Use and end of life of the product

As part of the commitment to the environment and society, Inditex is conscious of the need to promote efficient care of the product among its clients and advance towards better management of the waste from our textile and footwear products. Inditex promotes the re-use and recycling of our items, collaborating with social entities and universities, with the objective of exploring efficient solutions for textile recycling and contributing to our community. Clothing collection bins have been placed with this aim in several locations at the central headquarters and stores.

During 2014, the Group has maintained its support of the Roba Amiga cooperative, specialised in the management of second-hand items of clothing, as well as the labour insertion of people in a situation of, or at risk of, social exclusion.

Also, collaboration has been maintained with the Association for Development of Alternative Commerce and Microcredit (ADCAM) and A Puntadas, an association that manages training workshops in textile confection for women at risk of social exclusion, which has reused leather waste originating from the cutting rooms and product samples in order to create 1,136 computer mouse pads and 1,225 accessories. Sales of these have been carried out in markets in Tempe for charity.

Through the programme CleverCare, Inditex promotes among its clients its practices of efficient care for the items in order to lengthen the life of the product.

Innovation

Innovation is inherent to the Inditex business model. Innovation in fashion and in the procedures for creating it, producing it and commercialize it, and the optimisation of the tools and processes required are fundamental for making attractive and safe items available to our clients. Some of the innovation challenges that Inditex has taken on are:

  • The development of new or improved trial methods that cut down on analysis time, increase sensibility and reproducibility or that increase the scope of application, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela and Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the Technological Centre Leitat and AMSLab, SL.
  • The substitution of substances and processes of potential risk for non-toxic alternatives, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela.