H&M has joined forces with Danone AQUA for the bottle2fashion project, which transforms plastic bottle waste from the shores of Indonesia into recycled polyester. This season bottle2fashion will collect and recycle around 3.5 million PET bottles. For the H&M kidswear collection, the recycled polyester has been blended with organic cotton and recycled cotton to create cozy, everyday pieces in fashion-forward colors and silhouettes.

 “Helping to keep beaches and oceans clean, bottle2fashion is another exciting step forward for a more circular and collaborative approach at H&M. To give a second life to disposable plastic bottles as recycled polyester is valuable in so many ways — to Indonesia’s environment, economy, and social values — but also the world and our customers. And once the kids outgrow the clothes, we encourage the items to be brought back to us through our garment collection initiative so they can be recycled once again”, says Nellie Lindeborg, Assortment Sustainability Responsible at H&M.

The collaboration with bottle2fashion also supports the Indonesian government’s initiative against marine pollution — while also generating local jobs — by collecting PET bottles, sorting, cleaning, and shredding them into flakes, and then making them into recycled polyester fibers.

“Through the bottle2fashion initiative that we’ve conducted alongside H&M, for this season, Danone-AQUA has successfully collected around 71 tons of PET bottles from Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Island) and Bandung Area. This is to show our commitment to preventing plastic from going into the ocean, which is also the manifestation of our #BijakBerplastik movement,” said Senior Sustainable Packaging Manager, Danone Indonesia, Ratih Anggraeni.

The entire collection is made from a blend of recycled polyester from the bottle2fashion project, organic cotton, and recycled cotton. Cheerful, comfortable, and coordinating hoodies, joggers, and long-sleeve tops form the collection and include stylish details such as twist knots, color-blocking, cropped length, and tie-dye. With a palette of black, marl grey, browns, navy, blush pink, and lavender plus bright green, sunflower yellow, and vibrant blues, the magic of color really come to life.

“For this collection, we wanted to focus on pieces that kids could really be kids in — playful, comfy, and confident — so hoodies, joggers, and some long-sleeve tops. Though the garments can be coordinated, we put together a wide-ranging color palette that could be easily mixed and matched. I always love to see what kids come up with and I hope they will also learn about the bottle2fashion project along the way,” says Sofia Löfstedt, Head of Kidswear Design at H&M.

We spoke further with Sofia Löfstedt, Head of Kidswear Design at H&M to learn more about the collection:

Hi Sofia! Please tell us more about your role at H&M. 

I work closely with all teams within the kids’ department, overseeing all collections making sure we all work in the right direction, creating great fashion for our many customers and fans. 

Can you tell us about your experience with the bottle2fashion project? 

The experience was fantastic, just imagine the fashion you are actually possible of creating from what many might consider to be trash only. 

How did the materials from the bottle2fashion project influence the design of the Kids collection? 

The material was the founding stone for the collection, enabling us to play and twist with a material not really used on this large scale before. 

Do you see yourself designing further collections from the bottle2fashion project?

I see us creating many amazing kids collections out of more sustainably sourced materials in the future, already planning for more style in this innovative material later this season. 

We also spoke further with Nellie Lindeborg, Assortment Sustainability Responsible at H&M to learn more about the role of sustainability when it comes to developing further H&M collections:

Hi Nellie, please tell us about more about your role at H&M. 

I am assortment sustainability responsible at the H&M brand, meaning I drive and support all departments working with our collections on the journey towards our ambitions goals.

Can you tell us more about the bottle2fashion project? 

Bottle2fashion is a collaborative project between H&M and Danone AQUA, and the idea is to give a second life to the highly disposable plastic bottle into valuable fabric known as recycled polyester

How is H&M teaching kids about the bottle2fashion project and sustainability in general?

Kids today are so engaged in sustainability, I think that it is us that should listen more to them and what their views are.  

H&M is making sustainability at the forefront with all of their collections, what other Kids collections also feature sustainable materials? 

We use a lot of sustainably sourced materials in all of our collections, but what I am most proud of is that we only use cotton that is sustainably sourced in all of our collections. 

Do you see this project becoming a part of H&M’s production process? 

I see all initiatives that encourage new ways of using existing resources and transform them into something else as a potential for future production processes.  Bottle 2 Fashion is already a part of our production processes and will continue to be – we optimize as much from this initiative as possible today.

For more information, please check out the Bottle2Fashion campaign page. Hoodies are available from KD 6.500 and are available by end of December in stores and online via the H&M website or app!