By 2025, Zara will commit to making collections from 100% sustainable fabrics, and aim for 80% renewable energy consumption in its headquarters, logistics plants, and stores. The target will be enacted by all eight of Inditex’s brands – Zara, Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Uterqüe, Oysho, and Stradivarius – not only Zara.
Inditex chairman and CEO Pablo Isla:
“Sustainability is a never-ending task in which everyone here at Inditex is involved and in which we are successfully engaging all of our suppliers. Our digital transformation and determined progress towards the most demanding sustainability standards are complementary and underpinned by the efficiency of our long-standing business model, which is based on offering our customers the best in quality fashion.”
The Spanish fashion retailer has pledged that 100% of the cotton, linen, and polyester used in its clothing will be more sustainable, organic, or recycled as part of this goal. Cotton, linen, and polyester – along with viscose – make up 90% of all raw materials purchased by the brand.
The company announced recently to its shareholders that its portfolio of 7,500 stores will be eco-efficient by the end of 2019, and that it has committed to zero waste in landfills from Zara facilities. These are among the list of green initiatives outlined by the clothing line.
Another initiative includes eliminating single-use plastic supplied to its clients. By 2023 it will have fully eliminated single-use plastics from customer sales and will be sending 100% of the waste generated at its head offices and stores for recycling or reuse. Inditex is currently recycling or reusing 88% of its waste.
At the moment, only 20% of Zara’s collections are made from sustainable fabrics. To make sure that percentage increases, Zara has brought in a new board of directors who are solely focused on these future-proofing goals.
For Zara, sustainability can be implemented everywhere and the company has already begun managing its waste by reusing recycled cardboard shipping boxes up to six times, using recycled plastics internally, as well as coming up with a way to re-circulate clothes hangers. Furthermore, its website is run by 90% renewable energy.
It has also installed containers for collecting used clothing to either be reused, recycled, or sent to charity in an effort to make a move towards a circular economy in its stores. These dedicated clothes banks have collected over 34,000 tons of used garments, footwear, and accessories since their launch in 2015.
Isla said:
We need to be a force for change, not only in the company but in the whole sector. We are the ones establishing these targets: The strength and impulse for change is coming from the commercial team, the people who are working with our suppliers, the people working with fabrics. It is something that’s happening inside our company.
