Live Consciously and Win a $100 H&M Giftcard [GIVEAWAY CLOSED]

h&m giveaway, h&m conscious collection 2014

Hey, you guys. How would you like to win $100 to spend at H&M? I thought so. Now that I have your attention, give me just a couple minutes of your time so I can tell you why you’re not the only one who could be benefiting from H&M these days.

On April 10th, H&M will roll out its new Conscious and Conscious Exclusive collections. “What’s with the hippie-dippie name,” you ask? Well, H&M Conscious is the name for all H&M’s work for a more sustainable future. Its vision is that all its operations should be run in a way that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

To help achieve this vision, H&M has set 7 ambitious commitments:

1. Provide fashion for conscious customers

2. Choose and reward responsible partners

3. Be ethical

4. Be climate smart

5. Reduce, reuse, recycle

6. Use natural resources responsibly

7. Strengthen communities

You can read more about H&M’s sustainability on its website here. And to spread the word (as companies with new products and initiatives are wont to do), H&M is letting me give away a $100 giftcard to one of my fantastic readers.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Follow Sarah’s Real Life on either Bloglovin’ or Facebook.

2. Comment on this post and tell me (a) which way you followed, and (b) at least one way you are economically, environmentally, and/or socially conscious.

For example, do you…

  • Make your own compost for your garden?
  • Always remember your reusable bags when you go to the grocery store?
  • Donate money to important causes?
  • Buy all your produce from local farmers?
  • Boycott companies that are known for violating human rights?

If you don’t do anything conscious yet, it’s never too late to start. Make some plans and tell me about those.

You may make only one entry, but if your story is particularly unique or impressive, I will give you one extra entry! This giveaway is open internationally, and the winner will be chosen randomly and announced on April 9th.

Update 4/9/14: The winner of the $100 H&M Giftcard is Lydia N.!

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Above: a look from the Conscious Exclusive Collection.

Disclosure and other important notes: H&M will be providing me with compensation (in the form of store credit) for participating in this campaign. Some of the content in this post comes from H&M’s own marketing materials. It’s important to remember that H&M is a for-profit business, and therefore I tried to do my due diligence to make sure H&M’s claims were truthful and not misleading. I’m satisfied that while H&M isn’t perfect, its efforts are admirable, well-meaning, and a step in the right direction. This year H&M has been named one of the world’s most ethical companies by an independent research center. This rating apparently doesn’t take into account labor standards, which has been a big issue in “fast fashion” recently. Again, H&M isn’t perfect, and much of its product is manufactured in Asia – but you can read some of what H&M’s head of sustainability has to say about that in this article.

52 thoughts on “Live Consciously and Win a $100 H&M Giftcard [GIVEAWAY CLOSED]”

  2. $100 to H&M? Yes, please! One way I am both economically and environmentally concious is by being a one car family. Sure, it takes a little flexibility on everyone’s part, but we’re going on six years of that lifestyle! We save so much money on insurance payments, gas, etc. by car sharing.

  6. I follow on Bloglovin! We are a one car family and use the bus to get to work everyday. I also bring reusable bags to the grocery store. I do wish I knew more (had more options?) for clothing that was thinking about these things, so I am really excited for the new H&M collection!

  7. I follow on Bloglovin’ as Natalie S. I do my best to buy clothes and jewelry that support causes about which I care. Noonday Collection and Johari Creations are some favorites.

  8. I follow you on Bloglovin (just found you last week). I live consciously thanks to many personal decisions but also because my husband and I both work for Indiana govt. agencies that promote and offer recycling to residents. I am also the chair of the Living Lightly Fair, which is an event that promotes sustainable living in East Central Indiana. However, I really love clothes and style so being able to combine two loves is always a great thing!

  9. I follow you on Facebook. I recycle both at home and at work. I also regularly donate and purchase clothing and household items at local thrift stores.

  10. I love H&M’s Conscious Collection and already own a few pieces from past releases. I follow you on facebook (Alligator Toe) and aside from recycling and bringing my reusable tote bags to the store, I donate annually to Unicef, an organization whose work I believe in strongly. 🙂

  11. followed on FB and Bloglovin’. I’ve been using Green BEAN Delivery (for local produce) and I’ve been trying to be good this year about conserving water usage and electricity usage… baby steps!

  12. YAY! I am following you via BlogLovin’ and instead of buying bottled water, I have been using my Nalgene to refill every day! 🙂

  14. 1. I’m following on bloglovin.
    2. I use glass water bottle, so it’s BPA free, I am going to start a compost this summer my mom has had one for years and I decided a few months ago to start my own, and I also go to the Farmer’s market as much as possible in the summer to support local farmers!

  15. a. I follow you through bloglovin’!
    b. I recycle, use reusable grocery bags, don’t drive and try to buy as many groceries from local markets before going to large chain stores. I studied plant biology in college and got a disturbing picture of how much damage we’ve been doing to the environment, so lately, I’ve been switching to (beauty) products that contain as few ecocontaminants/ecotoxins as possible.

  18. follow on bloglovin, I use my own grocery bags so that we dont waste plastic, I also recycle

  19. I just folowed you on bloglovin’! As for the ways that I live conciously, I have my own garden and grow my own veggies and herbs. I also recycyle! (How 90’s of me) I consign all my old clothes and donate much of them to thrift shops. I also try and shop local whenever I can and I always bring my own shopping bags, NO PLASTIC!!! And last but certainly not least, I avoid certian companies that I know are no good……Wal-Mart for example. This new push from H&M sounds very cool!

  20. 1) I follow you on bloglovin’.
    2) I use my own shopping bags all the time, and I also consign as much as of my old clothes as I can! I love that this is both a form of recycling and a way of supporting a local, woman-owned business.

  24. Contests are my favorite! I follow you on facebook.

    I don’t use paper towels anymore – well, I do, but they are fabric towels on a roll, so I can wash and reuse. I also take every part of my lunch to work in reusable plastic containers instead of plastic baggies – drives the wife crazy to have to wash so many containers every day! 😉 We haven’t jumped on the reusable grocery bag wagon yet, but we do repurpose the plastic store bags for little trash cans around the house.

  25. Love this idea!

    I’ve been following you on Bloglovin for a while!

    Since New Years, my partner and I resolved “to make less waste.” Everything either goes into the recycling or into the trash compost. It’s been surprisingly very easy to do! We also use only biodegradable cleaning products, and go to our local farmers market every two days for the freshest foods. Next year, we’ll try to cut down our energy consumption!

  26. I follow you on facebook!
    I try to live my life as conscious of the earth as possible, but I really believe in buying locally and supporting your community. I live in Indianapolis and I love this little co-op grocery store called Pogue’s Run. They are committed to not only sourcing their produce/dry goods/etc locally, but they are also very passionate about teaching the members of the community about WHY it’s so important to eat healthfully and locally. I like to spend my money at a place that I know is going to recycle it back into the community that it’s feeding.

  28. 1) I followed via Bloglovin (name:Sara Haley)
    2) I always try to donate money for comic relief a charity in the UK 😀

  29. I follow you through Bloglovin!
    I am environmentally conscious and try to reduce my carbon footprint in several ways: I do not own a car- I travel either by foot or through public transportation; I try and buy locally whenever possible; I shop at stores that give back to the community like Whole Foods.

  30. Hello!!
    I am folloing you on FB.
    I recycle plastic, paper, clothes, etc. and I wish to make separate disposal bins for each type of waste, but I currently do not have the space. Also, I donate clothes to poor people mostly, but I also donate any object that has a remaining life span to the poor. I also reuse products such as using an old t-shirt to clean counters, etc., I also reuse old plastic bags as to cut down on energy expenditure Involved in production and recycling. Lastly, I conserve electricity by making sure to switch off any lights in any room which isn’t being used at that moment, and I also use water responsibly by running the laundry washer when I have a full load.

  32. I follow on Facebook, and I am economically and environmentally conscious by trying to find new uses for things, or make our own. It helps save waste, and save us money.

  33. I follow on Bloglovin! I am big on using my resuable bags at the grocery store. I also use Traget bags as my trash bags for my bathroom, and I recycle #5 items when I go to Whole Foods. Love to help the environment!

    -AJ
    OccasionallyAJ.com

  34. Hey, I have been following your blog with the wordpress reader for quite some time now. Love it 🙂
    I am ecologically conscious is several ways. Being a marine biologist, my daily life revolves around ecosystems and sustainability. I haven’t eaten tuna in over 5 years (along with a variety of other fish species) because of the lack of ecological sustainability. I also grow a garden and compost anything possible. My husband and I share a car, and use public transport or bike everywhere possible. I think H&M is making a good start that hopefully other companies will follow with demonstrating ecological importance. Thanks for the great giveaway opportunity!

  35. a. following via facebook with the name: Silvia Mihaela

    b. trying to recycle as much as possible: separate the papers and plastics. Also in spring i am planting some trees in the garden.

  36. Yay found your blog and now follow on Bloglovin. My son got us started recycling when he was in kindergarten(he’s now 30..what?! time flies). Trader Joes got me to using my own bags, thanks to tempting me with their grocery give-aways. We practice beneficial eco-practices on our farm by culling out non-desirable tree types to encourage the beneficial ones, and provide habitats for bluebirds to control pests naturally. Thanks for this contest, even if we don’t win, we can get good ideas from others.

  37. Hello!!
    I follow you on FB.
    I usually donate any old object that can be reused, to a charity, I also recycle and reuse plastic, paper, clothes etc., especially plastic water bottles as they can have various uses when recycled. Moreover, I conserve electricity at home by making sure to switch off any un necessary plugs, switches and any sources of electricity that doesn’t need to be used at that particular moment, such as air conditioners in a cool climate, I only switch it on when theres a really hot climate, I also use water responsibly by making sure the faucet is closed enough not to leak and by running the laundry only when there is a full load as to reduce the volume of water consumed. I also recycle newspaper as to reduce the number of trees which are cut down. In addition, I am planning on including more green in my diet, also, I am hang drying the laundry as to reduce electricity usage, I also use old clothes as rags, and I reuse and recycle empty glass jars to reduce energy consumption.
    It would mean a lot to win this gift card!!
    Thank you.

  38. I followed with facebook: Jana F. I live consciously by always bringing my unwanted clothing to secondhand stores. I also always reuse plastic shopping bags.

  39. What a wonderful giveaway! I follow you on Bloglovin. It is very important for me to live consciously. I always shop organic food on Whole Foods and locals, reuse shopping bags whenever I shop, I recycle, I shop a lot on Ebay and Second hand (thrift stores), I donate unwanted clothes to charity. oohh I can go on and on 🙂 I wish everyone had a conscious mind! Thank you.

  40. i follow on bloglovin and fb. i always have a reuseable bag with me in my purse when i go to the grocery store or do any shopping. thanks for the opportunity to win! 🙂

  41. Hi Sarah! I followed you on Bloglovin’ using my blog Another Beautiful Thing. Ethical and sustainable clothing is a topic close to my heart—on my blog, I have a special tab where I post about ethical fashion and ways to “give back” to communities with our purchases. My last post in that category, for example, was about the ALDO fights AIDS bracelets which would help with HIV/AIDS relief. H&M, although not perfect, is one of the better retailers in terms of making clothing recycling more accessible and easy, so I would love to win a gift card from them.

  42. im following on bloglovin 🙂 we use cloth diapers for our baby in order to save the landfills from bags and bags of dirty disposable diapers. it also saves is $1500 a year!

  43. Hey Sarah.
    I really do not like telling all the “I’m such a nice person” stuff about me, but since I am a poor student and I LOVE H&M -especially the conscious collection, why not.
    It’s not that I feel like “oh yeah, I am so conscious” it is just very normal for me and my family to live this way.
    I’m studying biology so I am always aware of our environment. Even if it takes me 1,5h one way to get to my university I use public transportation instead of the car ( almost every day!).
    I buy a lot of my clothes second hand (ebay or http://www.kleiderkreisel.de – there you can buy or just trade with somebody) I always give the clothes or shoes I don’t want to have anymore away without getting money for it. For example to the Kinderschutzbund (= children-protection-community, who are collecting stuff (clothes, furniture, toys) for poor familys in germany because: YES, being poor is not only a 3world-problem!)
    Before I started studying I was a nurse and worked a lot with handicapped people and/or very very sick little children. A few of those people are still my friends and we still have contact.
    I’m not a veggie (humans are just not supposed to live herbivore) but almost all the meat I buy is from a good butcher nearby (who know where the cow came from) and I try to avoid buying those factory-farm products. We also recycle, buy healthy food and fair trade stuff (coffee), leave the heater unturned as long as a 2nd blanket can do the same job, turn lights and electrical appliances off when we leave the room….

    I just think everybody could do a little bit more for mother earth without feeling restricted in some way.
    It’s pretty easy! And even if I don’t win the giftcard I’ve had the chance to tell everybody how easy it is to live a little bit more consciously!!! If you don’t know how- just read this post again!

    via bloglovin.
    Simone

    http://schimisworld.blogspot.de/

  44. This is Tim, I follow through learningwithabi (I think). In the winter, I wear heavy wool socks two or three days before washing (i kid you not). sounds gross right? wrong. feet don’t sweat much in the cold, so the socks don’t smell. more importantly, by wearing just three or four pairs of socks a week, I reduce the number of times I do laundry (and by do I mean wait for Abi to wash) — but it has the same super positive impact on the environment—use less water and reduce the use of detergents that harm the little fishies swimming in lake monroe. this sort of green-eco practice could even get the statue of herman wells to stand up and give me a high five.

  45. This is A Pants, following you on Facebook, and while I can’t top the entry above, I live consciously in the classroom. It’s insane how much paper an elementary school classroom can burn through in a week, so I make an effort to reuse (use both side of a piece of paper, use one sided print outs again in my printer) and recycle. I also encourage my students to do the same. Our room alone has three different recycling bins! I also try to be concious of when I really need to print and when an email would suffice. I think Herbert would approve.

  46. Thanks for the awesome giveaway! I do my part to be environmentally conscious by only using and re-using paper bags (no plastic!). I also don’t own a car and take public transportation everywhere! That might be bigger than re-wearing my socks in the winter. 😉

    I followed your blog on Bloglovin’. You should check out mine, too!

    thewinkblog.net

    XO, J

  47. I follow via Facebook under Freda Maria and I car pool to and from work to cut back on my footprint. Love that H&M is doing this!!!

  48. I love your blog! I follow via Bloglovin’ and Instagram.

    I’m finishing an MFA degree in Fiction Writing, which means I have to print A LOT of stuff. Knowing that, I save old papers to print on–that way I’m using every last ounce of the paper that I can. If I have to throw a document away, I’m sure to recycle it!

    I also never leave the house without my reusable water bottle. That’s why I own so many tote bags vs. small handbags so I have space to fit it inside!

  49. Hi, Sarah,
    1) I follow you on Bloglovin’
    2) I am dedicating my life and career to being an environmentally conscious person and to helping others do the same. In addition to pursuing a J.D., I am pursuing an Environmental Law Certificate from Robert H. McKinney School of Law. With my law degree and certificate, I plan to practice Environmental Law in Indiana and ensure that people/companies understand what the law is and come into compliance with that law. I am currently externing for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (during my time here I have helped stop the dumping and filling of wetlands and set into motion a clean-up plan), and in my last semester I will be a part of an environmental law clinic that will represent environmental clients pro bono. I drive a Toyota Yaris (which, although is not a Prius or even better – a bike – still averages 35 miles to the gallon). I buy, if not all, most of my food from my local Winter Farmer’s Market. (This includes loose leaf sustainably grown tea, wildflower honey, all produce, eggs, bread, and whatever meat I buy (very little)). Anything I do not buy from the farmer’s market I buy from whole foods (generally fruit during the winter). In my home I recycle, use canvas grocery bags, consciously use water, and use environmentally friendly cleaning products (I’m in love with Jessica Alba’s Honest Company).
    I applaud H&M’s step in the right direction. I agree that although they are not perfect, their efforts are certainly commendable. I would very much enjoy wearing clothes from their new Conscious Exclusive Collection. Thank you!

  50. Sarah, This is a cool collaboration. I already follow you every which way! The most obvious way I am economically and environmentally conscious is by shopping second hand most of the time since Aug 2012. Many of my local followers and thrift guiding clients (Super Su, the Savvy Do Gooder, etc.) are people who are committed to living in a “conscious” way. I have even been invited to be a “master composter” with the City of Edmonton! I support local by subscribing to CSA boxes (community supported agriculture) from a local urban farmer, Riverbend Gardens, I use recycle bags, I have a garden and could even bow hunt on my land but will save that for the apocalypse. I do what I can and I think it’s great that H&M is launching this line. Thanks for the contest. May the odds… nope that’s wrong. Peace!

  51. My husband and I try to be economically and environmentally conscious every day. When we were in high school neither one of us paid much attention to these important things but once he joined the military our eyes opened. Our fellow military families introduced us to so many great charities in our area and really showed us that even though our help was small, it made a difference. We try to get involved in these charities as much as possible when we can but sometimes it’s difficult with our day to day schedules. But since we started to get involved we’ve learned to help anyone out in any way possible. Donating to charities and spending a day picking up trash on the side of the road aren’t the only ways to help this country out. It’s the little things that I personally think most people should do, but unfortunately not many people do. Like picking up trash you see on the ground, donating old clothes or household items instead of throwing them away, or even using a reusable water bottle opposed to plastic ones that don’t get recycled. My husband and I definitely don’t make a lot of money, but we are living a good, happy life. There are so many people out that who don’t have as much as we do. We make sure we give those people something when we can, even if it’s just a dollar donated to the children’s hospital or handing a homeless mother some chunk change. I think that our country would strive if everyone made these changes. I could list a million things that I do to be economically and environmentally conscious but I would literally be sitting here all day. I just love that H&M is doing this and I hope that more brands/companies follow in their footsteps.

    I followed you on both, very excited that I found your blog today! Love your style choices.

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