The owner of high street fashion chain ZARA says its clothes will be made from 100 percent sustainable fabrics by 2025. Inditex, which owns Zara, confirmed that its other brands, which include Zara Home, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear - will also move to sustainable materials.
These include cotton, linen and polyester that is organic, more sustainable or recycled.
Force For Change
"We need to be a force for change, not only in the company but in the whole sector," Pablo Isla, Chief Executive of Inditex, said at its annual shareholders' meeting. "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."
Fast Fashion
Isla has denied Zara is a 'fast fashion' brand, saying: "We operate with a different model. We make our own patterns, work with our own factories, keep low levels of inventory, have local sourcing and manufacturing and don't have promotions in stores."
In addition to using sustainable fabrics, Zara says it will switch to 80 percent renewable energy in its headquarters, factories and stores. By 2023, the company pledges to eliminate single-use plastics from customer sales, and that 100 percent of the waste generated at the Group's head offices, logistics platforms and stores will be sent for recycling or reuse.
"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; we aspire to playing a transformational role in the industry," Isla said.