Stella McCartney, the luxury fashion designer who refuses to use leather, fur or feathers, returns to the streets to present a sustainable collection with H&M.
The collaboration between the British designer and the Swedish retail company will go on sale in May.
The collection will include a T-shirt emblazoned with “Rock Royalty” (£37.99), a version of the one she wore to the Met Gala in 1999 and a nod to her father, Paul McCartney, who sits front row at her shows, along with tailored pieces including an oversized gray striped jacket (£259.99) and matching trousers (£139.99) made from wool that meets responsible wool standards. A similar look costs over £1,000 from their main collection.
“I hate how elitist the fashion industry is,” she said. “I want a younger, broader audience to have access to my stuff. People tell me they love my stuff all the time, but they can’t afford it.”
There is also a £189.99 version of its Falabella bag, the first vegan it-bag when it launched in 2009. Its street version will use recycled polyamide, which McCartney says reduces dependence on fossil fuels.
“This is not the cheapest of the cheap because doing something good has a price,” McCartney said. “But it’s an access area for more people.”
The collaboration comes 21 years after he first worked with H&M on a collection that sold out on the first day.
McCartney described his second collection as “one for those who don’t know what sustainable means,” with hang tags on the pieces that will indicate what they are made of. Beads made from 80% recycled glass replace synthetic sequins on sparkly tops, while a python-effect jacket uses a plastic derived from recycled vegetable oil and agricultural waste.
“Fashion is one of the most damaging industries for the planet and I’m trying to bring that awareness to the high street,” she said.
Critics have described McCartney as working with a brand that uses a fast fashion business model, resulting in the annual production of 3 billion garments, as greenwashing.
In 2022, a Quartz investigation alleged that H&M’s environmental scores were “misleading” and “outright misleading.”
McCartney said he wondered “whether one should do it or not” when asked about his first collaboration with the brand. He eventually decided it was better to “infiltrate from within and have conversations with people who are like ‘the devil’ in a sense and then try to change them into a more conscious way of working.”
Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative advisor at H&M, credited McCartney with being the reason the brand now uses organic cotton or recyclable cotton.
“I wanted to do better and do more,” McCartney said. “I also wanted to introduce you to my suppliers who champion sustainability. When H&M places an order, it is meaningful, it can change the life of an innovator.”
H&M’s previous sustainability efforts include launching repair services in some stores and clothing takeback initiatives. However, in 2023, a report found clothing collected from retailers, including H&M, dumped in protected wetlands in Ghana.
