Lovelyish

Thats just sad. There are thousands probably millions of people that could use those clothes. Like me for example. I have an extremly hard time getting a job because of m vision and my parents are in a bad financial situation too so most of my clothes have holes in them (like the one I’m wearing right now.)

if they dont want it…i’ll take it

Very wasteful indeed. I’m actually appalled they didn’t donate the rest of the clothes in the first place. I mean, their reason was understandable but it’s still a big waste. 

that is really wasteful and pointless.

That just makes me really angry. So many in the world are not fortunate to have even basic clothing and they throw away bags full of shredding material needlessly! It’s horrible. Donate the clothing and help those who cannot afford them.

That’s so horrible! And just straight-up throwing it out too? This stupid country.

that’s really awful. why not just donate them?

That is so mean to people who can’t afford nice clothes! If people won’t buy it, no one can wear it?! I’m glad that’s getting taken care of!

@noree_n@xanga - Indeed. I’m in need of more clothing and H&M is one of my favorite stores.

At least donate it to some sort of goodwill or good-cause thrift store.

Pitiful. Theycould at least donate them to the salvation army or something… That’s what I do. Only after I try to sell them on eBay, lol. But I don’t donate clothes that are terribly stained or torn beyond repair. (Ive had a few pieces like that)

Wow, that’s horrible. Donate them! Geez

I donate mine unless they’re completely worn out. Don’t stores realize that not only does it make them look good if they donate to charities but they could also write off a portion of it in their taxes…

Omg…..
geez at least have the decency to donate to those in need.

wasteful, yes. but i see where theyre coming from

tsk tsk tsk

I think they could save the sale for later seasons werd.
And for those really old ones, they can give it away as charity.. Because if you give the new unsold piece away as charity, I think it would be odd.

That is just wrong

I am not surprised that this happens. I’ve known many Goodwill stores to sell clothes that were leftovers from Target and I think that is a much better idea. There are also places around here that only sell leftovers from some major stores. I always find great stuff there.

Seriously, this is terrible! I don’t know about everywhere else, but here in Southern California, we have a store called Ross, which takes all those unsold clothes, and sells them for cheap! Ugh. They could just give them to a place like Ross!

maybe they were making them more fashionable… like people who wear holes in their jeans

That’s fucked up.  

funny how ungrateful this country is, except it’s actually not funny at all

@CapsizedHearts@xanga - how? it wouldn’t hurt them to donate the clothes if they really need to get rid of them. any person or place that donates something is seen as good to the general public, too, so it’d probably help the stores’ reputations and thus bring on more customers…

They should have donated them to the Salvation Army.. even if they removed the tags to ensure they wouldn’t be re-sold. Greedy pigs.

wow, greedy people. 

Ugh, what a waste.  I give all my used clothes to Planet Aid.  The trash is only a few steps away, but I can’t in good conscience throw perfectly good clothes away when they can benefit other people.

WTF?!  it’s even worse they slash up the clothes before they throw it out!  Booo!

Wow, so many people would be greatful for those clothes and they are just destroying them for no reason.

@xInsomniac@xanga - yeah, but if they’re worried about people taking the free clothes and then selling them for a profit, then they will lose a lot of money because people will end up waiting until the clothes get thrown out instead of purchasing them in the store.

Yeah, why not just put them outside with a sign that says free? Or atleast donate them.

@CapsizedHearts@xanga - yeah. I see what you’re saying. it’s just funny that they think the only way to solve that is to rip the clothes up. I mean… technically… if someone was desperate enough, they COULD find a bunch of clothing parts and sew them up. not that that’s likely, but they could. haha.

@xInsomniac@xanga - it is a lot of extra work to rip them. if they were really worried about someone profiting off of their unsold clothes, they could secretly send them to africa or somewhere no one cares about brands and labels.

That’s so disgusting. If I worked there I’d take it upon myself to take the clothing to places/charities where they’d do something helpful with them.

YOU’RE KIDDING! dang man…wth. why cant they just donate it?? thats absolutely ridiculous.

Even as a business decision it makes literally no sense, you might as well sell them for 50p or something…

wow.

Sure. Let’s destroy them, it’s much better than offering them to people such as the homeless, who can barely keep warm. Ah, the economy isn’t that bad.

How sad that is because those clothes could have been given to people in shelters or others in need. I always give my clothes I no longer use to donation places & sometimes to others I know that could use them.

wtf thats so messed up

i think that they should sell them at extremely low prices! 

I was never a fan of H&M but knowing this makes me ill.

Stupid.

i can understand where H&M is coming from (not saying i agree with it), because they don’t want people wearing their fashions without paying, but walmart on the other hand really by no means has in any way trendy or unique clothes, and they’re probably only worth like $3 by the time they throw them out. it’s dumb.

*shakes finger at both stores* 

i can’t believe they would do that.  it just goes to show that they don’t give a f*** about anything.

thats messed up

WTF?! That’s classic greed. If they cant sell it for profit, no one else can. They didnt even bother to sell them to wholesale places or anything either? I’m glad I dont shop there.

woah. they should just send me the clothes

target donates all there un-sold clearance to the good-will =)

woo hoo target!!!

it would be kinder if they donated the clothes. but it’s their merch, and they should be able to do whatever they want.

This kind of reminds me when a library in my city was throwing out heaps of books, not even thinking of donating them or anything. Except they didn’t rip them up.

It bothers me.

That is a crime and a waste.

Wow. What a sign of the times. “The love of many shall wax cold…” :/ It’s horrible. Goodwill? Something?

*GASP!* D:

it is.. -.-”

Seriously?

ARGHS. that is sooo stupid. i swear. i really like to shop there too but that is sooo stupid. i would go and donate my clothes. i would most unlikely just toss it out. clothes drive if anything. 

it is wasteful but I think they figured that since they aren’t making any profit, why sell it for clearance prices for other people to re-sell on ebay or somewhere to make some money off of their loss. it seems cruel to shred the clothing rather than give it to the needy but they are a business out to make money, not to be humanitarians like brangelina, oprah or bill gates. it would’ve been better to re-sell the clothing at wholesale prices to an outlet store perhaps and make some money than lose all of the money that was invested in the clothing.

I usually keep my old clothing in the garage because I’m a nostalgic person and every once in a while, I like to take the clothing out and remind myself of what I was thinking when I bought that and it brings back some funny memories.

People can be so god damn lazy, and stupid.

Honestly, it probably takes longer for them to shred the clothes than to throw them in a bag and donate them.

Wtf.

Pissed off.

Totally irresponsible.

Hey H&M, I’ll take those if you don’t want them..

Wooooow. They couldn’t think of anything better that they destroyed the clothes? Donating them would’ve been smarter, and probably more cost-effective than slashing them.

even though I don’t agree with it from an ethical standpoint, it makes sense from a business standpoint. Very unfortunate. 

Wasteful and selfish.

Jeez, at least put the fabric to good use. Do SOMETHING.

I actually don’t care that they did that.
Did you guys know that Louis Vuitton burns returned items?

wtf. there are kids out there with no clothes to wear…not buying from H&M anymore.

ugh. i hate when corporations waste things. it’s like they are small children – “if i can’t have it then neither can you’

@feelslikejuly@xanga - neither am i. and wal-mart was always on my ‘do not shop from’ list

They don’t want the monetary value of their clothes to go down just because no one is buying them.

Just because you put in bold doesn’t make it more interesting.

WTF. they can just donate it to salvation army!

Can’t they just enter into a contract with someone like Lifeline, The Salvation Army and get them to hold the stuff for a season before selling it.  That way no-one’s reselling their clothes, poor people and charity wind up with a win/win situation.

how wasteful :O

That’s terrible. =[

“to promise they would stop the brutal destruction of defenseless clothing immediately:”

you make the clothes sound liek people or animals…

plus if the clothes were donated to the salvation army, a lot of people wouldn’t actually buy the clothes and would get them thru the salvation army.  it’s all about business.

geeez…at least donate it. isn’t it considered a tax reducation or something?

Micheal Kors does it. at the end if like they can sell anything they destroy all the clothes and watches, instead of sending them back to corporate and they fired people for donating anything to charity before. I have a friend that works there and she had sent me a pict of her destroying a watch because it had a slight scratch on the face. Which is ridicules! they could have donated to an organization or for a charity or something where people would have bidded on it.

WOW. With so many organizations that accept clothing for the needy not to mention Goodwill and resale stores these huge companies (that make millions as it is) would rather destroy it than donate it? Sigh. That makes me not want to buy clothes from them ever.

That is awful… but if loving H&M is wrong, I don’t ever want to be right!

that’s so sad.  surely there is somewhere or someone that needs those clothes.  what a waste.

Shameful, selfish, & wasteful… what about giving (or selling) them to stores like TJMaxx, Marshall’s or Ross? Or hell what about donating them to the goodwill at least?

Wow if they recycle those fabrics then go for it, but if they dump or trash the clothes.. what the hecks

That’s horrible. I give clothes I don’t wear anymore to my Aunt’s church. They give them out to the kids in the parish. A lot of the families are poor. My cousin works for the church and says she constantly sees kids wearing my clothes I’ve given to them. It’s a nice feeling knowing my old clothes can help someone out. These people should try it!

I feel that they could destroy and reuse the clothes…Or something.  It is really wasteful.  Donating them would be the best and greatest choice.

there are plenty of people that could use clothing that cannot afford a pair of socks! and here are two gigantic companies just throwing clothes out like its nothing?! ugh!

Chanel does this too, but i think that’s just a tinyyyy bit different.  there’s no need for these stores to be destroying their clothes when they’re decently priced to begin with and if anything they can give them to less fortunate families

That’s awful! and in this economy…so many struggling. people shoul be HELPING one another! if you’ve got it to spare, SHARE for crying out loud! especially if you’ve got nothing to lose…which, if you’re slashing and trashing, clearly is the case.

wow.

@M3ssyJess@xanga - it is a tax break. these companies could be saving a shitload if they’d do that.

selfish… 

The same thing can be said about restaurants that throw out food at the end of the day. With a little more effort and time that food can be saved and given to the homeless. We waste so much in the US. One day we’re going to wish we didn’t

It is wasteful and I’m not surprised. At least when they got called out with bad publicity, they are taking steps to change it. Even if it is more or less forcing them to do it, as long as they change the practice, I’m happy. We’ll just have to pay close attention and make sure they actually change the practice and that this isn’t just what they’re telling the masses to fool us into false appeasement.

It is disgusting for stores to do things like that, when there are people here who could be using those clothes.

If I were H&M, I would sell them cheaper to another store with other style clothes. They can customise the clothes to fit their style, and sell them.

I mean, it’s a good business practice if you think about it.

If you knew you could just go to a goodwill or salvation army every time that H&M got a new line in, and get their last season clothes brand new for $2 a pop, would you ever pay full price for their clothes?

Not that it isn’t absolutely greedy and morally wrong, but in a strictly business sense, it is logical.

ridiculous.

To big rich companies, wasting a ton of clothes instead of giving them away which lowers the brand’s market value is like Me who over cooked something to the point where its still edible but I know I’ll get yelled at and have people disappointed in my ability to cook, I rather throw it all out and cook something else and just make up some forgivable excuse.

I can compare these two things, because in their relative perspectives they are the same. In my perspective what I’m doing isn’t such a big waste, and the big clothing companies feel the same about what they’re doing although from a different stand point I would disagree. A waste is a waste, its all about how we as individuals feel about it and how we act on it.

Many of these stores do this because they have to send back a small portion of the clothes to prove that it didn’t sell so they can be refunded. 

Some might do it to keep people from getting the clothes for free rather than paying for it like everyone else.  These businesses aren’t charity organizations, they are businesses that are there to make money.

But the point is that it is their merchandise, they can do whatever they want with it, just as we individuals can do whatever we want with our stuff without the government or other people telling us what to do.  So the bottom line is get off their back, it’s none of our business what they do with stuff that belongs to them!

That’s terrible! I feel guilty and wasteful when I throw out a sock that hasn’t a match after a few laundry cycles thinking I’ll find the other sock sooner or later then I’ll have thrown TWO perfectly good socks out. 

I definitely agree with everyone that said the clothes should have been donated.  There are some people that could have benefited from it.

This just makes me mad.

This is the problem with most corporate think: – it’s better to destroy than donate and risk it affecting the price on other clothes.

““It will not happen again,” said Nicole Christie, a spokeswoman for H&M in New York….”

Sure it’s wont… Why am I not filled with confidence? What I think she meant to say was they won’t be “caught” doing it again.

WHOA WHOA WHOA, did you read the article???  H&M is the only one that ROUTINELY destroyed the clothing…the Wal-Mart thing was a one-time deal and probably the fault of an individual distributer or manager.

that’s so sad.  surely there is somewhere or someone that needs those clothes.  what a waste.

@CapsizedHearts@xanga - actually from the link provided from this post, it said New York City Clothing bank helps protect retailers from illegitimate return for store credit or undercut sales from the unwanted clothes donated to them. There might be a reason why H&M is not doing this to protect their interests, but I am from NYC and it’s freezing (feel like 8F) outside …and you do see people who have nowhere else to go sleeping in boxes on the streets….

They are so fucking ungrateful.

I was really sad when I first heard that.. I was wondering how they could be so selfish. They said that they usually donate it though.. but so many clothes were at a loss this time!

I’ll take them!

But seriously, why not donate them?!?! There’s so many people out there who could use a new piece of clothing.

wow… sunafabech..

Sports Chalet does this as well…I used to work there and didn’t understand why they did that. 

they could at least recycle it….

What a waste!!! Why dun they use they brand to donate the clothes n promote they “have” social responsibility????

Yeah, what a total waste. It SHOULD go to donations. What jerks they were.

I know it sounds horrible, but it makes sense.
The food industry does the same thing.
Go to the dumpster at any restaurant/fast food biz around closing and youll see they just throw it away.
Yes, its wasteful considering there are people dying of starvation, but their logic is “If we just give it away, whats the point of even selling it?”

True story, as I took training classes when I used to work at McDs

Capitalism sucks, but if you gotta make a profit, you gotta make a profit.

what the hell? WHAT A WASTE.

wow that shows you how selfish and greedy these corporate giants can be? jeez.

well as an ex employee of this wonderful place, there’s more to ripping unwanted clothes.  if there even a little stain or hole, newbies are told to put it
as damaged but wat they don’t knoe is at the back, where no one see, we
rip all those clothing up and throw them away and we still do it today.  even wen we ask the managers can we take  it and recycle the pieces, they refuse saying it’s store policy.  i saw this lovely skirt that had a hole thanks to some new hand in sensor tagging, and someone put it as a damagd item.  it was almost unnoticeable and i asked if they’re gonna tear it up, can i at least take it and make something out of it.  of course the answer is no

I dunno about older clothes that aren’t wanted, we usually transfer them to other locations hoping it will do better.  but ppl, plz do reconsider bringing in that frap into a H&M the next time u shop

That’s terrible!

There are charities, pregnancy help centers, and less fortunate children who could use perfectly good thrown out clothing. I think it’s stupid to go to such lengths to prevent “bin diving” or “dumpster diving” because you want to make money.

If they REALLY want to make money off of those old clothing, they should have a part of the store that is dedicated to out dated/imperfect clothing. I mean seriously. Sell those old, out dated, never going to be bought jeans for a dollar! I would willingly pay a dollar for old jeans even if they had little imperfections (actually, especially if they have little imperfections). I am a huge fan of DIY and this is an atrocity to fashion places EVERYWHERE.

How DARE you throw perfectly useful clothing away after shredding them into a million pieces. Rawr. This is a tragedy!

@jjubia@xanga - It’s true. Some of the shredding of clothing could be prevented if people were more careful about removing tags, drinking drinks, or doing other things that could “stain” or “damage” the store’s clothing. Thank you for making that note.

@averyswife@xanga - True that. Walmart drops clothing prices to a dollar sometimes. They aren’t losing much by chucking out perfectly good clothing. I do believe that H&M does it frequently though.

very sad. Look at the restaurant/food industry, too, y’all..

That’s just horrible. Look at all the people in Haiti who could benefit from these brand new clothes?! And the people who would buy them in the thrift store, or could use them for a battered women and childrens shelter or a homeless shelter? That is so disgusting and wasteful. I agree completely, if they cut the tags out, no one could resell them and people could benefit so much from these items. sad!

That is just fucked up. I’m sure they knew as well.

What else would you expect from Wal-mart and H&M?

Those clothes should have been donated.

@wallf10wer@xanga - agree I use to work in fastfood and its just wrong.

Americans are so wasteful and apathic.

agh.

I believe it and I think it’s disgusting!

How dumb.

Wal-mart got sued once because somebody got sick from a can of food they donated to a soup kitchen type place.  After that, they cut WAY back on their charitable donations.  I’m sorry the guy got sick, but whoever put that lawsuit through took literally THOUSANDS of free meals out of the hands of the needy.  I hope the payout was worth it.

So I’m not surprised if they have some reticence to donate clothes.