However, various officials did not respond to 10 inquiries made Tuesday by phone and e-mail.

Directly around the corner from H & M is a big collection point for New York Cares, which conducts an annual coat drive.

"We'd be glad to take unworn coats, and companies often send them to us," said Colleen Farrell, a spokeswoman for New York Cares.

More than coats were tossed out. "The H & M thing was just ridiculous, not only clothing, but bags and bags of sturdy plastic hangers," Ms. Magnus said. "I took a dozen of them. A girl can never have enough hangers."

H & M, which is based in Sweden, has an executive in charge of corporate responsibility who leads the company's sustainability efforts. On its Web site, H&M reports that to save paper, it has shrunk its shipping labels.

"How about all the solid waste generated by throwing away usable garments and plastic hangers?" Ms. Magnus asked in a letter to the executive, Ingrid Schullstrom. She volunteered to help H & M connect with a charity or agency in New York that could put the unsold items to better use than simply tossing them in the trash. So far, she said, she has gotten no response.

On Monday night, Pepa's shopping bag held a few items. She pointed to her gray sweatpants. "From here," she said.

How about coats?

"Maybe tomorrow," she said.

 

[knightngale]

how about online shopping for the U.S. market H&M? Maybe they would not have to destroy the clothes

 

[mytmouse76]

absolutely ridiculous...

SN: i always ask can i have the hanger at H&M and those bastards always so no... @@#% boys

 

[milestailsprowe]

common bussiness practice and sadly it will continue.

 

[mangudai954]

You know how many people could of used those clothes? That's so idiotic to me..

 

[servechilled81]

this is something that is just stupid, my little bro works at blockbuster and they have to do this to dvd too
with clothes it's even more ridiculous

 

[sreggie101]

Op, gj on posting this i would've never known about this.

 

[skyypilot]

Does anybody have any common sense over there to actually utilize the clothing for people that need it?

 

[mastamind89]

Originally Posted by milestailsprowe

common bussiness practice and sadly it will continue.

 

[powfo]

From a business stand point it makes perfect sense to destroy your unsold clothes. I'm not saying it's right, but you gotta look at this fromH&M's perspective.

 

[mangudai954]

Originally Posted by Powfo

From a business stand point it makes perfect sense to destroy your unsold clothes. I'm not saying it's right, but you gotta look at this from H&M's perspective.

True but there's gotta be another option though.

 

[recycledpaper]

Originally Posted by Powfo

From a business stand point it makes perfect sense to destroy your unsold clothes. I'm not saying it's right, but you gotta look at this from H&M's perspective.

if it ain't right, it doesn't make perfect sense.

 

[ac4three]

That's horrible...

 

[israel5ekla]

common bussiness practice and sadly it will continue.

 

[jt air jt]

Originally Posted by milestailsprowe

common bussiness practice and sadly it will continue.

 

[Original Playa Records]

It cost more money to get them in other hands.

 

[teamjordan79]

smh so why are there clothing drives if clothes get destroyed

the main problem aint the clothes...its logistics

 

[chiva1908]

terrible...smh...

 

[uptown roamer]

I hate reading *@#$ like this.

We live in a +%**+# up world I tell you...

 

[infamousod]

you are all drastically overreacting.


either that or you're all communists.

 

[luis baller 88]

Sears does this with merchandise thats to big to be sent back to the company on a pallet. I've seen LCD TVs thrown in the trash compactor and people notgiven the opportunity to buy it or take it home.

 

[much respected]

Originally Posted by TeamJordan79

smh so why are there clothing drives if clothes get destroyed

the main problem aint the clothes...its logistics

I think its more about them protecting the brand than logistics.

 

[his diabolical majesty]

Originally Posted by H TOWN HUSTLER

It cost more money to get them in other hands.

na that's not the issue. All it takes is a couple of phone calls to churches, clothings drives, etc. They'll come and pick em up in trash bags.It's what much respected said.

 

[Betonblck]

Originally Posted by His diabolical Majesty

Originally Posted by H TOWN HUSTLER

It cost more money to get them in other hands.

na that's not the issue. All it takes is a couple of phone calls to churches, clothings drives, etc. They'll come and pick em up in trash bags. It's what much respected said.

QFT. Churches, clothing drives, etc are required to be not for profit. So there's no "brand" to protect and no "cost" to get them inother hands.

Directly around the corner from H & M is a big collection point for New York Cares, which conducts an annual coat drive.

"We'd be glad to take unworn coats, and companies often send them to us," said Colleen Farrell, a spokeswoman for New York Cares.

 

[terrimui]

that's such a waste