H&M, Animal Crossing, and Maisie Williams join forces to change the future of fashion

What you need to know

• Clothing brand H&M has joined up with Maise Williams and Animal Crossing: New Horizons on a global recycling initiative.
• H&M is launching Looop Island, an island in Animal Crossing that players can visit and recycle their in-game clothes.
• H&M's goal is to use 100 percent recycled or sustainably sourced material across all H&M brands by 2030.

There have been many clothing collaborations with many videogame series over the years, but none have been quite like this. H&M has partnered with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Game of Thrones star Maise Williams on a global sustainability initiative towards a more sustainable fashion future.

"The long-term goal is to use 100 percent recycled or other sustainably sourced materials for textiles across the full H&M Group brands by 2030. It's time to take action and create more viable production circuits in fashion to protect our planet for the next generation", says Maisie Williams.

The first plan of action is the launch of H&M Looop Island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Named after H&M's garment recycling machine, H&M Looop Island has been completely designed with a sustainable theme. Players can explore the island and recycle their game outfits into new ones in the first-ever Animal Crossing: New Horizons clothing recycling station the Looop machine.

Maise Williams, an avid Animal Crossing fan, will also make a virtual appearance on Loop Island, alongside Pascal Brun, Global Sustainability Manager at H&M. Players who visit the island can learn more about recycling, interact with H&M and share their thoughts about circular fashion by leaving a note on the H&M Looop Island notice board.

"We've employed the creative spaces found in Animal Crossing: New Horizons as an exciting way to create a unique showcase of our vision.The future of fashion needs to look different, and we want to be a part of this solution," says Pascal Brun, Global Sustainability Manager H&M.

This isn't the first time Animal Crossing: New Horizon's has been used as a form of interactive advertising. Everything from fashion brands to political campaigns dipped into Animal Crossing's waters at one point. Just recently, Animal Crossing partnered with Sanrio to develop amiibo cards based around Sanrio's popular brands, like Hello Kitty.

Since its release in March 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizon's has delighted Nintendo Switch owners and is one of the best games on the system. The game became the second best-selling game on the system in less than a year, second only to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.