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What happens to an H&M coat deferred? According to an article in today's New York Times, it gets holes slashed in it before the store tosses it in the garbage. Grad student Cynthia Magnus tells the paper that she often sees piles of damaged clothing in trash bags behind the Herald Square H&M. Recently, she found bag upon bag of men's coats, all punctured so that the lining was spilling out. And H&M isn't the only store that destroyed its unsold clothing before putting it in the dumpster: A Wal-Mart contractor on 35th Street does the same thing.

Magnus wrote to H&M's head of corporate responsibility, volunteering to help the chain donate its unwanted clothes to charity. (New York Cares, which runs the city's big annual coat drive, has an office around the corner from the Herald Square store.) So far, she hasn't heard back. The Times attempted to reach H&M ten times yesterday for comment, but also hasn't gotten any response. But whatever: It's not like we're having the coldest winter in years smack in the middle of a national recession, right?