The New York Times reported last week that H&M and Wal-mart both deal with excess inventory by throwing it out, instead of recycling it or passing it on to charities. That’s not all. Before putting new clothes and shoes in the dumpster, they cut them up to be certain that no one has a chance to make use of them.
Thank you, journalism. After this story hit the NYT and began to bounce around on blogs and facebook, these corporations changed course. They now say they’ll donate to charities what they haven’t sold.
The situation is different for artists. Those who discard drawings in recycling dumpsters have found them again for sale or framed in some collector’s home. It’s necessary for artists to cut up what they want to destroy or it might live again, the art that they have every right to edit out.
And cutting up clothes doesn’t mean the same thing in fashion as it does to Wal-Mart.
Viktor & Rolf (image via Amy Goodwin)
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