After quite a long agitation from Greenpeace and its followers all around the world, H&M has agreed to publicize information about chemicals being released from its suppliers’ factories. The first round of information is due to be published by the end of 2012, and will include H&M’s key suppliers in China and other countries.

Photo: Greenpeace International’s photostream on Flickr

The Detox campaigned launched after a scandal in China when Greenpeace made its ‘Dirty Laundry’ report that revealed there were dangerous chemicals in rivers water.  Major brands including Adidas, Nike and Puma that have their plants in China were accused of causing the toxins in the water. As for H&M, it was revealed that its clothing contain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) that break down into the toxicnonylphenol (NP). These chemicals are a cause for serious concern, as they are known hormone disruptors and can be hazardous even at very low levels.

After ten weeks of the Detox campaign, the world’s three biggest sportwear brands, and now one of the world’s biggest clothing groups, have committed to eliminate discharges of all hazardous chemicals across their entire supply chains, and their entire product life-cycle by 2020, says Greenpeace on its website.

First activists activists in 12 countries spent a week sticking huge “Detox our future!” and «Detox our water!» stickers on the shop windows of H&M stores. Online activists also encouraged the Swedish retailer to Detox on Twitter and Facebook. A Twitter petition spread quickly around the world reaching over 635,000 people who are following the roughly 1,200 people who retweeted to sign it. Then campaigners met H&M representatives to discuss the problem and the Swedish retailer committed to ‘detox’ itself.

All four brands are now preparing individual Detox Action Plans to show how they will keep the promise on practice under the Greenpeace campaigners’ guard. Greenpeace continues Detox campaign waiting for the next big retail fish to commit.