#Sustainability

2016-07-19

Inditex CEO Pablo Isla made up the balance of the Environmental Strategy Plan

During his presentation, Inditex's chairman emphasised the progress made over the past four years through the Group's 2011-2015 Environmental Strategy Plan.

Specifically, he highlighted the following milestones:

Traceability of the production supply chain and monitoring initiatives throughout the Group's supply chain, from raw material procurement to the end of the garments' useful life.
Significant growth in the use of more sustainable raw materials.
Pioneering the implementation of environmental sustainability procedures for wet processes (dyeing and washing).
Development of the eco-efficient store model, which has already been implemented in 3,700 Group stores.

Building on this progress, Mr Isla unveiled Inditex's new 2016-2020 Environmental Strategy Plan, which further builds on the circular economy model in all phases of the product cycle.

One of the initiatives outlined by Mr Isla includes the development of Inditex's collection, reuse and recycling programme for end-of-life garments. In September, Zara will implement a scheme for free at-home collection of used clothing when delivering online orders. This pilot test – which is being conducted in collaboration with the Spanish charity Cáritas and transportation firm Seur – will initially trial in Madrid with the aim of gradually introducing the scheme all over Spain.

In addition, Inditex will install between 1,500 and 2,000 garment collection containers in Spain's main cities, also in collaboration with Cáritas. The charity will sort the clothing to further the garment's life through its distribution channels or allow for recycling for the development of new textile raw materials. Inditex will donate €3.5 million over two years to this project, which will also encompass the modernisation of Cáritas's garment sorting and treatment plants. In parallel, Inditex will also place new containers throughout its stores, adding to the existing network, in order that all its bricks and mortar stores in Spain will have a container by September.

Research into and development of cutting-edge recycling technologies

In addition, as part of the Group's commitment to the circular economy model, it continues to work hard to support the development of textile recycling technology for the creation of new raw materials. As part of this, Inditex has signed an exclusive agreement with Lenzing, the Austrian producer of the plant-based sustainable textile fibre Lyocell TENCEL, for the manufacture of premium textile raw materials from textile waste generated by Inditex.

Throughout the project, Inditex will provide Lenzing with fabric for recycling into new materials. The pilot will start with a contribution of around 500 tonnes of textile waste, with the aim of raising this to around 3,000 tonnes within a few years. This is enough fabric to enable Lenzing to produce around 48 million garments.

Inditex is also championing research into technology for the creation of new textile fibres from recycled garments together with MIT and specific Spanish universities.