WalMart and H&M Destroy Unsold Clothes

Graduate student Cynthia Magnus made a startling discovery on December 7.

Outside the back entrance of an H&M store on 35th street in New York City, she found 20 bags of clothing including, "gloves with the fingers cut off, warm socks, cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor, men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls.”

Why?

They were unsold items.

A few doors down, she also found hundreds of WalMart items, some with holes in them and some that had been shredded.

This is done to prevent people from finding the bags, going through them, and reselling them.

In an age where the economy is tough, jobs are being lost, and people are homeless and hungry, this is absolutely despicable.  Why not give these items charity or take them to shelters?  I guess, with gas prices today, these mega-stores must feel like the cost of driving them somewhere is just too steep.  Shameful.

Melissa Hill, a spokesperson for WalMart, seemed surprised that these items were discovered, claiming the store typically donates all unworn merchandise to charity.

At least one of the stores is taking responsibility for this disgraceful behavior.

Clothing retailer H&M has vowed to put a stop to the destruction of merchandise that it can't sell at one of its Manhattan stores. The chain said it will donate the clothing to charity instead.

H&M spokeswoman Nicole Christie said, "It will not happen again. We are committed 100 percent to make sure this practice is not happening anywhere else, as it is not our standard practice.”

WalMart, are you listening?

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