Is Zara Going To Be The 100% Sustainable Brand?

Zara, a fast fashion brand, has recently announced its ambitious ambitions for sustainable fashion.

Zara parent Inditex group announced at its annual shareholders' meeting on July 16th local time that the group's 7500 stores will be efficient, energy saving and environmental friendly before 2019. Before 2025, 100% of all brands of the group including Zara, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti will be made of sustainable fabrics. At present, Zara's Join Life series has 100% sustainable materials and a 20% share in the brand.

In addition, Inditex group also promised that no garbage will be sent to landfills by Zara in 2025. The energy consumed by the headquarters, logistics factories and stores will be 80% of renewable energy.

The harm of fast fashion to the environment is a commonplace topic in fashion industry in recent years. Research by ShareCloth, a retail software company, found that in 2018, the fashion industry produced 150 billion garments, and over 50% of fast fashion products were abandoned after a year of production, and 12 million 800 thousand tons of clothing were poured into landfills every year. As one of the leading brands in fast fashion industry, Zara has also received many queries from outside.

At the same time, the Inditex group also suffered growth bottlenecks. The group's 2018 fiscal year report showed that net profit increased by 2% compared with the same period last year, while the group net profit growth began to decline year by year from the 2015 fiscal year. It is undeniable that the awakening of consumers' environmental awareness is one of the reasons why fast fashion brands are no longer so popular.

Marta Ortega, founder of Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara, said in an interview with Vogue that the brand has been trying to develop new technologies, has been looking for better ways to recycle materials, and has been able to create new fabrics that are capable of facing the future for the company's designers and even the entire fashion industry. "This is a right thing from the moral and commercial level."

In the past few years, Zara began to implement a series of sustainable measures in the company.

In 2015, Zara placed clothing recycling bins in 834 shops in 24 countries around the world. Up to now, these recycling bins have collected over 34000 tons of clothing. It is understood that in 2020, all the brands of Inditex group will be equipped with recycling devices to collect obligations for charity and recycling. Inditex group regards the project as the cornerstone of the company's recycling economy.

According to the women's wear daily, Zara tries to build a more flexible supply chain with factories and distribution centers in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco in view of the frequent overproduction and high inventory problems in fast fashion industry. For those clothes that are not sold, Zara will be donated to charity or for recycling and technology research and development.

In order to reduce waste, Zara also began to recycle the transport box, the maximum number of cycles can reach 6 times. Zara will reduce the use of disposable plastics while facing consumers, while recycled plastics will be used inside the company. In addition, Zara is developing a recyclable clothes rack system. All hangers will continue to be used until they are completely worn out and will be recycled to make new clothes hangers.

Beyond these changes, the most notable thing is the change of Zara's attitude towards clothes.

Most of the consumers' impression of Zara was "quantity win". The clothes of the brand are very fashionable and have a steady stream of new products. A documentary about Zara "Zara: The Story of the World" s Richest Man found that Zara can capture a latest fashion trend within 15 days and produce the goods. It only takes 2 to 4 weeks to completely put the goods into the market, while other companies need 40 weeks. Zara, a factory in Tunisia, can make 1200 garments a day, that is, 150 pieces per hour.

Now, Zara seems to want to go to his own side. Inditex Group Chairman Pablo Isla mentioned several "less is more" and "quality is more than quantity" (quality over quantity) at the meeting. "We are completely in the opposite side of a fast fashion company. We are very flexible and pay attention to every item of clothing." Isla said.

Zara's dress designer Simon Psaric told Vogue that extending the life of clothes is a problem they are very concerned about. "We are more and more obsessed with the quality and durability of clothes that are not affected by time. We are committed to providing clothes that can build a foundation for people's wardrobe."

When "fast fashion" has almost become the original sin, everything Zara does is probably to make consumers change the fast fashion.