H&M launched the Sustainable Fashion Forum. The problem? It already exists. 

by Clémence MacKenzie Dehais

On 22 October, H&M Group Ventures, the brand’s investment arm, hosted the first edition of its Sustainable Fashion Forum in Stockholm. The new event series offered an opportunity for founders, leaders and investors working in the sustainable fashion space to connect, learn and have meaningful conversations about what’s happening in the industry. There’s just one small problem: the Sustainable Fashion Forum already exists, and it’s been around for ten years. 

Launched in Portland, Oregon, in 2016 by consumer behaviour expert Brittany Sierra, the Sustainable Fashion Forum is an independent media company and conference covering the people, ideas and forces shaping sustainable fashion. From the beginning, they’ve made it their mission to move the industry’s sustainability conversation forward through journalism, original analysis, podcasts and live experiences with like-minded individuals and businesses. Every year, they hold a flagship conference that brings together people from across fashion, business, innovation and sustainability to connect and ask questions about the trends and ideas shaping the sustainable fashion industry. Sounds a lot like H&M’s new event series? You wouldn’t be the only one to think that. 

The Response 

Brittany Sierra quickly spotted the glaring resemblance between her business and H&M Group Ventures’ new endeavour and took to social media to share her frustration. “H&M, What The Entire Fuck?!” reads the cover photo of her Instagram post published on her own account and @thesustainablefashionforum. For Sierra, this clearly isn’t an oversight by the fast fashion giant. “Over the years, I’ve had multiple conversations with leadership at H&M about partnering with SFF”, declares Sierra. “Teams at H&M and H&M Group have attended our conferences, participated in our programming, subscribed to our content, and engaged with the community I’ve spent years building.” There is no doubt, then, that H&M knew about her work and her mission behind The Sustainable Fashion Forum. 

On top of that, Sierra says H&M committed $20,000 last year to sponsor her conference and asked her to submit an invoice, but the money never came. She adds that a member of H&M’s leadership team offered to mentor her as a founder. 

Lack Of Representation

To make matters worse, Sierra also points out that there aren’t many Black female founders working in the sustainable fashion industry, and even fewer who are independently producing an annual industry conference without major financial support. Just a quick look at H&M Group Ventures’ speaker guest list for their Sustainable Fashion Forum backs this claim. Among the main guest speakers tagged in the event’s LinkedIn post, there is only one male person of colour. 

“I’m tired of giving my all to an industry that doesn’t seem to give a damn about me”, concludes Sierra. Despite progress, it’s no secret that Black women and women of colour continue to face severe funding disparities when starting a business. According to data from Extended Ventures, only 13 Black women raised venture funding between 2019 and 2023, compared with over 3,700 white men. Black women receive less than 1% of all US venture capital funding. In the UK, it’s about 0.02% of total UK venture capital funding, compared to 11% for female founders in general. 

H&M’s Apology

In response to the backlash, H&M swiftly removed references to the name wherever possible, calling the event series “The Forum” instead. Swedish media company Impact Loop reached out to Cecilia Alpstig, press contact at H&M Global Communications, who addressed the issue by saying, “The choice of name was a mistake and we apologise for it.” 

“We have also contacted Sustainable Fashion Forum directly to apologise, listen to their views and discuss how best to handle the situation”, she adds. 

An apology note under H&M Group Ventures’ LinkedIn event post also reads: “We acknowledge that we made a mistake in naming our H&M Group Ventures event, and we are deeply sorry.” 

In this post, they also attempt to shed light on the sponsorship situation: “Separately, we have found no records of any unpaid invoices related to sponsorships or events. Our records indicate that more than a year ago we agreed to sponsor an in-person event, received an invoice, and were subsequently informed by the organizer that the event had been canceled and the invoice voided.”

Fast Fashion And Sustainability

Over the last few years, H&M has positioned itself as a “greener” fast fashion brand. In 2021, H&M’s CEO declared that the company’s mission was to make sustainable fashion accessible to all. By 2025, they achieved a 41% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions against a 2019 baseline. 

While H&M has established promising sustainability goals, including achieving net zero well before 2050 and reaching 50% recycled materials by 2030, can a brand truly lead the sustainable fashion movement while continuing to rely on a system that encourages overconsumption and throwaway culture? According to a recent McKinsey Sustainability article, H&M offers 12 to 16 new clothing collections each year and refreshes them weekly. Sustainability isn’t just about hosting talks and setting a list of goals —many of which have been dropped or postponed by leading fashion brands. It’s about actually doing the work to transform an industry that produces around 100 billion garments each year globally and generates 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually.