To promote eco-friendly fashion lifestyles and eco friendly promotional items, retail stories in Austin have stopped using single-use plastic bags. Buffalo Exchange, a retail store for used fashion resale, has implemented this policy in all their shops. This store has worked on their Token For Bag Policy, which is an incentive system against the usage of plastic bags. Along with Buffalo Exchange, well-known brands such as Zara and H&M are also making efforts to try and incorporate eco-friendly elements in their fashion collections and store policies.

Buffalo Exchange's Eco-Friendly Fashion

The Token For Bag policy is similar to the incentive system that has been implemented by the city councils in many cities in the U.S. According to this policy, every time a customer uses a reusable bag in the store, he or she will get five cents from the store. The customers can donate these five cents to a charity of their choice. So every time the customers use a reusable bag of their own, or purchase a reusable bag from the Buffalo Exchange's store, they will make a contribution to a charitable trust as well. The owners of the store believe that many people will be interested in this policy and this will help reduce at least 350,000 plastic bags from the landfills meant for waste disposal.

Eco-Friendly Fashion Brands Using Promotional Items in Their Designs

Well-known clothing brands such as H&M and Zara are making efforts to incorporate eco-friendly elements in their designs. According to officials, in the month of February, 2013, H&M will start recycling used clothes for its collections. The company is going to collect old and used clothes from customers. Customers can donate any material, from any brand, to the H&M office. In return, the H&M officials will give the customers a voucher for each piece of cloth that they donate. According to experts associated with H&M, bulks of used clothes are disposed into the landfills every year. So by collecting used materials from the customers, H&M is hoping to reduce the number of used clothes being disposed into the landfills.

On the other hand, a well-known name in the retail industry, Zara, has announced that it will turn all its production activities toxic-free by the year 2020. Zara has been tagged as a user of hazardous materials by the Greenpeace. However, the brand has announced that it will soon make amendments in its manufacturing practices and try to stop the usage of toxic materials in its clothes.

Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/lifestyles/fashion-style/style-matters-fashion-retailers-boost-eco-friendly/nTYbg/