WHEN Mama passed away last June, Big Sister and I, as well as the kiddos, immediately went into grief therapy. Shopping.
Mama would have been proud. After all, she, too, would ease her grief in the mall whenever we had a death in the family. When Papa died, for instance, she bought a bed. And new linen, of course. What can I say? It runs in the family. And we had a great role model in Mama.
At home, I carefully stored away all my colorful shirts and dresses in a box, and hung up all my new black clothes in the cabinet. I was intent on wearing black for the entire year that we were expected to mourn the loss of the grand matriarch. I guess it was my way of showing her that, while I may not have been the perfect child for her in life, I would try to do everything right by her in death.
Of course, six months later, I was still in grief shopping mode. (I know, I know…I have to stop using Mama as an excuse eventually.) Still, one of the unwitting beneficiaries of my credit-card swipes happened to be H&M. It became like a comfortable sanctuary to me as I basked in all its black clothes—by December I had expanded the color palette and added gray to my mourning wardrobe. At the “home” section, I wanted to dive into the bed and tuck myself under the comfy duvet on display.
On Wednesday evening at the Mega Fashion Hall of SM Megamall, H&M introduced its newest exclusive limited collection under its Conscious line. The Conscious line is all about using organic textiles and recycled materials to produce sustainable clothing, which are not only fashionable, but price competitive, according to Frederik Famm, H&M country manager for Southeast Asia.
“It’s the third time for H&M to do this collection, where we are basically showing that sustainability can really be fashionable. The global influence for this collection—we are taking this from Africa, India and Asia. This year we are using organic leather, organic silk and we also have recycled sequins and beads—it’s our first time to do that,” Famm explained. The beads and sequins, he added, are made of recycled plastic.
The clothes on display, especially the dresses, were hot and fabulous, with colors that popped and prints that subtly echoed the wild beauty of nature. Although the dresses in this collection start at P3,499, “these are still amazing prices for their quality and fashion level,” Famm added. “We also have in all normal assortment in the store, in all the departments—ladies, men’s, kids—garments made of more sustainable material, and they are all at the same price level as all the H&M garments. So it’s not necessarily so that sustainability is more expensive; it’s just that this [new collection] is a more exclusive, limited-edition line.”
And it’s true. I have, in the course of my trips to H&M’s stores, have been able to pick up a few blouses made of organic cotton at just P599. Organic cotton, as well as organic linen, for instance, come from plants that are grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, and are thus environment-friendly. And H&M is acclaimed as the No. 1 user of certified organic cotton in the world.
The brand aims to use certified organic cotton, recycled or grown under the Better Cotton Initiative (https://bit.ly/1e6HXfw) in 100 percent of its cotton clothes by 2020. It also uses other eco-friendy fabrics made of Tencel (wood pulp-based fiber), organic hemp and organic wool.
To further reinforce its “reduce, reuse, recycle” commitment under its Conscious effort, Famm says all its five stores in the Philippines are “collecting unwanted or worn-out garments that customers can hand in. If the customer hands in one shopping bag of garments, they get a 15-percent discount voucher that they can use on a succeeding purchase of one item. What we do, basically, is we either sort it and send it for reuse in one way or another, or develop new yarn out of these donated textiles. So we are working a lot on closing the loop and creating a circular economy, which, I think, is really the next step in the fashion industry.”
Being an environmentalist for so long, I appreciate this initiative of H&M, which Famm said, is practiced in all its other stores worldwide.
So, I guess, I’ll be rummaging through my wardrobe closet today for old clothes that I no longer fit in (did I mention my grief therapy includes binge-eating?), before making that trip to the store.
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It’s tax time, the most stressful season of the year, aside from Christmas. Aside from the fact that the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s new e-forms couldn’t be downloaded because most computers aren’t compatible with the government agency’s, there were long queues and taxpayers sweating in the summer heat. As one of my Twitter friends commented: “Magbabayad ka na nga, pahihirapan ka pa.”
But last Monday, I realized there were still a few civil servants who put the public’s needs first. I filed my income-tax return at Revenue District Office (RDO) 50 (South Makati) at the Atrium Building on Makati Avenue, and I was done in less than an hour. (This, after having had to queue four hours at RDO 38 in Quezon City earlier.)
In contrast, the filing system at RDO 50 was very organized on the ground floor, with lanes to verify one’s tax-identification number, separate lanes for those filing five or more returns, and fast lanes for those filing individually or less than five returns. In its administration office on the fifth floor, where it was air-conditioned, they received tax filers who were senior citizens, pregnant and those filing quarterly returns.
That’s not to say that the ground floor was humid and uncomfortable; the taxpayers were fanned by large aircoolers, all were seated on monobloc chairs and had access to free water. After chatting a few minutes with other taxpayers, I was surprised for my number to be called, then the lady at the table handed over a copy of my return stamped and accepted.
There were no recriminations about me using an old BIR form—as what happened in RDO 38—because I suppose the staff at RDO 50 were aware that the new e-forms couldn’t be downloaded properly.
I had to go out of my way to find out who spearheaded this quick and easy filing system that there was no need for TVs, free lechon or ice cream, and native dances to entertain taxpayers waiting in line, precisely because there were no long lines. Congratulations to RDO 50 head Maridur Rosario for implementing such an organized tax-filing system. Here’s hoping other government officials take inspiration from what you’ve done and learn to be more of service to us, the taxpayers.