About Corporate Responsibility

What do you do with defective garments?
Clothes that do not meet H&M’s quality requirements are not passed on to the stores. Instead, such garments are donated to organizations like UNHCR, the Red Cross and Caritas. We do not give away garments that do not comply with our safety requirements and chemical restrictions or that are damaged.

When feasible, our stores donate defective but usable garments that have been returned by our customers. We are reviewing our routines to see whether there is scope for further improvement.

During 2009, more than 500,000 H&M garments were donated to charity organizations.
How does H&M check that suppliers are abiding by its Code of Conduct?
We employ full-time auditors whose job it is to check compliance with our Code of Conduct. During audits they go through a list containing over 300 points relating to working conditions, the working environment, etc. After each audit we collate the results in a report that specifies the areas where improvements are needed, and the supplier is set a deadline for submitting an action plan. The auditors then visit the factories to follow up whether these actions have been taken. H&M also supports suppliers’ improvement work through training and projects of various kinds.

Read more about our Code of Conduct follow-up here.
Why does H&M have its own auditors?
Having our own auditors makes it easier to work for long-term improvements in our suppliers’ factories. Moreover, integrating CSR work into our day-to-day operations has very high priority at H&M. When choosing suppliers, for example, compliance with our Code of Conduct is one of the aspects we consider. This work is made considerably easier by having our own audit team at the offices in the production countries.

Monitoring and improvement work in the factories is the only task that H&M’s auditors have. They are not required to consider commercial aspects, but instead make independent decisions that our buying organisation must respect.

To complement our own monitoring programme, H&M participates in the Fair Labor Association (FLA). Among other things, this participation means that the FLA makes unannounced independent external monitoring visits to a number of H&M’s suppliers' factories in China. We hope that this will show our customers and other stakeholders how well our follow-up in the factories is working. In addition, participating in the FLA provides good opportunities to cooperate with other companies and the FLA’s partner organisations with the aim of improving working standards in our supply chain. We also use the results of the FLA’s audits as a point of reference for quality assurance of our internal monitoring programme.
Why don’t you pay the factory workers more?
Since H&M neither owns nor operates the factories that make our clothes, it is not us that sets or pays the factory employees’ wages. We are rarely the suppliers’ only customer and a worker may produce items for a number of different buyers in the same month. We believe that all the employees of a factory should have the same earnings potential, regardless of which buyer they are making clothes for.

But we demand – and check – that everyone receives the pay and overtime remuneration to which they are legally entitled. That is the only practicable solution – and the most competition-neutral.

Our Code of Conduct states that the statutory minimum wage is the lowest acceptable pay level for our suppliers’ employees, but not the recommended level. We prefer to see pay levels based on negotiations between employer and employees and for the law to lay down a reasonable minimum wage.
How can I find out where H&M’s clothes are made?
Every product in H&M’s range has its country of origin stated on the label.
Will H&M be publishing a list of the company’s suppliers?
H&M does not publish the names and contact details of its suppliers for competition reasons. We put a lot of resources into finding suppliers that live up to our quality requirements and the requirements of our Code of Conduct, and into helping suppliers to develop. H&M is expanding strongly and we are in competition with other companies in our sector to find spare production capacity.

However, we are open about where we buy our merchandise in our communications with trade union organisations, non-governmental organisations and other parties when it comes to issues at local level, e.g. at an individual factory.
Does H&M sell garments made in Burma?
No, we have a policy against trade with Burma under the present regime.In line with our commitment to human rights, H&M has a policy of not sourcing products manufactured in Burma. This policy will stand until the situation in Burma changes.

H&M is convinced that human rights issues require cooperation and dialogue with many different interested parties around the world. H&M will therefore consult with the Swedish Burma Committee as one source of information, before any initiatives of trade with or investments in Burma are taken. Thereby we can take into account the views of those working for democracy and respect for human rights in Burma when making our decision.
Are children used in the manufacture of H&M's products?
H&M does not accept child labour. Our policy against child labour is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention 138. All our suppliers sign an agreement undertaking to observe H&M’s Code of Conduct, which among other things means respecting H&M’s requirement that child labour shall not be used. Suppliers are also responsible for any subcontractors’ compliance with the provisions of the Code.

H&M’s auditors carry out regular checks to ensure that there are no underage workers in the factories. It is extremely rare for child labour to be discovered at H&M's suppliers or their subcontractors. Should this nonetheless happen, H&M requires the supplier to take responsibility and, together with H&M and the family, to find a solution in the best interests of the child. An investigation is carried out into how to resolve the situation based on the child’s interests. Many times the solution will involve the supplier contributing financially so that the child can receive an education and compensating the family for the loss of income. If H&M discovers repeated breaches of its ban on child labour at a supplier – or one of its subcontractors – the cooperation will be ended for good.
How can customers be sure that H&M clothes contain no harmful chemicals?
The health and safety of our customers is a very high priority matter, which is why we have been actively working for more than ten years on restricting the use of chemicals that may be harmful to health or the environment. We do this by means of our Chemical Restrictions – a list of restrictions that all suppliers must undertake to observe. We regularly test our products to ensure that they do not contain harmful chemicals. We apply the precautionary principle, which means that we do not just restrict substances that have been proven to be harmful, but also those merely suspected of being so, in order to be completely sure that our customers can feel safe with our products.
Is it possible to buy clothes produced with limited environmental impact at a good price?
H&M’s business concept is to offer fashion and quality at the best price. We manage this by buying direct from the manufacturers, by having efficient logistics and by having our own stores – not by compromising on our environmental requirements. We are also cost-conscious at every stage and the fact is that a cheaper mode of transport – such as by ship – causes lower carbon dioxide emissions than more expensive means of transport such as aircraft. So there is no conflict of interest between good prices and low climate impact.

We make efforts to support our suppliers so that production takes place with consideration for the health of customers and workers as well as for the environment.
Does the company have any plans for ISO 14001 certification?
H&M has no plans to apply for ISO 14001 certification. Instead we prefer to work seriously on environmental issues in our own way. You can read more about our environmental work here.
Does H&M have a policy on fur and leather products?
H&M does not sell real fur. H&M only sells leather from cattle, pigs, goats and sheep that have been bred for meat production. The same applies to down and feathers, e.g. in our down jackets – these come only from birds bred for meat production.
Can H&M guarantee that the merino wool in its garments is mulesing-free?
H&M considers it important that animals are not mistreated. We have therefore distanced ourselves from mulesing and concentrated our buying on suppliers that can guarantee mulesing-free merino wool. In 2009 we expect this decision to have its full impact and that the merino wool in our garments will be entirely mulesing-free.
Why does H&M have no clothes made using Fairtrade-certified cotton?
H&M wants to help improve conditions in cotton farming. We have chosen to do so through active involvement in the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), where we are a member of the organisation’s steering committee. BCI's vision is to enable millions of farmers around the world to grow cotton in a way that is healthier for the farming community and the environment, and more economical. Read more about this work at www.bettercotton.org.

H&M also offers clothes made with organic cotton. The cotton used in these clothes is 100% organically grown cotton which is certified by the Control Union. Just as previously, we also incorporate organic cotton into some of our children’s and babies’ wear. We hope that we can thereby show cotton farmers that there is a demand for organic cotton and encourage them to switch from conventional to organic production. Read more about the certification of organic cotton at www.controlunion.com.
What do you do with surplus clothes?
We donate clothes that do not meet H&M's quality requirements to charity organisations like Oxfam, Caritas, the Red Cross and Terre des Hommes. Each store is itself responsible for clothes that are returned to it. Often there is an agreement that the clothes will be passed on to a suitable local charity organisation. Naturally we never give away clothing that does not comply with our safety requirements and Chemical Restrictions. Such items are destroyed.
Are H&M cosmetics tested on animals?
No animal testing is carried out on our cosmetics products, either during production or on the finished products.
Why don't the labels in H&M's clothes say where they are made?
From 2003 country of origin will be stated on the size label of all H&M products.

In the US this information is already given on all products.
How can H&M manage to keep its prices so low?
We buy large quantities of the same garments direct from the supplier, with few middlemen, and sell the garments in our own stores. H&M has long experience of the textile industry and great knowledge of which goods should be bought from which market. In addition, we have invested a lot in a fast and cost-efficient distribution system. H&M is also permeated by cost-consciousness at every level, allowing us to offer the goods to the end customer at the very best price possible.