Now that Portland’s been promised its own H&M store, it’s time to fortify ourselves on the moral high ground, shielding our love of supporting local business from the crippling urge to snap up adorable closet staples at accessible prices… In the interest of that, then, you may want to catch up on some bad press the Swedish retail Goliath has had in the New York Times this week. The NYC location on 34th street was busted for destroying unworn, unsold clothing before tossing it out, rather than donating it to charity, which is naturally the decent thing to do.
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.
In yesterday’s edition, the company hit back:
Ms. Christie said it was H & M’s policy to donate unworn clothing to charitable groups. She said that she did not know why the store on 34th Street was slashing the clothes, and that the company was checking to make sure that none of its other stores were doing so.
Damn straight.
Get the 411 on fashion in the 503 (971?) on MOD.