Vintage afterlife

"Fashion is changing its way more to long-lasting trends, producing garments in more responsible manner, adding more values of sustainability," she says.

In H&M's current campaign, Garment Collecting, consumers can bring their old clothes to the label's boutique stores, and then get a discount of 15 percent on a purchase. It started in Shanghai on March 5, and in June the campaign will go nationwide.

These old clothes will be redesigned and sold around the world as second-hand. Those which cannot be reused will be recycled for their fibers in textile production.

At present in its Shanghai boutiques, the company receives 30 to 40 bags of donated old garments every day.

Uniqueness is one of the main attractions of these dresses. The materials are collected from different environments, so there are not many matches in patterns and styles. That means there is plenty of variety in the new garments.

In Reclothing Bank, there is only one garment for each dress design, which makes it a real "limited edition". That is why each piece of dress is priced between 2,000 to 4,000 yuan. And according to H&M, the clothes and accessories the firm creates from the old items will not be mass-produced.

Though shopper Xie has spent 3,000 yuan on the patchwork dress, she feels "every penny is worthwhile".

Many consumers wear these clothes to show their eco-friendly attitude toward life. Kate Chen, a spokeswoman for H&M, says the consumers who donate old garments and wear the recycled results flaunt a win-win behavior: They get the discount AND and show their "green" colors, too.

Contact the writer at gantian@chinadaily.com.cn.