Organic, vegan and innovative recycled materials are all called into action in H&M’s latest ‘circular fashion’ collection.
The Conscious Exclusive line was launched by the Swedish international fashion brand in 2012 with a focus on development and innovation. Conscious Exclusive collections have historically been a test bed for new, innovative materials and ways of sustainable thinking that are subsequently incorporated across the H&M business. This contributes to the brand’s ambitious goal to only use recycled or sustainably sourced materials by 2030.
H&M describes its SS20 Conscious Exclusive collection as being ‘infused with the glamour of the Golden Age of train travel while taking circularity as its philosophy’. Alongside a host of sustainable processes and innovative fabrications, the collection is inspired by Le Train Bleu, the elegant sleeper train that ran from Calais to the Côte d’Azur in the 1920s. Bringing together flamboyant evening gowns and gauzy day dresses, the collection features new sustainably sourced materials such as CIRCULOSE, a natural material produced from recycled textiles, and RENU, a high-quality recycled polyester, as well as leftover stock fabrics from previous collections. The SS20 Conscious Exclusive collection went into selected stores and online at Hm.com last week.
“The stimulus for SS20 was the idea of glamorous train travel, which the design team felt was wonderfully symbolic of H&M’s journey as a company towards circularity. We were inspired by Le Train Bleu, and the decadent creatives such as Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso hanging out at Villa Santo Sospir in Cap Ferrat. We wanted to propose a collection that played to that decadent, carefree time but also contained enduring designs our customers will love wearing daily,” says Ella Soccorsi, designer at H&M.
Main image: Conscious Exclusive range, SS20. H&M
