H&M’s pioneering new collection, Innovation Circular Design Story, celebrates two themes; sustainability and joy. It is about embracing the future, boldly. Made using a plethora of cutting-edge recycled and recyclable materials, and with maximum attention to adaptability and usage, the collection highlights H&M’s commitment to a more circular form of production. To celebrate this new collection, H&M has teamed up with Normani Kordei, Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber amongst others, to embrace the excitement and anticipation of party-prep and dressing up. The cherry on top? The inimitable stylist Ib Kamara styled the entire campaign!

The Innovation Circular Design Story is the latest addition to H&M’s Innovation Stories, a ground-breaking new sustainability initiative that focuses on forward-thinking design and innovative materials. The collection is for those who love to experiment and express themselves, and this jubilant ethos is also reflected in the campaign; shot by the pioneering photographer Rafael Pavarotti and titled “Just before the party starts”. The theme captures the sensation of getting ready, and the optimism and individuality of those who love fashion, glamming up, choosing looks, posing in front of the mirror, dancing, and being free. The collection was created by the H&M design team together with the stylist Ib Kamara, who contributed as Creative Advisor and styled the campaign. Both Kamara and Pavarotti were given creative agency to bring their dynamic, colorful vision to life.

“I was proud to work with H&M on a collection that is so committed to circularity and positive change, while also embracing style, bold color, great fit. It’s a really multifaceted, rich collection, and it captures a special feeling for me; the excitement and anticipation of getting ready, of choosing a look and making oneself into a star.” – Ib Kamara, Stylist and Creative Advisor.

Find more details below as we speak with H&M Creative Advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson and Concept Designer Ella Soccorsi.

Ann-Sofie Johansson- Creative Advisor at H&M The Innovation Circular Design Story collection is a bold move by H&M, how long has this collection been in the works?
The Innovation Circular Design Story is the fourth drop in our wider Innovation Stories project, which we launched earlier this year and which explores themes of sustainability and circularity. Innovation Stories is a real watershed moment for us – an amazing step towards the future, with confidence, boldness, optimism. The Innovation Stories project is really important to all of us at H&M and has involved a great deal of work and planning, so, in that sense, this specific collection has been in the works for a while. It’s part of a much wider focus that we have here at H&M; it’s a consolidation of a lot of the past work we’ve been doing around circularity, and it is a real celebration of fashion and a showcase for the radical potentials of more sustainable processes and fabrics.

The Innovation Circular Design Story collection highlights the importance of recyclability and easy recycling—can you please further elaborate on what this means for the loyal H&M customer? What does easy recycling mean to the everyday H&M customer?
Every piece in this collection was created with the intention of optimizing circular design and usage. I think our customers really care about these issues and we are proud that this collection will help them to involve themselves in the recycling and circularity process. We really wanted the collection to provoke consideration and conversation around how people wear and treat clothing, so we made a point of emphasizing usage, to try to encourage people to think about sustainability and circularity when they get dressed. That’s why there is a real focus on maximising the ways all of the pieces can be worn – so even though many of the pieces are super bright and bold, they are also adaptable, through straps that can change fits, or hooks that adjust sizes so pieces can be shared or kept for years. I love the cropped bra top, which has multiple fastenings at the back so it can be adjusted to fit many different sizes – ideal for lending to friends, or for keeping for decades. When working on this collection, we also considered not only the look and construction of each piece, but also the deconstruction; the way pieces can be adapted or broken down for recycling, hence the use of innovations such as RESORTEC Smart stitch dissolvable threading. A key part of that was to send a message to our consumers about recycling their clothing, andthinking about the lifespan of the pieces they buy. Another focus has been on making items from solely one material, “Mono-fibre”, to enable easier recycling. It’s about fashion trying to take responsibility for its own waste, and teaching consumers about how to be involved in that.

What was it like working with Ib Kamara to style this special collection?
It was such a pleasure! Ib Kamara has served as creative advisor for the collection, and he worked really closely with H&M´s design team. Ib has such a strong vision and an amazing eye and I know that our team really appreciate that. I think you really see his skill and his vision in this collection; in the color, the accessorizing, the vibrancy, the styling combinations.

What is next for the Innovation Circular Design Story journey at H&M?
The collection is a key step in moving towards more circular practices. It’s part of a series of steps for us, and part of our wider Innovation Stories series. Our mission is purposeful design, where products are designed to be re-used and re-purposed; moving away from linear thinking. That’s why we recently launched the Circular Designer Tool, which embeds circularity at all stages of the design process, guiding our team along the way. This collection is all part of these steps and the making of it saw us implement the use of the Circular Design Tool for the first time. By 2025 the aim is that all H&M products are designed using the tool. Another goal is to ensure that we are using 30% recycled materials across the business by 2025. Finally, we aim to be a climate positive business by 2040.

Ella Soccorsi- Concept Designer at H&M
What is the design inspiration behind this collection? Did the materials inspire the designs for this collection, or did the design inspire the production process?
Circularity – that was the central inspiration. And joy! We were really interested in making a collection that pushed forward conversations around recycling and reusing fashion and materials, while making something that was beautiful, bold, optimistic. We looked at the history of fashion – polka dots, suiting, bows, frills – and to the future, to make a really dynamic collection. I think many of us have really missed fashion over the pandemic, and missed its transformative aspects; we wanted to make a collection that signaled a return to excitement, to self-expression, to dressing up. Breaking stereotypes was a key focus for us; we felt that people had a vision in their head when you talk about sustainable fashion, and we wanted to challenge that. We wanted to show it is possible to do a bright, fashion-focused collection but designed with circularity in mind. In terms of design and production, it was a very fluid process – I never felt that we had to compromise because the recycled fabrications we are working with are of such high quality that they really allow for creativity and experimentation.

How did H&M’s production teams work with design to see this cutting-edge collection come to life?
Design and production worked closely together on this to ensure that every fabrication, every detail, every element was considered. That is how we believe that circularity must function – it needs to be imbedded at all stages of the design process. That’s actually why H&M have recently launched the circular design tool, or Circulator, as Ann-Sofie mentioned above – it’s an incredible tool that helps all of us at H&M, and across the wider industry, to ensure that new creations are built with circularity and recyclability at the forefront. The guide has been developed in line with the vision for a circular economy for fashion set by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. I am already finding it an incredible resource within the studio. It’s an essential tool.

What are the key materials that are utilized in this collection and what makes them sustainable?
There are many amazing fabrics and techniques within this collection. REPREVE Our Oceans is a collection of fibres sourced from waste bottles found at sea. It’s used within the collection on faux fur coats, puffers, dresses and trousers. And Ambercycle Cycora makes use of old garments and end-of-life textile waste. You see it used in pieces like the black women’s trousers with strap details. RESORTECS smart stitch, which Ann-Sofie mentioned, is a dissolvable sewing thread, which allows garments to be easily be taken apart and recycled when they finally reach the end of their life cycle. It was used to attach sequins and beads in this collection. Finally, personally, I think people will also be really intrigued by some of the leather-look jackets and shoes, made from Vegea, an amazing vegan material made from grape skins, stalks and seeds left over during the wine making process. The pieces are super special and am so impressed by this incredible material. It’s not a new material for us, we have used it before, but I think it’s important to show that being sustainable is also about consistency, and building strong relationships with those who are doing pioneering sustainability work within the industry, season upon season.

H&M’s Innovation Circular Design Story Collection drops on December 9 in selected stores and on kw.hm.com, the H&M MENA App.