Unsold H&M clothes found in rubbish bags as homeless face winter chill
Megastore at the centre of a storm of protest after New York graduate student discovers bags of cut up garments
Megastore at the centre of a storm of protest after New York graduate student discovers bags of cut up garments
The clothing megastore H&M has found itself at the centre of an angry protest after one of its leading outlets in Manhattan was accused of cutting up unsold garments and dumping them in rubbish bags on the street.
The claim that the global chain was destroying unused clothes in the middle of one of the bitterest winters and deepest recessions to have hit New York in many years led to an outpouring of angry comments on Twitter.
The company, based in Sweden, said it was looking into the incident and emphasised its commitment to community responsibility.
Rubbish bags full of pristine clothes were found by a graduate student of the City University of New York, who came across them one night as she walked to the subway.
The student, Cynthia Magnus, tracked them to the 34th Street H&M store, a popular venue for tourists and New Yorkers in the centre of Manhattan.Inside the bags were gloves with the fingers cut off, socks, patent leather shoes with the instep cut up, and warm men's jackets slashed across the body and arms. "It was a very frigid night, and there were bags upon bags of warm winter clothing not 50 feet away from where a homeless man slept on cardboard boxes," she said.
Shocked by what she had found, she took some of the bags home to Brooklyn and tried to salvage the clothes. She contacted H&M's Swedish headquarters complaining about the dumping, and when she received no reply took the story to the New York Times. She also exposed an alleged dumping exercise carried out by a contractor of America's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, on the neighbouring block.
According to the Coalition for the Homeless, the number of people sleeping rough in New York city has reached its highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. There are thought to be about 39,000 people who do not have a home, including more than 10,000 families and 16,500 children. Homelessness has been exacerbated by the economic downturn, which has pushed the number of families in receipt of food stamps in the city to record highs. A cold snap has also meant outdoor night temperatures in New York of -10C (14F). Paradoxically, five blocks away from the H&M store is a group called New York Cares, which mobilises support for the community by co-ordinating volunteers wanting to help homeless and poor families in the city. It holds an annual drive that distributes 70,000 secondhand winter coats to needy individuals.
The group points out that nine in 10 homeless adults need to replace their winter coat each year because they have no place to store it during the summer.
Nicole Christie, of H&M, said the company took responsibility for how its operations affected people and the environment across its 200 US stores and worldwide. She said garments not meeting quality thresholds were regularly given to aid groups, including the UNHCR and a branch of Gifts In Kind. Globally, last year, 500,000 clothing items were given away, she said. She said H&M was looking into the "isolated incident" reported.
Wal-Mart said it too was investigating.
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