14 DAY TRIAL // The latest company to accept the Detox challenge coming from Greenpeace is Swedish company H&M, one of the 14 major brands found to have toxic chemicals in the clothing it sells.
Joining Adidas, Nike and Puma in the Detox campaign, H&M stores worldwide have already started being re-branded by Greenpeace activists with clickers and stickers that highlight the company’s commitment to a toxic-free future.
H&M reportedly agreed to full disclosure and transparency about the hazardous chemicals used in its apparel and footwear supply chains, with the first round of information due to be released by the end of 2012.
The reason for what makes H&M a key player in Greenpeace’s Detox campaign is that the Swedes are seen as a a catalyst for wider change in the clothing industry. This means that other major clothing brands are expected to follow the example set by the company.
For the next eight weeks, H&M will also make public technical information such as restricted limits and test methods, as well as initiate an investigation into how to increase the focus on chemicals management and wastewater monitoring practices in the company’s program.
The study commissioned by the environmental organization revealed recently that Adidas, Kappa, G-Star Raw, Puma, Nike, Li-ning, Youngor, Uniqlo, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein, use NPEs (nonylphenol ethoxylates) in the manufacturing process.
The NPEs can break down to form toxic nonylphenol (NP), which acts as a hormone disruptor, affecting reproduction and fertility.
As said, Greenpeace stormed all social media networks in order to make companies commit to their Detox campaign. Twitter and Facebook ‘attacks’ were strengthened by sticker actions in 12 countries, as activists used huge “Detox our future!” and "Detox our water!" stickers to re-brand the shop windows of H&M stores.
The organization says a Twitter petition launched one week ago was retweeted by 1,200 users, thus getting to be signed by over 635,000 people.
In addition, many of the eight million fans that have ‘liked’ H&M’s Facebook page posted and "liked" comments and questions about the Detox campaign on the company’s page.
The response to all these ‘massive attacks’ was, as we already told you, another clothing giant trying to set a trend in a ‘greener’ manufacturing process.