Every company has a responsibility (whether they want to or not) to be mindful of the environment: how they dispose of their product, how they make their product, the types of materials used.... I think you get my gist. Its called "Social Responsibility" and every firm needs to be aware of this because otherwise, it gives all of its consumers the impression that they, the company, is only here to make money and could care less about the environment we all live and breath in. I'm always surprised to hear of ANY company doing anything reckless like: owning a sweatshop (NIKE) or selling a product that you know is harmful to your consumer (Philip Morris)....Not all cases are as extreme as these but still ridiculous, nonetheless. With that said, I was again surprised when I read about both H&M and Wal-Mart discarding and destroying their coats and clothing that have never been worn and throwing them in the dumpsters of Manhattan, NY.
According to NYtimes.com, directly around the corner from H&M is New York Cares, a collection point which conducts an annual coat drive so, why wouldn't both of these firms reach out to them? Besides, there are countless agencies and non-profit organizations aimed at disposing such donations to prevent any concerns of it being resold into any underground market. As if, that's going to stop something still being sold, but I digress...
Both clothing stores are blocks apart and both spokeswomen, spoke of their company's social responsibility but let's eliminate the cookie cutter responses and get down to the real issue. It is the freezing, bitter cold of Winter in New York City, our country suffers from millions of Americans that are either homeless or poor without access to clothing, food or shelter. Not to mention, this is a reoccurring practice for H & M, according to other articles of clothing observed in the dumpsters on different days. I guess, its just too easy to just look out for those that actually need it...who are REALLY hard-up for a nice coat and gloves, is it too much for one person to stop and think ....."now why are we doing this?" OR "you think I can take these clothes, I know somewhere this could go".
So...Why did this happen? Why was this an option? OR did they even care? I'm going with the latter. There are countless stories of Wal-Mart's foolery, so for me, I'm not really surprised about them. However, H & M is another story. H & M prides itself on being socially responsible firm and has clear objectives stated on their site of their practices on discarding clothing. For me, do we go to the company's head with this or do we just continue to wonder why no one thought this was a tad 'special' ...and trust, not in a good way. One thing is though, both firms have stated they will stop destroying their unworn garments however, on the other hand, it definitely says a lot about the reigning H&M and their practices. Hmmm....
Story Courtesy of NYTIMES.COM
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