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Zara isn’t the first brand you think of when you think about sustainability in fashion, but the retailer’s parent company, Inditex, disclosed its new sustainability goals last week, and they’re pretty ambitious.
The goals include reducing emissions 90% by 2030 from a 2018 baseline, cutting value chain emissions by 50% in the same timeframe, and hitting “net zero” emissions by 2040. The retailer will use only “preferred fibers” with a minimal environmental footprint, such as organic and recycled cotton; European linen; viscose, which is made from trees; and “next-gen” materials “that do not yet exist at an industrial scale.”
Other initiatives include bolstering Zara’s resale platform and working with tech startups that can help support Inditex’s sustainability goals.“
Over the past few months, we have successfully tackled many challenges together; some of them were completely unexpected,” non-executive chair of Inditex Marta Ortega Perez said at the company’s annual general meeting. “We will continue developing our sales and logistics capabilities; we will continue incorporating the necessary technology to carry out our future projects.”
While fast fashion doesn’t exactly have the best rep when it comes to sustainability, Zara isn’t the only retailer trying to remedy the situation. Brands like H&M and even Shein have attempted to include some circularity within their business models through secondhand and resale platforms.
But ultimately, as Anand Kumar, fast-fashion analyst at Coresight Research, previously told Retail Brew, “fast-fashion companies’ business model relies on the production of cheap apparel made from cheap fabrics, so any attempt to become eco-friendly without a commitment to reduce manufacturing and daily product drops, as well as without investing in paying a fair, living wage, will be obsolete.”
Well, at least in Inditex’s case, there may be some hope.