H&M, Wal-Mart committed to green supply chain

Two major corporations have made a commitment to ensuring that their textile supply chains are environmentally friendly.

Wal-Mart and H&M have both agreed to improve the "greenness" of their textile supply chains. Often, textile production is outsourced to China, where lax regulations mean that tons of toxic dye gets dumped into rivers and waterways every year. Dyeing and finishing fabrics can pollute as many as 200 tons of water per ton of fabric, according to Reuters. What's more, the process consumes an enormous amount of energy to produce steam and hot water.

The industry is centered in China, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam, where governments are still developing environmental regulations. This allows many suppliers in an industry that has a massive environmental footprint to find loopholes and lapses in the law.

There are, however, less harmful - and less expensive - ways to produce high-quality clothing, interior goods and other textile products.

At the Clinton Global Initiative conference earlier this week, Wal-Mart agreed to work with its suppliers to embrace better, safer and more environmentally friendly production techniques. This announcement came just a few days after H&M, a popular and low-cost fashion retailer, agreed to help its suppliers become more environmentally aware.