Swedish fashion company H&M is renown for making a statement. From the elite high end fashion models that adorn its campaigns, to the environmental influence the brand has on consumers across the globe, H&M makes the most of its thriving business.
On 12th December it was announced that the company will combine its environmental concerns with Hollywood glamour, as actress Olivia Wilde has been named as the new face of H&M‘s Conscious Exclusive collection, a collection based on sustainability.
The 30 year old, mother of one, is a fashion conscious, environmentally concerned individual, making her the perfect candidate to boost the popularity and sales of the collection. Following the Earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Wilde has devoted time to helping to rebuild the country, joining the organisation, ‘Artists for Peace and Justice‘, a non-profit organisation that seeks to offer health care and education. She has also actively backed Fair Food campaigns.
Succeeding her high profile predecessors Vanessa Paradis and Amber Valleta, Wilde is in full support of the new collection, she said, “I‘m proud to be the face of H&M Conscious Exclusive, a collection which shows the stylishness of Sustainability”. The statement is sure to boost sales, as eager fans and apprehensive consumers alike are urged to follow suit.
The introduction of the new collection comes about as positive press has reported H&M‘s thriving sales records for November. Sales were up by 10%, higher than expected, as they went from 42.6bn Swedish krona to 4.96bn. The increase came from internet sales improving in France, Italy, Spain and China.
Such a strong performance has clearly allowed H&M to work on more environmental, humanitarian projects, relevantly timed to coincide with CEO of H&M, Karl-Johan Persson‘s speech at the BSR Conference, a conference that aims for Transparency and Transformation in business.
In the conference, based in New York, Persson said his vision for H&M was for, “all operations to be run in a way that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable”. He highlighted how the recyclable clothes that are made up of organic products, cotton, linen, recycled polyester, conscious leathers, organic silk and cotton, need to act as a global move forward, with other fashion companies following suit. Persson stressed, “At H&M we want to be more than a spectator of global developments, we have a responsibility to use our size and influence to do what we can”.
Parsson urges the fashion industry to work on consumer labelling, allowing customers to compare items and buy the most environmental and sustainable products. During the conference he said that H&M is investing a lot of resources in to new materials, which will allow customers to make, ‘more informed decisions‘. Parsson believes that this will urge other fashion companies to do the same, as more pressure will be placed on providing sustainability as well as style.
With H&M investing more time and money into ethical clothing and influential ambassador Olivia Wilde modelling the collection, the sales of the April 2015 collection are set to soar.
