The Real Recovery | January 07, 2010 | 152 comments

H&M & Walmart trashing unsold clothes that could be donated to charity

source: http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/01/07/hm-walmart-trashing-unsold-clothes-when-they-could-be-do...

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We just came upon some news that got us boiling mad – according to the New York Times, H&M and Walmart have been using box cutters and other sharp objects to slash and mutilate their unsold clothing stock (including brand new coats, jackets and shoes) to ribbons before stuffing it into trash bags and kicking it to the curb. If the Manhattan retailers’ wasteful behavior breaks your heart, imagine what it must feel like to hear about it as one of the New York City’s 16,000 homeless people desperately in need of a coat to keep them warm this winter. Why go through all of the trouble to destroy these perfectly wearable clothes when there are tons of people who could use them (literally right in front of the storefronts) and plenty of places that are more than willing to help organize and distribute them? The stores may have a business-oriented reason for this heinous practice but we’re having a lot of trouble swallowing it as an excuse for such senseless waste.



http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/01/07/hm-walmart-trashing-unsold-clothes-when-they...
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152 comments // H&M & Walmart trashing unsold clothes that could be donated to charity

  • NewScum
  • grassroutes
  • nursediesel
  • czarkeri
    • 0
      czarkeri  

    • all of the goodwill's in my area have bulk items of clothing donated by target in them. i sure won't be shopping at H&M anytime soon...this makes me so sad. WalMart...well I expected this from them so it's no surprise.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
  • CalgarC
    • 0
      CalgarC  

    • these people are fucking disgusting!

      the amount of time and money wasted doing shit like this could have been spent shipping the goods out to africa or back to china where it came from!

    • 2 years ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • 0
      EthicalVegan  

    • In many chain stores (such as KMart), I've seen the following type of scenario unfold countless times:

      A person purchases a set of dishes. The person returns the entire box because the handle on one of the teacups has broken off. The box is then taken to the back room, where all the other dishes in the set are deliberately smashed to bits.

      I think of all those homeless shelters, those places for battered women and children, the Skid Row missions... and I wonder why the hell the rest of the set can't be donated directly to such organizations.

      I used to be a books merchandiser, so saw this sort of thing happening nearly every single day. Even plants with damaged branches or leaves... why not take the containers and donate them to shelters to plant just for the sheer pleasure? And of course all the books -- stripping the paperback covers, then tossing the books. Again, thousands of shelters where it would be nice if those staying there could have books to read and enjoy.

      In defense of the employees in the stores I once serviced (Target, Toys 'R' Us, Rite-Aid, KMart, and many more, including supermarkets), they can't just run out the door with a bag of "bad" merchandise. Security is tight. Most of the employees with whom I discussed these practices were equally ashamed... and frustrated that, no matter how much they broached the subject with their store directors, it all fell on deliberately deaf ears.

    • 2 years ago
  • nursediesel
  • masterzip
    • 0
      masterzip  

    • food, shelter and clothing are the basic needs of the poor, and this just seems like a slap in the face to every organization trying to provide those needs to the population,...htere is such a thing as a charitable tax deduction,...and ecven if the business does not qualify for the deduction,....lt is the right thing to do.
      i used to work for a bakery, and we baked fresh sourdough bread everyday, and donated fresh, (not day old) bread every day to many charitable organizations,..the day old went to local pig farmers.
      it really depends on the owners and managers knowing what is the right thing to do.

    • 2 years ago
  • UndoInfluence
    • 0
      UndoInfluence  

    • Why buy the clothes when you can just wait till they're unsold and pick them up off the curb?

      Oh, that's right, they want to actually sell the clothes instead having of people say the above and so take measures to secure their income.

    • 2 years ago
  • Mariased
    • 0
      Mariased  
    • UndoInfluence:

      It is understandable that a business would not want to lose profits. However, It would do virtually no harm to their business if they were to set aside at least some of the clothing they were planning to discard and donate to people who actually need it and would otherwise not purchase it because they simply don't have the funds to do so. The people who can afford to buy it would probably still do so.

    • 2 years ago
  • thewhompus
    • 0
      thewhompus  

    • I assume they do this because they represent a low end market already. Giving clothes to thrift stores and such would be giving money to their direct competitors. Business-wise it makes perfect sense. Ethically, well......were you really expecting ANYTHING ethical to come out of wal-mart?

    • 2 years ago
  • HowdyDo
  • Trauzer
  • Lucretia_Gross
  • nursediesel
  • Christina_Rivera
  • HowdyDo
    • 0
      HowdyDo  

    • Disgusting. I never shop at Walmart and this just reaffirms why. It sounds like there are a lot of stores that do this.

    • 2 years ago
  • blaino
    • 0
      blaino  

    • Lots of place do this when the items drop in price. I worked at michaels and had to trash boxes of stuff, I got pissed and asked the manager why we couldn't donate the stuff or atleast try and recycle what we could and he pretty much laughed in my face.

      Fuckin corporate world.

    • 2 years ago
  • ryan8566
    • +1
      ryan8566  
    • blaino:

      blaino, CNN did a story on this tonight--you probably saw it since you are usually ahead of them, and always ahead of me. they pointed out that it in this case it took one guy who agreed to remove all the labels (i guess that's important to them), and he could then take whatever. he started handing the clothes out to the homeless, then delivering them to shelters...and continues.

    • 2 years ago
  • ryan8566
    • 0
      ryan8566  
    • blaino:

      blaino, CNN did a story on this tonight--you probably saw it since you are usually ahead of them, and always ahead of me. they pointed out that it in this case it took one guy who agreed to remove all the labels (i guess that's important to them), and he could then take whatever. he started handing the clothes out to the homeless, then delivering them to shelters...and continues. these people were not into being stylish anymore then me, and obviously you...they just wanted to be warm and clean. cool isue.

    • 2 years ago
  • TentativeChaos
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • TentativeChaos:

      Lets go to A Walmart once week, enjoy filling our carts with goods, but leave our full carts at the checkstand. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete. Keep our dollars in our communities.

    • 2 years ago
  • biggranny
    • 0
      biggranny  

    • these mega stroes buy to sell clothes at a profit. don't expect them to do anything else. shop at resale shops if you really want to change anything

    • 2 years ago
  • RogueCheddar
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • biggranny:

      Lets go to A Walmart once week, enjoy filling our carts with goods, but leave our full carts at the checkstand. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete. Keep our dollars in our communities.

    • 2 years ago
  • xiola
  • Atalanda_Cameron
  • raylinmarie
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • Atalanda_Cameron:

      Lets go to A Walmart once week, enjoy filling our carts with goods, but leave our full carts at the checkstand. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete. Keep our dollars in our communities.

    • 2 years ago
  • raylinmarie
    • 0
      raylinmarie  

    • That is disgusting! They could easily cut or black out the brand tags to discourage resale.

      I suppose they are trying to protect brand integrity, but H&M is fast fashion (rip offs) and Wal Mart isn't exactly high fashion.

    • 2 years ago
  • Willowguy
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • Willowguy:

      Lets go to A Walmart once week, enjoy filling our carts with goods, but leave our full carts at the checkstand. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete. Keep our dollars in our communities.

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  

    • and not one of those workers chooses their dignity over their job? a good deed goes a long way - if just one sales clerk would grab a bag of clothes and run to the nearest shelter rather than slashing it to bits then, well, i guess no one wants to lose their job, become a martyr or do anything the least bit selfless.
      I have worked in retail before and either resold the damaged items at discounted prices or took them home for me and gave as gifts to my friends and family, granted they were not discontinued clothes and I did not work for a corporate giant - just a small business owner who had morals.

    • 2 years ago
  • dtringas
    • 0
      dtringas  
    • bethopea:

      Unfortunately, I decided to be a martyr of 9 dollar/hr wage employment and now I am unemployed...There's no room for a mind of your own in this area, opinions are freely given away ... i digress... Idealism has no place in "this economy" which I have been told (by the television) is in ruin. People still seem fancy free when I go to the mall to meet girls who can buy me stuff, believe me gentlemen, they are out there. Now find them!

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  
    • bethopea:

      ideals have their place, and I know that everything does come around (just might not be with in your time frame of patience).
      free market capitalism is what drives the economy towards peace and stability, not war, not a feeling - simply business as usual - wrong, but business as usual.

    • 2 years ago
  • Lucretia_Gross
  • dtringas
  • dtringas
    • 0
      dtringas  
    • bethopea:

      Preface: I am in no way a misogynist, but what if a woman had posted that she goes to the mall to meet guys to buy her stuff... what would you call her? Is it one of those double standards of life that we just have to live with?

    • 2 years ago
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • bethopea:

      Lets all go to A Walmart once week, shop like a consuming American should, but leave our full carts at the check out stand. Then shop local. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete.

    • 2 years ago
  • maasanova
  • Pedroptz
  • Lucretia_Gross
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • maasanova:

      Lets all go to A Walmart once week, shop like a consuming American should, but leave our full carts at the check out stand. Then shop local. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete.

    • 2 years ago
  • versasrev
    • 0
      versasrev  

    • If they have a business reason for doing this, I bet it is to defraud some one else to make money. Wasteful, senseless, and pathetic behavior.

    • 2 years ago
  • CalPal
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  
    • versasrev:

      One would think others could figure out, the 's' was missing in wa's'teful? Almost everyone has an 'oops' moment. Those same individuals resort to 'rude' and name calling? They may be able to spell, but something far deeper is flawed in their post. It's called civility.

      To anyone who realizes they have misspelled a word, go back and 'edit' it. Some think they are soo perfect that it would never happen to them. They would be wrong, it happens to almost everyone. OOOOPS!

    • 2 years ago
  • Lucretia_Gross
    • 0
      Lucretia_Gross  
    • versasrev:

      LOL!!!

      Getting to share your point of view on social networking sights: $50/month....

      Finding an article worth discussing in an open, conscientious format: approximately 20 double clicks...

      Catching someone being an idiot and being the first person to respond: PRICELESS

    • 2 years ago
  • Lucretia_Gross
    • 0
      Lucretia_Gross  
    • versasrev:

      Also, robertkelley1, your contribution has absolutely nothing to do with the article, so why are you here again??

      Learn to spell before you talk smack jackass...

      What does this have to do with Wal-Mart or the homeless or humanity?

    • 2 years ago
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • versasrev:

      Lets all go to A Walmart once week, shop like a consuming American should, but leave our full carts at the check out stand. Then shop local. They'll have to employ more people to put the items back on the shelve, making it easier for small local busnesses to compete.

    • 2 years ago
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