Fashion retailer Zara's customers find notes from unpaid workers pinned in clothing
06 Nov 2017
Popular Spanish fashion retailer Zara, is facing accusations of not paying some of the employees who make the products.
The labour dispute came to light after in-store shoppers found strategically placed notes in their clothing, which in-part read, ''I made this item you are going to buy, but I didn't get paid for it,'' the Associated Press reported. The notes which were found inside clothing across Zara shops in Turkey were placed by employees from an outsourced manufacturer for the fast fashion retail giant.
The unpaid workers are from Bravo Texstil, Zara's third-party Istanbul-based manufacturer, according to the tags. According to the employees they have not been paid severance allowance and a few months of pay. Textile workers at Bravo, who also make clothing for Mango and Next started a Change.org petition.
According to a former Bravo employee who appears in a video accompanying the petition, in July 2016 the company's boss disappeared and left 155 people without jobs and their previously earned wages. The petition was signed by 140 of the 155 people.
''We have all laboured for Zara/Inditex, Next, and Mango for years. We made these brands' products with our own hands, earning huge profits for them,'' the petitioners wrote. ''We demand now that these brands give us the basic respect to compensate us for our labour. We demand no more than our basic rights! We call on the international community to support our struggle, sign and share to support our campaign!''
Inditex, based in Spain and has a market capitalisation of €97 billion ($113 billion), and is one of the world's largest fashion retailers. It owns 7,405 stores and has a workforce 162,450 strong. According to commentators, the company has helped reshape the fashion industry with to produce cheaper fashion items at a fast pace.
