In the face of environmental and social impact of the fashion industry, many retailers are pledging to make fashion a sustainable and transparent industry, and sharing their policies and practices with consumers. H&M is one of these brands that publish data about their supply chain, factory numbers, locations and employee numbers, so that consumers remain informed about the social impact of the clothes they purchase.
China: main clothing supplier
As seen in the present graph, China, Bangladesh and Turkey are top three locations where H&M sources its products. This is also true for many other fast fashion retailers, as the majority of the world’s clothing supplies come from these countries. In Sweden, where the retailer is headquartered, there are a total of 21 suppliers and factories manufacturing H&M's clothing products and accessories.
Sustainable cotton sourcing
In addition to accountability and transparency principles H&M is pursuing, the retailer is also dedicated to sustainable cotton usage in its products. Based on the retailer’s policy, uptake and traceability performance on sustainable cotton sourcing, H&M scored an overall 77.4 out of 100 in 2020. According to the ranking criteria, this renders H&M as a retailer that “leads the way”.
