Stella McCartney launches sustainable collection with H&M

Stella McCartney, the luxury fashion designer who refuses to use leather, fur or feathers, is returning to the high street for 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 feature a “Rock Royalty” emblazoned T-shirt (£37.99) – a riff on 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 – alongside tailoring including a grey oversized pinstripe blazer (£259.99) and matching trousers (£139.99) made from wool that meets responsible wool standards. A similar look costs more than £1,000 from her mainline collection.

“I hate how elitist the fashion industry is,” she said. “I want a younger and wider 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 take on her Falabella bag, the first vegan it-bag when it launched in 2009. Her high street version will use recycled polyamide, which McCartney said reduces dependence on fossil fuels.

“This is not the cheapest of the cheap because there is a price that comes with doing anything good,” McCartney said. “But it’s an access area for more people.”

The collaboration comes 21 years after she first worked with H&M on a collection that sold out on its first day.

McCartney described her second collection as “one for those that don’t know what sustainable means”, with swing tags on pieces that will state what they are made of. Beads made from 80% recycled glass stand in for 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 harmful industries to the planet and I’m trying to bring that awareness to the high street,” she said.

Critics have described McCartney working with a brand that uses a fast-fashion business model, resulting in the annual production of 3bn garments, as greenwashing.

In 2022 an investigation by Quartz alleged that H&M’s environmental scores were “misleading” and “outright deceptive”.

McCartney said she questioned “if one should do it or not” when approached about her first collaboration with the brand. She ultimately decided it was better to be “infiltrating from within and having conversations with people who are like ‘the devil’ in a sense and then trying to change them into a more conscious way of working”.

Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M’s creative adviser, credited McCartney for being the reason the brand now uses organic cotton or recyclable cotton.

“I wanted to do better and do more,” said McCartney. “I also wanted to introduce them to my suppliers that champion sustainability. When H&M put in an order, it is meaningful, it can be life-changing for an innovator.”

Previous sustainable efforts by H&M include the launch of repair services in some stores and garment take-back initiatives. However, in 2023, a report found clothes collected from retailers including H&M dumped in protected wetlands in Ghana.