Kicking off the first annual World Recycle Week on April 18, the goal of the “Rewear It” campaign, is to collect 1,000 Tons of used clothing at H&M stores worldwide, and keep them out of landfills by recycling them. It's rare indeed for the two disciplines to come together for such a benevolent purpose as this recent campaign from clothing retailer H&M and British-Sri Lankan indie rap star MIA. And is reinforced by the performer's latest single of the same name,
To raise awareness of the campaign, it seemed natural to create a music video for the song, which MIA wrote exclusively for it. The song is a typically bold and instrumentally eclectic offering from the genre-straddling artist most famous for her Clash-sampling hit “Paper Planes.” In the lavish clip, MIA dances and raps on a stack of recycled textiles and amongst tents and skyscrapers constructed from discarded fabrics. The aim is to highlight the environmental impact of clothing going into landfills around the world, but to do so with the kind of pizazz we've come to expect from modern pop videos. A dazzling cast of attractive and flexible models, dancers and social media influencers also feature, with choreography by FKA twigs collaborator Aaron Sillis. It's a video that could be seen by naysayers as little more than a gimmick, especially considering the rapper's iffy past relationships with brands (in one of her last music videos, she donned a PSG football shirt, whose logo from its sponsors, Fly Emirates, was doctored to read “Fly Pirates” and we all remember her famous Super Bowl middle finger), but it all seems sincere from where we're sitting.
H&M World Recycle Week featuring MIA
The cause is a good one too, as millions of pounds of clothes end up in landfills each year. H&M's program, known as the Garment Collecting movement, hopes to stem this tide somewhat. The initiative is part of H&M’s goal to close the loop in fashion by recycling garments to create reusable textile fibres. The term “rehaul” is being exclusively used by the campaign as the antithesis to a typical blogger haul video, which often show bloggers drooling and guffing over recently purchased items they've probably been paid a hefty fee to promote. The #HMrehaul hashtag will be used to share videos that exhibit customers around the world filming the garments they intend to recycle followed by a drop off at their local H&M store’s collection bin, available in each of the 3,600 stores worldwide.
Garment Collecting at H&M has been active since 2013, and allows customers to drop off garments from any brand and in any condition, to any H&M store. These garments are recycled into a second life, and customers are ensuring that fewer garments go into landfills. In return, US customers who recycle receive a 15% discount to use towards their next purchase at H&M. During the World Recycle Week period, customers will receive a 30% coupon as a thank you for their participation. The long term goal of the project is to have zero garments going to landfills, as well as saving on natural resources. All textiles are welcome including odd socks, old towels, or the dress with a hole as nothing is too torn, worn, or used for a second life. By recycling just one T-shirt, 555 gallons of water can be saved; imagine the impact of 1,000 tons of garments collected during World Recycle Week. You could question the legitimacy of the motives behind the campaign until the cows come home of course, but we're counting this one as a win. For now.
