Sustainable Fast Fashion: Business Case of H&M

Circular Business Model

In 2020, global textile consumption is estimated to be over 100 million per year. The environmental and social impact of this sector is an issue for the entire planet. Structuring sustainable supply chains today is a necessity for the fashion industry. In particular, the fast fashion industry, characterized by unbridled consumerism, has the greatest environmental and social impact. The model is called disposable because the focus is not on product quality but on efficiency and prices (De Giovanni, 2020).

In fact, this sector is based on a production system that makes intensive use of chemicals, large amounts of water and pesticides. The guidelines proposed by ISO 14000 should be followed. Among other things, this process is necessary in a context in which consumers pay more attention to sustainability issues and give them importance at the time of purchase (De Giovanni, 2021). Unlike a few years ago, when such initiatives came from the company in a top-down manner, it is now the market that demands certain social and environmental standards from the company. One solution to this problem is to manage the supply chain, or rather the value chain, in such a way as to use more natural resources, reduce CO2 emissions and achieve higher profit margins (Sacco and De Giovanni, 2018).

From this sector in particular, signals of a reversal of direction towards a more sustainable system at environmental and social level are arriving, also meeting the economic needs of companies, from a big Sweden company, H&M.