H&M has reopened its Regent Street flagship with new in-store services and a broader focus on sustainability and the circular economy

As exclusively revealed by Retail Week, the revamped 35,500 sq ft store is the first H&M branch in the UK to offer customers a rental service and an in-store beauty bar in partnership with Swedish brand Dashl.

Customers can also use services including in-store returns, packaging recycling and click and collect. 

Rental customers must first sign up to become H&M members and will then be able to book a rental appointment at the Regent Street store through the retailer’s app.

Shoppers can rent individual items or even whole outfits for a period of up to seven days, with hire prices ranging from £15 to £40. 

The store also features a garment collection and recycling service, where customers can donate unwanted clothes and textiles, regardless of the brand. H&M will recycle unwanted items into new material it will then use, with nothing going to landfill. 

“Rental is there to engage the customer in more sustainable behaviour, to help teach them that not every piece of clothing needs to be bought new”

Pascal Brun, H&M

Speaking exclusively to Retail Week, H&M’s global sustainability manager Pascal Brun says the rental and recycling services are just part of the retailer’s circular, 360-degree view on sustainability.

“Rental is there to engage the customer in more sustainable behaviour, to help teach them that not every piece of clothing needs to be bought new,” he said.

Pascal Brun, H&M's global sustainability manager

Global sustainability manager Pascal Brun: “The journey is about constantly improving”

“Sometimes a cocktail dress, or something you might only wear once for a special occasion, is better rented than bought. 

“Rental is only one element and it might not be where we create the biggest impact, but it’s how we can embark customers on that sustainability journey to becoming more circular in their behaviour.”

Brun believes that becoming truly circular is the “only way forward” for fashion retailers. He says clothing chains must put sustainability at the heart of every part of the process, from designing products to the choice of materials to taking as much carbon out of the supply chain as possible. 

H&M has set itself a number of goals, including having 100% of its assortment made with recycled or sustainably sourced materials by 2030. But Brun says this is just the beginning.  

“We’re currently 84% recycled or sustainably sourced materials. We’ve only got 16% to go, but it’s still a journey. When we get there by 2030, we won’t be done yet because even if we achieve 100% we can still improve,” he insists.

“The journey is about constantly improving the assortment and the sustainable material offer that you have. So, right now, we are putting a priority on recycled materials because that’s where we think we can create the biggest impact.

“Of that 84% figure, we are at 18% recycled materials and we want to increase that share of the wider goal by 2025 and again by 2030.”

Beauty and new products

The Dashl beauty bar is another UK first, with customers able to book various nail, lash and brow treatments, all using cruelty-free and vegan products. 

The store also houses a dedicated childrenswear section, which features a play area collaboration with Lego and a unique augmented reality game that can be played by scanning QR codes around the department with a mobile phone. The games will also feature a sustainability angle. 

The refurbished shop boasts Europe’s largest indoor LED screen, which can be used to promote new product launches.

H&M has been accused in some quarters of greenwashing and is even being sued in the US. The retailer is alleged to have “misleadingly, illegally and deceptively” sought to capitalise on consumer ‘green’ trends with the narrative around its Consumer Choice range.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which has been filed in a federal court in Missouri, claim H&M customers have been “hoodwinked into paying a premium for green products which weren’t green at all”.

The retailer uses green hangtags to identify its Consumer Choice products, which the plaintiffs claim misrepresents the products as more sustainably produced than they actually are. 

“We are operating right now in an unregulated space. There’s no legislation on what should be on a label, no regulatory framework around what a brand can and cannot say about what it has achieved”

Pascal Brun, H&M

Brun says the greenwashing accusation makes him “pretty sad because what we are doing is genuine”.

He insists that H&M is “putting our wallet where our mouth is” by investing in sustainable initiatives like those in the refurbished Regent Street store. 

Brun adds: “We are operating right now in an unregulated space. There’s no legislation on what should be on a label, no regulatory framework around what a brand can and cannot say about what it has achieved.”

He says H&M has been “pushing the EU and policymakers pretty hard” to finalise some kind of regulatory framework on the subject but concedes that no agreement is in the offing. 

Brun also admits that the ongoing global cost-of-living crisis is making H&M’s sustainability push more difficult, but insists the onus must be on retailers to convince customers of the benefits of shopping fashion more sustainably. 

“If today customers say one thing, but do something else, then it is because we as an industry have been bad at explaining the benefits of shopping more sustainability.

“It’s the responsibility of the brands to work out how we can make shopping sustainably more desirable.”

While it’s not a silver bullet, the new-look Regent Street store is certainly a step in the right direction.