Human rights concerns[edit]
Sweatshops[edit]
On August 16, 2011, a Brazil television show called A Liga (of the Bandeirantes TV network) accused the company of using suppliers who were running sweatshops for their outsourced production.[28] On August 17, 2011, the Regional Superintendency of Labour and Employment of São Paulo, Brazil, closed a factory that produced Zara's clothing for its poor labour conditions. Bolivians were brought illegally to Brazil, locked in small apartments and sewed clothes for 12–14 hours a day. They could not leave the apartment without the consent of the supervisor and didn't have hot water for taking showers or food for lunch. The Bolivians earned about 1 USD for each dress they sewed, although the retail price in Brazilian stores was about 70 USD for the same dress. Many of the workers were forced into paying their wages to human traffickers who had smuggled them into the country.[29][30]
In a statement, Zara’s representatives said that the accusations of slave labour made against the retailer represent a “serious breach in accordance with the Code of Conduct for External Manufacturers and Workshops of Inditex.” They also countered that all factories responsible for unauthorized outsourcing have been asked to regularize immediately the situation of the workers involved. “The Inditex group, along with Brazil’s Ministry of Work, will strengthen the supervision of the production system of all its suppliers in the country to ensure that such cases do not occur again.”[31]
After the 2013 Savar building collapse, Zara's parent company Inditex with other retailers signed the Accord on Factory and Building Safety in Bangladesh.