That fashion is one of the most polluting sectors on the earth is hardly news. According to a 2018 United Nations report, due to long supply chains and energy-intensive production, this sector contributes about 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. And Greenpeace has also highlighted that, in the European Union alone, textile consumption makes the fashion industry the fourth largest sector in terms of impact on the environment and climate, as well as the third largest one in terms of water and land consumption. Furthermore, the ecologist organization points out that every year, about 5’8 million tons of textile products are thrown away in the EU, a total of 12 kg per person. The same products that, used or unsold, end up in the huge illegal landfill in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
According to the ILO (International Labor Organization), the fashion industry is responsible for the exploitation of about 30 million people worldwide, forced to live in semi-slavery conditions, with work shifts of up to even 14h and a pay of about $2.40 a day.
These are just some of the numbers behind the tags of fast fashion garments.
You read the price and you convince yourself that you just made a great bargain, but reality is very different: society has just stumbled into the momentary circle of consumerism.
Born as a reconfiguration of class identity with the goal of democratizing and spreading equality, fast fashion – or better saying disposable fashion – has fooled everyone. The promise of trendy, cheap and inclusive clothes is just the carpet under which the industry hides tons of dust. Very low production times, continuous product renewal, democratic pricing and designs inspired by the latest trends – with clear intellectual property issues – are just some of the slogans used by the big fast fashion tycoons to imprint the gentle purpose of their empire in the public imagination.
Inditex, the quintessential symbol of fast fashion
At the center of this model there is the spanish company Inditex, whose most famous brand, Zara, set the standard and paved the way for copycats.
The group, owned by Amancio Ortega, is made up of several brands including, in addition to the favorite daughter, Massimo Dutti, PullBear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Uterqüe, and Zara Home.
Ortega is known as the Prometheus of fashion, as the one who stole from a select few – French and Italian designers – the savoir fair in the textile arts and gave it to men. But, not surprisingly, in Greek mythology Prometheus is condemned by the gods and bound to a mountain for eternity.
Ortega built his empire from a small store on Calle Juan Flórez in the heart of A Coruña. It was 1975, the same year when, after Francisco Franco’s death, the long years of dictatorship ended for Spain.
The goal, then as now, was to create clothes that could be worn by any woman. It was from this intuition that Zara built, move by move, its success: observing and satisfying the desires of women and later of men and children.
The strategic plan was and is simple: no stock, no warehouses. The garments are transitory: today they are there, tomorrow maybe not. In this way the customer is forced to buy immediately and always want more. There is no advertising. The store is advertising itself. It is no coincidence that Zara is the first brand in Europe in terms of the number of scattered stores and second in the world after the american Gap.
Furthermore Ortega has turned the concept of seasonality upside down. Everything revolves around mid-seasons, around those clothes that nobody ever knows when to wear and that everyone keeps buying.
It is with this strange and innovative placement policy that the Inditex group has managed to creep into everyone’s closets. And that does mean everyone. Not only in those of ordinary people, but also of queens and supermodels. In 2018, model Emily Ratajkowski got married wearing a mustard-colored suit by Zara, which went viral and automatically sold out. Princess consort Kate Middleton has been photographed again and again wearing Zara blazers.
While this may seem paradoxical, on the contrary, it fits into a definite strategic plan of the fast brand that feels almost ashamed to be perceived as such.
An analysis published in BoF (The Business of Fashion) shows how Ortega is considering a significant relaunch that could take Zara even higher. In fact, through the Join Life program and a slight but steady price increase, the brand is trying to reposition itself within the market to be perceived as sustainable and luxury. In this new perspective, the goal is to work in the different stages of the production chain with a holistic intersectional approach starting from the choice of materials to the production and warehouse logistics management. By 2030 Zara aims to reduce emissions by 50 percent and wants to eliminate them completely by 2040. It also aims to use recycled textile materials and implement circularity services such as Zara pre-owen, which allows people to recycle their garments so that they can have a new life. The program is based on the ability to throw away clothes purchased a few seasons earlier and buy new ones in a continuous cycle.
It is the Maya veil of sustainability and innovation that hides the desire of a few powerful tycoons to enrich themselves at the expense of people and the environment.
Thus, despite made promises and capitalist aspirations concealed, every morning the consumer wakes up with the classic hamletic dilemma: a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear.
