Startups challenging big brands on sustainability

The Spanish city of A Coruna, currently highlights contrasting fashion business models. It is the home base of Zara-owner Inditex and a score of small boutiques that compete with the world’s largest by offering high-quality durability.

Inditex on its part with a massive output of garments was instrumental behind the European Union’s pledge in order to reverse the “overproduction and overconsumption of clothing. The EU desires that all clothes sold in the bloc be used for a longer period and recyclable by 2030.

The European Commission intends to ensure companies only manufacture the number of products they need. It is asking firms to police themselves to be called sustainable instead of will forcing them to impose restrictions.

The EU motto is that those that produce tons of clothes, and textiles in the market must collect and recycle them.

According to the EU, yearly 5.8 million tons of textile products are discarded in the bloc which comes to 11 kg per person per year. These discarded textiles are in landfill or incinerated somewhere in the world.

Inditex produced 565,027 tonnes of garments for the market in 2021, according to its annual report. Its production continues to grow so far though it is taking steps to reduce the environment Inditex shows no sign of slowing production. But it is changing some processes, aiming to reduce its environmental impact but continuing with its strategy of regular new ranges.



Inditex in response to an email inquiry adjusts production to match customer demand and only 2 percent of stock needs to be recycled or donated. Still, the company is targeting net zero emissions by 2040.



Few of A Coruna’s smaller boutiques are operated by former Inditex designers or sales staff who quit to open their own operations on the lines of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega who opened the first Zara store in A Coruna in 1975. The former employees and prospective Zara competitors include Jorge Toba, 37, and Antia Montero, 31. They launched children’s clothing mostly with organic fibres under the brand name of The Campamento in 2018.

They produce only two made-to-order collections a year. They don’t add new products mid-season and they charge online shoppers for returns to encourage conscientious shopping.

Inditex, on its part, is working with more than 100 start-ups that specialize in recycling fibres. The US-based Circ is among them. All its partners could recycle only 1 percent of textiles needed to make the 109 million tonnes of clothes per year that the global fashion industry churns out.



It’s really a nominal effort but experts believe that new and smaller companies would make a big difference.