MILAN – H&M is launching a vegan alternative to leather made from the byproducts of wine as well as new dye made from the coffee grounds. For its new Conscious Collection debuting on March 26, the Swedish giant will use the ‘soft vegan leather’ – created by Italian tech company Vegea.
The collection will also feature new dye made from the coffee grounds in H&M’s offices in China, as well as recycled polyester.
H&M introduced its first organic cotton collection in 2010. It plans to continue building on last year’s bio-based materials, use more “waste” products, recycled garments, and Circulose, made from recovered cotton and viscose.
“Going forward, we need to be using more bio-based materials and use more waste in our collections,” Pascal Brun, H&M’s Sustainability Manager told Vogue.
“It isn’t just about materials, though, it’s about how we can design clothes to last longer and to be eventually recycled, and how can we involve our customers to have more sustainable behavior. It’s a holistic approach.”
H&M’s garment collection initiative allows customers to return old clothes to any store to be recycled or donated. And by 2030, the company’s goal is to use material that is 100% recycled or sustainably-sourced.
Last year, H&M’s well-known Conscious Collection featured vegan pineapple leather and orange silk.
