Overall: 6/10
Inditex is the biggest fast fashion group in the world, and comprises many well known brands including Zara, Zara Home, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Uterqüe and more. Inditex began with its first and largest brand, Zara, in Spain in the 1970s, where it is still headquartered. Founder Amancio Ortega is often credited as having pioneered fast fashion in the 1980s, when, under his direction, Zara began creating dupes of high end designs seen on the runway that could be made quickly and in huge quantities, and sold for a fraction of the price. Even today, Zara has one of the quickest turnarounds of any supply chain/clothing manufacturer in the world, and is able to develop new products and get them into stores in just a week. The industry average is six months. If a design does not sell well in stores within a week, it is withdrawn, further orders are canceled, and other designs are pursued.
Inditex has one of the most impressive and thorough Codes of Conduct, as well as strategic plans relating to sustainability and responsible supply chains. According to the code, Inditex only works with manufacturers and intermediaries that have been assessed and authorized by Inditex and which comply with their traceability standard. Inditex ensures their suppliers are following this code by conducting surprise traceability audits from time to time.
In 2019, Inditex signed the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and pledged to create all of its collections from 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025. It also launched a repair and reuse program called Closing The Loop in 2016, which allows shoppers to drop off used garments in-store or through the post to be recycled.
In August 2020, Inditex made a joint agreement with global workers’ union IndustriALL that it will ensure its workers’ health and safety are prioritised and that their right to unionise is maintained. Inditex scored in the 41-50% range in 2022 Fashion Transparency Index, up a whole bracket from the year (31-40%).
Amancio Ortega, founder and owner of Inditex, is one of the five richest men in the world.
Zara’s quick production of designs in small batches which are withdrawn if they’re not selling seems like a more sustainable way to do business than large bulk-orders of items that then do not sell. However, the cost is the same – and it's human. Whether these companies are trying to produce large quantities of the same item quickly and cheaply, or many smaller quantities of different items quickly and cheaply, they routinely turn to exploitatively cheap labor and long hours in countries where labor standards are lax to achieve their goals. Zara is no exception.
In June of 2020, Zara laid off hundreds of factory workers in Myanmar, stating COVID as their reason. However, these workers had recently formed a union to negotiate better working conditions. According to Kyaw Thu Zaw, a worker and president of the union, “Regular shifts consisted of 10-hour work days, six days a week, with workers expected to regularly work overtime in order to make enough money to survive. Workers at the factory make around $3 per day.” He added, “They (Zara) make public statements about equality and sustainability, but here we are in the flesh suffering.”
In 2023, Fashionchecker graded Zara an E (the lowest rating) for “living wage paid.” In 2022, the Fashion Transparency Index report scored Zara 90% for “Policies & Commitments,” but only 1% for “Traceability.” Zara is one of a number of popular brands accused of underpaying garment workers in Pakistan and India in 2022, as well as “deadly safety hazards” in Pakistani factories.
In essence, all evidence points to Zara having an amazing PR team. They’ve put a lot of thought and effort into their public facing policies, strategic plans, codes and standards. However, there seems to be less effort put towards the enforcement of these standards.
Environmental impact: 3/5
Labor rights: 3 / 5
Pull & Bear was founded in 1991 and currently has 73 stores. In 2016, it launched a store in Ferrol, Spain which employs people with disabilities. The brand also says it has projects to support community development in Bangladesh and Cambodia and employment in Spain. Despite these proclamations, Pull & Bear doesn’t show evidence of paying their workers living wages. Along with other Inditex brands, it aims to offer products with 100% sustainable materials by 2025, reduce its carbon emissions by 30% by 2030, and become carbon neutral by 2050. While these are all great targets, the brand doesn’t have a lot of projects being implemented to achieve them right now.
Massimo Dutti started in 1985 as a menswear brand and since then has expanded to include women. In 2020, the brand invested 3.5 million dollars into research for textile recycling. Massimo Dutti says they are using more environmentally friendly fabrics (ex: organic or recycled cotton, lyocell, recycled polyester, etc.) in their products, but there’s still no evidence that their manufacturing process minimizes textile waste.
The brand has a short environmental policy but no strategic plan or reports on progress. Though the brand has other policies aimed at supposedly providing employees and suppliers with living wages and protecting their safety and human rights, Massimo Dutti doesn’t pay a living wage across their supply chain.
Bershka was founded in 1998. They use some sustainable fibers and vegetable fibers, but most of the textiles they use aren’t environmentally friendly. Also, most of the sustainable actions Bershka supposedly takes are actions that are actually taken by their parent company, Inditex. Bershka also does not provide evidence that it ensures payment of a living wage.
Conclusion
Inditex promises all the right things, but there is not enough measurable process or progress to those promises for me to be comfortable giving them a higher rating.
Inditex, with no doubt about it, has one of the best PR teams out there, and that team has produced a lot of propaganda which helps hide the company’s faults.
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They do seem to have picked up their game in the last few years, the results of which we may not yet be seeing. I remain hopeful!