CSR: Inditex Case Study

Before analysing how the fashion industry copes with sustainable issues nowadays,
it is necessary to introduce what sustainable means. According to the Cambridge
dictionary sustainable means “causing little or no damage to the environment and
therefore able to continue for a long time” (Cambridgedictionary.com, 2016). This
concept could seem difficult to relate to the fashion industry and in particular to the
fast fashion one due to the fastness of its processes, which are often related with
non-ethical procedures.  Nowadays, being ethical responsible is a necessity to
survive in the competitive market of fast fashion. Sustainability will be analysed
through Inditex case. Inditex company is the pioneer of fast fashion: Zara was the
first shop opened in 1975, today the group counts 7 brands (Zara, Bershka,
Stradivarious, Oysho, Uterque, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear). Zara has been ranked
as the 30th most valuable brand in the world in 2015 (Interbrand.com, 2015).
Nowadays problems such as global warming and pollution are the order of the day.
In this status of things people are more concerned about the environment and so
should be the industries. Although this is not always happening. In fact
Greenpeace, which is one of the most popular organisation for protecting the
environment, blamed Zara since 2011 for using hazardous chemicals in all its
supply chains (Matthews, 2012). When Zara understood the impact of that
campaign was affecting the brand decided to commit publicly to eliminate all the
toxic chemical discharges. Being ethical and social responsible is central for
businesses such as Inditex. Developing a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is
now a common practice for industries, especially fashion ones, but it was not in the
past. From 2005 to 2011 there was an increase of 95% among the 250 largest
industries in the world which were reporting on their CSR activities (Simpson and
Taylor, 2013). The word CSR has a wide meaning and there are several definition,
according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development can be
defined as “the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic
development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families
as well as the community and societiy as large” (www.wbcsd.org as cited by
Simpson and Taylor, p 203, 2013).
Inditex has developed its Corporate Social Responsibility plan called Right to
Wear. It is a plan which includes five different sections of the company’s social
commitment, which will be explained below (fig. 1).

fig.1
Clear&Safe to Wear:
This section refers in particular to the customers and implicates Inditex
commitment to apply the most strict health and safety regulations in producing its
products.  Safe to Wear refers in particular to the application of the international
safety standard, which are continuously updated whenever the legislations evolves.
Clear to Wear section regards the use of dangerous chemical, including a huge
reduction or even a complete elimination from all the processes.

Teams to Wear:
Teamwork is fundamental for Inditex CSR. Inditex is devoted to its employees
ensuring integration and equality at work. At the same time inditex team of
employees work ensuring that all the products “in an environmentally-friendly
manner and by an ethical production chain” (Inditex.com, 2016).
Tested to Wear:
In order to achieve a sustainable production, Inditex has implemented a strategic
plan 2014-2018 for all its suppliers and manufacturers (Inditex.com, 2016). This
plan includes a Code of Conduct which sets all the criteria established by Inditex in
order to achieve an ethical and sustainable supply chain. Manufacturers and
suppliers have to apply those criteria and in order to achieve that Inditex CSR
teams operates all over the works closely to the manufacturers.
Green to Wear:
Inditex has also implemented a Global Sustainable Strategy, which allows the
company to grow respecting the global environment. This strategy includes three
main activities: water management, energy and biodiversity. The water
management part include the elimination of toxic chemical discharge by 2020,
while the energy part includes the reduction by 15% of energy for each garment
placed in the market, and by 10% of each one placed in store. Both these activities
together converge in the third one helping to protect the health and diversity of
species in all the communities in which Inditex operates, directly or not. Inditex to
fulfil its plan collaborates also with organisation for the environment protection
and has included this strategy into its business master plan.

Social to Wear:
This section of Inditex CSR is focused on the communities around the world where
Inditex operates. Inditex helps those communities collaborating with non-profit
organisations and offering jobs and education. In 2014 the group invested more
than 25 million Euro in social programmes (fig.2). The Key areas for these
programmes are education (23%), humanitarian aid (25%) and social welfare
(32%) helping vulnerable population in finding jobs (fig.3).
What Inditex is doing is not an isolated case, the majority of the fashion industries
have their CSR activities and it is possible to be aware of that through their
websites. It is a customers’ responsibility to be conscious of which fashion
industries are acting ethically and improving their sustainability when they are
making their shopping decisions. Despite this progresses fast fashion is still
blamed for being the second biggest polluter in the world after the oil industry
(Ecowatch.com, 2015). Fast fashion industry produces 2 million tons of waste each
year and 2.1 million tons of CO2 (onlinemba.com, 2013). About 85 organisations
operating in the UK clothing sector have signed the Sustainable Clothing Action
Plan (SCAP), which aims to reduce the tons of waste by 15% by 2020
(wrap.org.uk, 2014). Here follows a video explaining the SCAP commitment.
Figure list:
Fig. 1-2-3: Inditex.com (2016), managing sustainability, accessed
from https://www.inditex.com/en/sustainability/managing_sustainability
References:
Ecowatch.com (2015), Fast Fashion is the second Dirtiest Industry in the World,
17 August 2015, available from http://ecowatch.com/2015/08/17/fast-fashion-
second-dirtiest-industry/
Inditex.com, (2016), Managing Sustainability, available
from https://www.inditex.com/en/sustainability/managing_sustainability
Interbrand.com, (2015), Brands Rankings, available
from http://interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/2015/ranking/
Matthews, R. (2012), Greenpeace Succeeds in Forcing Zara to Detox, 4 th December
2012, The Green Market Oracle, accessed from  Warc
Onlinemba.com (2013), The Business of Fast Fashion, 11 March 2013, available