The Green Guide How sustainable is ZARA - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Fashion The Green Guide How sustainable is ZARA By Jessica Carroll - May 1, 2022 How sustainable is your wardrobe? Introducing a new column by Jessica Carroll that challenges fashion’s eco credentials. This week, she asks the question: how sustainable is ZARA? Natasha Pszenicki Blazer, £69.99, zara.com Materials On the surface this looks promising – the blazer is part of Zara’s sustainable Join Life label, which pledges to use recycled polyester and organic cotton. But on closer inspection, the percentage of recycled polyester is only guaranteed up to 25% – whereas this blazer is 74% polyester, and it’s not clear how much of that is recycled. Suppliers The label states that it was made in Morocco, but beyond this it’s difficult to unearth any further information. Campaign group Fashion Revolution releases an annual report which rates the transparency of 250 companies, looking at everything from recycling to working conditions. In 2021 Zara scored 36 out of 100. Packaging Impressive – this arrived in a 100% recycled box, there was no plastic packaging and even the tape was paper. All bags in-store are paper too. The company has pledged to eradicate all single-use plastic by 2023. The extra mile Zara is making good progress with its used clothes collection programme. Got any old clothes you don’t wear any more? Drop them off in the collection bins in any Zara store and they will be donated to non-profit organisations to be recycled or used to help those in need. Carbon footprint Not too bad for this piece. The Moroccan factory where the blazer is made is close to Zara HQ in Spain, which means fewer air miles than something produced in its other factories in Asia and the US. Verdict The fabric is good quality and the style classic so, unlike most fast fashion, you could wear it season after season. The Join Life range is a positive step. Zara does, however, release around 500 garments each week – just under half of which are Join Life. We’d love to see fewer product drops to encourage more considered shopping. Our rating: 3 stars out of 5. Getting greener, but still too many product drops. Fashion director: Shelly Vella RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Rochelle Humes has launched a gorgeous new edit with Next Shop the YOU Magazine Instagram YOU picks the best new-in buys from M& S Popular in Fashion Laura Jackson has teamed up with Next for the chicest knitwear January 22, 2020 Holly Willoughby’ s birthday dress is another Zara bargain February 10, 2020 The Instagram-famous & Other Stories wool blazer is back in stock August 31, 2022 Lorraine just wore Emma Willis’ Next collection from head to toe March 17, 2020 The prettiest spring dresses under £100 March 1, 2022 Everyone is buying Holly’ s gorgeous gingham Oasis dress May 14, 2020 13 bargain dresses to buy in ASOS’ s extra 20 per cent June 10, 2020 This £20 H& M dress is set to be the social media June 26, 2020 Stacey Solomon x Primark is back for a third collection with July 20, 2020 Searches for this perfect heatwave summer top style are up 5000% August 10, 2020 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved