Sustainability
Inditex began with an ambition to make fashionable, quality and life-enhancing clothes for people, at the right price. Many of the social, economic and environmental challenges we all face are now more urgent than ever.
As we move from one generation to the next, guided by our ambition and our passion to create fashion, we continue to innovate and increase our efficiency to make a positive difference for people and the planet.
We don’t do things by halves. This is a challenge we are all in. Together.
Our Path
The impact of climate change, the human influence on the natural world, and a scarcity of natural resources impacts us all. At Inditex, we believe fashion is universal, and it must be a force for good, which is why we are going "all in" to transform our industry.
Inditex is an agent of change. Over the past two decades we have also demonstrated a longstanding commitment to people and environment, beginning with the company becoming a signatory to the UN Global Compact in 2001.
Together with top class scientists, environmental and third sector organisations and experts from other fields, we want to take our commitment to a new level in order to spearhead innovation in the world of fashion and transformation of our industry.
Our Main Goals
2025 / 100% linen and polyester from preferent sources
2025 / 25% reduction of water consumption in our supply chain
2025 / Reaching three million people in our supply chain with our Workers in the Centre strategy
2030 / Protecting, restoring, regenerating or otherwise improving biodiversity across 5 million hectares
2030 / Reducing our emissions by over 50% (including the design and manufacture of our products, their distribution and their end-of-life management)
2030 / Using only textile raw materials that deliver a lower impact on the environment, so-called preferred fibres
2040 / Achieving zero net emissions by reducing our carbon footprint by at least 90% by comparison with 2018
Beginning The Cycle
We have ambitious sustainable targets for our key raw materials. Our move to innovative, organic or recycled raw materials is a key path to transform our industry, reduce our emissions and use clean energy and water.
Circularity goes hand in hand with great design. Our designers are trained in sustainability, while embracing new ideas, constantly experimenting and remaining true to our free-thinking culture. We pay special attention to the impact of the raw materials that we include in our products, as cotton. That is why we deliver projects to promote organic cotton in countries as India and Spain together with organizations as Organic Cotton Accelerator.
Their skills are woven throughout our business and they are central to our Sustainability Innovation Hub —a platform that identifies and promotes the best in new materials, approaches and processes in collaboration with start-ups, innovation accelerators and partners.
We are pioneering new types of recycled fibre, like Infinna™, to reduce waste and fund research into new recycling methods. We are also investing in start-ups such as CIRC, with its disruptive technology that will allow textile products made of polyester and cotton blends to be recycled on an industrial scale one of the main challenges we face as an industry. That foundational work positions us to take a new step: by 2030, 100% of our textile products will only use materials that deliver a lower impact on the environment:
/ We estimate that 25% of our garments will be made from newly-created fibres that do not yet exist at an industrial scale, which is why we are investing decisively in their development.
/ We are aiming to have 40% of the textile fibres we use come from conventional recycling processes.
/ Another roughly 25% will come from crops grown using organic or regenerative farming practices. We are working with organisations such as the Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA) to scale up these practices.
/ The remaining 10% will be made from other preferred fibres aligned with the yardsticks set by benchmark organisations such as the Textile Exchange.
Best available technologies and measures to reduce enviromental impact
How Our Items Are Produced
Our aim is to generate a positive impact for the more than three million people working at non-exclusive suppliers and factories that produce for Inditex: for their communities and ecosystems that span 40 countries; and for the broader fashion industry.
We want to lead the transformation of the industry through responsible management based on our stringent Compliance Programme (with recurrent audits and evaluations that are uniform in all the markets where we operate) and with permanent training for our suppliers. Our unique ‘workers at the centre’ strategy is rooted in respect for human and labour rights, social dialogue, worker wellbeing and empowerment in our workplace and across the industry.
Safeguarding human rights and upholding labour standards is key and we operate on a principle of continuous improvement. We work in partnership with many organisations including IndustriALL, the international trade union federation with whom we have a pioneering Global Framework Agreement to achieve strong industrial relations and worker satisfaction We have a common strategy - “Workers at the centre” - which is articulated around social dialogue and employee well-being and empowerment in every area of the industry, with which we want to reach three million people by 2025.
We have committed to reducing our emissions by over 50% in 2030, keeping us on the right track for attaining net zero emissions by 2040.
We are also reducing the consumption of water across the supply chain by 25% by 2025 to help deliver a positive impact for local environments, particularly for marine and freshwater habitats and nearby communities. To achieve this and other related initiatives, we have a specific programme that helps wet processing facilities reduce and optimise their water use and to obtain the highest classification in our audits.
In addition, we are moving forward together with the industry in the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals pledge to restrict and eliminate certain chemicals in the product manufacturing process.
Our Delivery
We continuously review our stores and entire distribution chain to see what mechanisms and ideas can be introduced to reduce our impact on the planet.
We phased out single-use plastic to customers in 2023 and we are collecting in-store hangers and tags – reusing or transforming them into other items. All plastic bags have been phased out and we are promoting the use of reusable shopping bags while using 100% of the income from paper bags sales for environmental projects.
We also want to help our customers extend the useful life of our garments, so advancing towards a circular economy model. That was behind our decision to launch Zara Pre-Owned in 2022, a pioneering platform which offers repairs, person-to-person sales and the possibility of donating used clothing. We also offer our customers the possibility of depositing their used clothing, footwear and accessories in containers in our stores for subsequent reuse and recycling in partnership with non-profits.
In addition, we encourage customers to drop off their used clothing, footwear and accessories at our stores, and we team up with organisations that reuse or recycle them. 100% of our stores are powered by renewable energy since the end of 2022. Our energy efficient stores and our logistics centres have been awarded with the world’s most respected efficiency certifications.
We are also developing a range of emissions-cutting projects across our distribution and logistics operations. Key initiatives include our association with the world-leading Clean Cargo working group and with the Arctic Corporate Shipping Pledge- an Ocean Conservancy initiative with load optimising efforts.
Beyond
We are committed to protecting the planet and its ecosystems. This commitment goes beyond our borders and beyond the confines of our industry.
We promote community projects to maximize their positive impact. In the last year, we directly supported 4.3 million people in need, in collaboration with 476 nonprofit entities -such as ACNUR, MSF or Water.org- to tackle activities mainly related to education, emergency relief abd environment. Our goal is to help 10 million people by 2025.
When teaming up with leading environmental organisations, we work to reduce the impact on ecosystems around the world. One of these organisations is WWF, to which we have pledged over €10 million for the restoration of endangered ecosystems in Europa, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Biodiversity is what allows our ecosystems to work, playing a crucial role in water purification, soil fertility, crop pollination and climate regulation. That is why we have committed to protect, restore, regenerate or otherwise improve biodiversity across 5 million hectares. Framed by this commitment, we have already earmarked €15 million to Conservation International’s Regenerative Fund to help scale up regenerative farming and breeding practices.
Reporting
Transparency and collaboration are key to our company culture. We are always looking to improve what we do through constant experimentation and careful listening while providing the world with inspiringly beautiful, responsibly made fashion. At the same time, we recognise the importance of engaging with all our stakeholders about our progress. Find out more about us, our plans for the future and our achievements.