H&M is still promoting sustainability in the metaverse - Glossy

On January 4, H&M launched Loooptopia, an immersive “circular” gaming acquisition connected Roblox. In the game, players cod coins to unfastened loot boxes filled with fabrics successful antithetic colors, materials and textures. They tin past slot the fabrics into a instrumentality to make implicit 1,000 antithetic in-game integer garments. It marks H&M’s latest integer manner motorboat focused connected sustainability. In December, it teamed with The Institute of Digital Fashion connected a three-part phygital postulation that included integer fashions, disposable to effort connected with augmented reality, and existent garments sold successful store. 

“Through the [new] acquisition connected Roblox, we let players experimentation with materials and patterns successful a playful way, creating the adjacent virtual garment and wardrobe for their avatar. In the coming years, H&M volition proceed to research this fast-growing expanse of virtual and augmented realities,” said Max Heirbaut, planetary caput of metaverse marque acquisition astatine H&M. Heirbaut antecedently worked astatine gaming institution Toca Boca, earlier moving connected to advising brands connected gaming strategy.

“The duality successful individuality we present spot with younger generations gives a glimpse into what’s adjacent for manner civilization astatine large,” helium said. According to Heirbaut, circularity is an important constituent of the Roblox crippled for H&M. The acquisition allows players to remix oregon recycle garments to gain super-rare elements to make a one-of-a-kind piece.

However, the brand’s latest gaming task inactive reads similar an hold of its messy past of linking sustainability and the metaverse. Initially, the metaverse and integer manner experiments from H&M were innocuous. The Swedish retailer archetypal launched virtual apparel for The Sims successful 2007, via a collaboration with gaming institution Electronic Arts. It shelved the thought until 2020, erstwhile the metaverse became a trending conception astatine the tallness of the pandemic. 

However, it wasn’t until 2021 that the marque started combining its metaverse activations with sustainability language. It appointed Maisie Williams arsenic a sustainability ambassador with a integer avatar successful 2021, prompting an outcry from experts successful sustainable manner implicit the actress’s deficiency of credentials successful the field. In the aforesaid year, H&M came retired with a PETA-approved integer manner postulation and its archetypal “Looop” integer manner land concept for the Nintendo crippled Animal Crossing. Like the 2023 Roblox launch, it was meant to beforehand circularity among the gamer assemblage — portion not extending the conception to its carnal merchandise range. 

However, the marque is adamant that its circularity efforts bash widen to its carnal range. “Technology not lone allows for caller ways to prosecute with our customers, but it’s besides a instrumentality successful the displacement to a much circular manner industry. For example, successful the plan stage, we’ve moved distant from designing a merchandise utilizing accepted sketches and carnal samples toward utilizing virtual plan production,” said Heirbaut.

IoDF laminitis Leanne Elliot Young, who worked with H&M connected the collaboration successful December, said that the marque is making an effort to spouse with web3 companies focused connected sustainability. “When a marque similar H&M steps into a caller arena similar the metaverse, determination are ever harsh critiques arsenic to why, particularly erstwhile sustainability is simply a driver,” she said. “As the fundamentals of web3 are solutions for fashions sustainability issues, [it was important that] H&M’s motorboat was incremental and holistic, portion leaning connected narratives that audiences easy understood.”

H&M’s sustainability selling and connection accrued astir 2020, arsenic the institution focused connected documenting its proviso concatenation amid greenwashing allegations and mountains of unsold goods. According to the New York Times, H&M sells an estimated 3 cardinal garments a year. In 2019, it held $4 billion worthy of unsold clothes. It was besides successful 2019 erstwhile the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority archetypal launched an enquiry into H&M for greenwashing utilizing the Higg Index. 

Four years later, H&M has been astatine the halfway of 2 greenwashing inquiries, from the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers. In July 2022, a U.S. user filed a suit against H&M implicit greenwashing surrounding its Conscious Collection. Now, H&M is successful a heated battle with the Norwegian authorities implicit however overmuch unsold banal is sitting successful the section market.

In measurement with dealing with these inquiries and lawsuits, H&M has travel retired with integer manner collections tied to sustainability. In January 2022, it launched the Divided Virtual Competition successful concern with virtual manner marketplace DressX. The marketplace was built connected the thought of sustainability, pushing integer fashions arsenic alternate manner options without the c emanation impact. “The accumulation of integer items can, connected average, trim the c footprint by 97%, successful examination to the accumulation of the carnal items,” said Olga Chernysheva, main sustainability serviceman astatine DressX, citing interior calculations by the company.

For H&M, which is inactive dealing with issues of unsold banal and overproduction, integer manner is much of an workout successful integer creativity. At the moment, the institution does not person plans to modulation immoderate of its existing accumulation to virtual-only goods.

“The progressively virtual magnitude of manner creates breathtaking aboriginal opportunities for H&M, allowing america to make vibrant virtual counterparts to our carnal collections,” said Heirbaut.