The brand says it wants “to help these communities meet their needs in this hard time.”
Fashion brands continue to step up to help support frontline workers and our community’s most vulnerable people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether that’s producing hand sanitizer, manufacturing PPE or by donating masks, there’s been no shortage of heartwarming news coming out of the industry over the past month. And the good news continues today with the announcement that H&M Canada has partnered with Women’s Shelters Canada to donate $300,000 worth of product.
In a release, the brand wrote, “With domestic violence increasing significantly due to the ‘stay home’ restrictions of COVID-19, this donation will help a group of individuals who are vulnerable to the current pandemic.” More than 20,000 products will be distributed amongst Women’s Shelters Canada’s network and will include various sizes for both women and children. This isn’t the first time H&M Canada has worked with the organization, citing the pair’s “strong partnership” in the release.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Women’s Shelters Canada has been working tirelessly to support its network of shelters across the country. In a post on its website, the organization shared that it is helping to provide shelters with access to emergency government funds, as well as connecting them with Food Banks Canada to ensure they have access to the food they need during this time.
This isn’t the first instance in which H&M has provided support during the pandemic – to date, it has donated $500,000 to the WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and pivoted its supply chain to create PPE for healthcare workers across the world.
The news follows last week’s headline that H&M had been named the most transparent fashion brand in the world by Fashion Revolution. Looking at its policies on animal welfare, biodiversity, living wages, gender equality and its supply chains, Fashion Revolution gave the Swedish high street giant a score of 73 per cent.
