Upon first hearing this story, it seems to defy all logic. At least for those with any sort of moral center. H&M and Wal-Mart throwing out perfectly good clothes that could not be sold, instead of donating them to shelters or Goodwill? It can’t be true. But, it is. And plenty of people are ticked off after reading a New York Times article that depicted two homeless people rummaging through several bags of intentionally-destroyed merchandise discarded behind the H&M store on 34th St. in New York.
There is no excuse for these kinds of practices. Period. Especially in such a desperate time in American history when many people are out of work. No matter how many corporate excuses H&M comes up with, nothing explains away destroying merchandise that should have been donated to people in need if it could not be sold in the store. And it’s supposedly happening at other H&M locations and not just the one that was outed in the Times article. Many people have taken to H&M’s Facebook page to protest the retailer’s disgraceful practices. People are outraged that the popular Swedish retailer could intentionally slash clothes to prevent people from wearing them or from being donated.
The head honchos of H&M probably justified the disgraceful dumping because they believed that donating merchandise to the poor and/or homeless would dilute the brand. Or, that donated items could potentially be returned even though they were never sold in the first place. Newsflash, H&M! I see your merchandise in Goodwill and second-hand stores all over the place, anyway. Your brand isn’t really that esteemed. Get over it. Regardless of why the clothes were being dumped (and who knows how long it’s been going on for), H&M has now promised never to do it again.
As for Wal-Mart, they were quicker to respond, apparently surprised by the destroy-and-dump practices on 35th St., saying they would investigate the situation. Apparently one of Wal-Mart’s contractors with a space on 34thSt. was the one doing the dumping. Hopefully, this expose will scare straight any other retailers who might be doing similar things with their unwanted merchandise. After all, “unwanted” merchandise is always wanted or needed by someone!
