I've been the store employee instructed to discard of unsold and damaged goods. Fortunately, though, I've never stood in the back room of an H&M and destroyed perfectly good clothing, clothing that could have been donated to a local shelter, the Salvation Army, or directly to needy families.

If you haven't by now read the NY Times article revealing that a New York H&M store routinely cut up and then threw away unsold clothing, you should. I'll wait.

I first came across the story on twitter (via @KshrGirl). After initially being angry about the report, I set out to see if there was another side to the story. I found a lot of information from H&M saying that it was an isolated incident and that corporate policy was not to destroy unsold clothes.

Then twitter told me otherwise.

I heard from a former department manager who worked there from 2006 through 2008. She worked at several stores in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They did the same thing at every store she went to.

And what about now?

Another twitter friend sent me a direct message to say that she works at one of the Pittsburgh stores now. She was instructed by a manager to destroy items as recently as a week ago. The items weren't returns that had obviously been worn. They weren't stained. They weren't damaged. They were articles that had been in the store several months and just plain hadn't sold. There was nothing wrong with them until she took scissors to them and cut them up.

I get the business side of this whole thing. It's important to make sure that the items on the sales floor live up to the quality standards and reputation of the company. I was a manager at Stein Mart for four years and was frequently tasked with deciding what to do with items that had been damaged, returned, or hadn't sold. We worked very hard to salvage what we could. If an item was damaged but still salable, it was marked down and sold. If an item was stained, our seamstress would pull out some magical cleaner, a little elbow grease, and get the item back to new condition. If an item was beyond hope, it was destroyed. If it just plain wouldn't sell, it was sent to a different store and given another chance. (Ever been to a brand new store and wondered how they had clearance items? That's how.) If the item wasn't worth shipping elsewhere, it was donated locally. Sure, it took time, but so does destruction and waste.

I'm breaking up with H&M. I can't support a company that I know cares more about reputation than they do about giving back to the community.

Now I'm just wondering what other companies need to be added to my black list.