H&M is back with another Conscious Exclusive collection, the Swedish fashion brand’s most sustainable offering of the season. The AW20 collection, introduced on Wednesday, includes an opulent array of gowns and tailored suits, all of which were made using scraps of waste biomass, as well as fabrics designed from natural fibres like wood pulp and wine by-product. (Yup, you can wear your wine and drink it too.) All 38 pieces — 30 womenswear and eight menswear, a genre that returns to the Conscious Exclusive line this season after a five-year hiatus — will be available to purchase on HM.com come 1st December.
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Of the highlights are a yellow, off-the-shoulder gown — modelled in the campaign by Zinnia Kumar, an Australian-born, London-based ecologist and activist — with a delicate floral pattern; a high-neck, green taffeta maxi dress; and a pair of black, vegan leather boots crafted out of Vegea, a sustainable leather alternative made from grape skins. By removing the latter’s detachable sock, the style transforms into a pair of mules. The collection also includes a Harry Styles-esque jacquard two-piece set; a velvet, puff-sleeve mini dress; a sequin bra top, and a pair of sunglasses crafted from Made of Air®, a carbon-negative plastic.
“For AW20, we really wanted to be trailblazers — pushing the limits of creativity and sustainable fashion — by focusing on waste,” said Ann-Sofie Johnasson, H&M’s creative advisor, in a press release. To further push that initiative, the brand released a video campaign that sees a model recycling a plastic water bottle, sending it into its next life as a byproduct of this very collection. “Where some see waste, we see potential,” the narrator says as viewers watch the process play out. “Where some see rubbish, we see beauty,” she continues, while another model dumps a tote bag full of scraps into a recycling bin. “We’re changing fashion — starting with the things that used to be thrown away.”
Check out the "Wear The Waste" campaign video, below, and prepare to shop the AW20 Conscious Exclusive collection on 1st December.