The products in H&M’s collections undergo a number of quality tests, both in our own laboratories and in external laboratories. Each year, we conduct about 500,000 quality tests. In order to ensure the quality of our products we run the following tests.
Our products are washed to see whether shrinkage, wringing and colourfastness meet H&M’s requirements. It is also important to us that by far the majority of our products are washable with no significant changes occurring.
Some materials and designs are more susceptible to pilling than others. These materials are tested to investigate whether pilling occurs as a result of use. The machine rubs the material against itself to simulate normal use.
We test those fabrics/materials that are deemed to present a risk and ensure that they meet international requirements on flammability.
This test is carried out to ensure that swimwear retains its colour, since saltwater and chlorinated water can have a bleaching effect.
Sewn-on buttons, press studs, ribbon and decorations can be a safety risk for children. We therefore carry out continual testing of buttons etc. to ensure their durability.
We carry out various tests on zips, including testing durability by zipping and unzipping 500 times.
Lightfastness is tested on many of our home textiles because they are often exposed to direct sunlight and can be bleached.
Towels are tested to ensure that they are sufficiently absorbent, drying the body quickly when used.
We perform around 30,000 chemicals tests per year to check that our products do not contain chemicals that may be harmful to health or the environment. Among other things, metal parts that may come into contact with skin are tested for nickel. We also check that the pH value is within an approved range. Read more about our chemicals management.
We have a procedure in place to ensure that products can be rapidly recalled, in the event that they fall short of our standards and reach our stores despite our well-developed system for quality assurance. If an unsafe product is identified, the quality department and production managers implement a global recall.
Sales are stopped immediately in all markets, and the relevant authorities are informed. Information is sent internally to colleagues and to customers, through channels such as newspaper adverts, the internet and signs in-store. Our quality department then analyses what caused the failure in order to prevent it from happening again.
Karl-Johan Persson, CEO gives his opinion on H&M's sustain-ability program. Click here
Watch videos about our sustainability work. Click here
A few case studies on some of the work we do. Click here
H&M has defined seven ambitious commitments on sustainability which we work hard every day to achieve.
1 - Provide fashion for conscious customers
2 - Choose and reward responsible partners
Find out about our sustainability performance in the latest Concious Actions Sustainability Report 2012.
Little time? Take a quick glance through the highlights from 2012.
