Fast fashion chain H&M has confirmed its fifth Victorian store at The District in Docklands will open will open on November 18.
Set over two floors spanning approximately 2,000sqm, the store will offer apparel, underwear and accessories for Men, Women, Kids and Baby.
Hans Andersson, Australian country manager for H&M said the fashion retailer will now service two shopping destinations in the Melbourne CBD.
“We look forward to continuing our expansion in Victoria and cannot wait to see the response on opening day,” he said.
H&M entered the Australian market in 2014. Today there are 23 stores nationwide, including the following stores in VIC; Melbourne’s GPO, Chadstone, Eastland Shopping Centre and Pacific Werribee.
H&M ‘does not burn’ usable clothes
The fast fashion giant has refuted media suggestions overseas that it burns 12 tonnes of unsold garments per year, after research from Danish tv-programme Operation X from TV2.
“For H&M to send our products for incineration is very rare, it’s only done when they do not fulfill our safety regulations; if they are mould infested or do not fulfill our strict chemical requirements,” the retailer said in a statement.
“We are very concerned as to why some media would suggest that we would destroy usable clothing. There is absolutely no reason for us to do such a thing.”
H&M said the products referred to by the research, have been tested in external laboratories with the test results showing that the products are mold infested and the other product contains levels of lead that are too high.
“According to the test we have, the test for lead performed by the Danish program did not include the whole garment, and not the part affected levels of lead that are too high,” the company said.
“The other test performed by the Danish program did not include tests for mould (instead “Kim” and “E-coli” which is bacteria and not mould). This is the reason why our tests differ.
“When test results show that certain products do not fulfill our safety regulations they should not under any circumstances be neither sold to our customer or be recycled. They will therefore be sent to destruction in accordance with our global safety routines.”
