Secret's in the (faux) leather bag... H&M is your go-to for $7 dollar sunnies and floral basics. It's also 1 of the world's top 3 fashion retailers. Now, it wants to share its know-how with rivals — for a price. H&M is debuting "Treadler," a service that allows other brands to use its massive clothes-churning infrastructure.
- Not so glam: Clothing supply chains are complex — fashion companies (especially smaller/newer ones) often struggle to organize their own suppliers, production, and logistics.
- Supply Chain as a Service: H&M is offering retailers access to its massive global supply chain — from development, to sourcing, to production, to delivery. Clients can leverage H&M's scale/expertise, and get connected to its supplier partners.
Sharing "progressive sustainable work"... What H&M is positioning this as. It's faced heat for fueling an economy of frequently replaced (and then thrown away) clothes/accessories — aka, fast fashion.
- The fashion industry may be responsible for 10% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions because of those long and energy-intensive supply chains.
- H&M has been on a big sustainability kick, touting the use of recycled materials, using AI to make sustainable production decisions, and aiming to be carbon neutral in 10 years — also, its new CEO is its former sustainability chief.
Not about generosity or sustainability... More about H&M leveraging its massive infrastructure and excess production capabilities to make a buck. Right now, H&M is only catering to consumers — and fast fashion is struggling. Treadler could generate revenue from other businesses as H&M basically Airbnbs out its extra resources. It's a potential H&M revenue source that also reduces others' carbon footprints.