Zara Is the Latest Fast Fashion Retailer to Launch an Eco-Friendly Line

Zara’s owner Amancio Ortega is the second richest man in the world, according to Forbes, with a $67 billion dollar net worth. And someone who’s made such a killing off a fast fashion clothing brand certainly knows that his wealth doesn’t come without a cost to the environment. Next to oil, the fast fashion industry has been noted as the second most polluting industry in the world, and with this information, it’s up to leaders in the business to do something about it.

Luckily, Zara is following the lead of other fast fashion retailers like H&M, launching the Join Life collection, an eco-friendly range of clothing crafted from materials like Tencel, recycled wool, and organic cotton. “The collection embraces a woman who looks into a more sustainable future,” Zara explained in a post to Instagram. The collection includes a selection of stylish separates that would suit the urban working woman, from a fitted dress with ties at the waist and wrists, to a crisp white blouse uplifted by sculptural ruffles. Zara describes the aesthetic as “a fusion of masculine and feminine style which defines clean silhouettes and a color palette inspired by mineral tones.”

According to Glossy, along with the release of its new collection, Zara is also calling on artists to turn the retailer’s cardboard boxes into art, and has added 300 clothing drop locations in Europe for people to donate all their old threads. The chain hopes to bring them to Asia and the North America by next year.

Zara has rolled out environmentally friendly initiatives before. According to The Fashion Law, Zara aims to have all its stores be eco-efficient by 2020, and the brand’s SoHo flagship, which was built to be more eco-conscious, “will consume 30% less energy and 50% less water compared to a conventional store.”

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