Is Zara Sustainable or is it Greenwashing?

Sustainable or Greenwashing
Written By Krystalynn Gier

Welcome to my “Sustainable or Greenwashing” series where I'm sharing if brands and products are actually what they say they are.

Is Zara sustainable or is it greenwashing? 👗

Zara is the biggest name in fast fashion — founded in Spain in 1975, the flagship brand of Inditex, the largest fashion retailer in the world by revenue. Their whole model is speed: around 24 collections a year instead of the usual two seasons, new styles landing in stores twice a week, and a design-to-store cycle of about two to three weeks. So when a company built on “new, new, new” starts talking about sustainability, I want to look very closely at the labels.

The label to know is Join Life. That is Inditex's own tag, and it flags garments made with “more sustainable” raw materials — like organic cotton or recycled fibres — or more environmentally friendly production processes. There are three little sub-labels under it: Care for Fiber, Care for Water, and Care for Planet. Inditex says 47% of its garments carried the Join Life label, and it has set big targets: 100% of textile products made from lower-impact materials by 2030, and net zero by 2040. They also run Zara Pre-Owned, a resell and repair platform, and an in-store clothing collection program.

Okay. Now the other side.

The Changing Markets Foundation looked at the industry's synthetics problem and found Inditex using 131,548 tonnes of synthetics — the second-highest volume of any brand they surveyed — and its use of fossil-based fabrics grew by nearly a fifth between surveys. A later survey found Inditex using a higher volume of synthetic fibre than any other brand surveyed. Most of that “recycled” polyester starts life as a single-use plastic bottle — which means a bottle becomes a shirt, and the shirt can never be recycled again. That is not a loop. That is a one-way trip to landfill with a green label on it.

A 2023 Greenpeace report put Join Life in what it called a “greenwash danger zone,” pointing to confusing labels, no third-party verification of the claims, and no reduction in how much the company actually produces. And regulators have started to act: in January 2026, Poland's consumer protection authority brought charges against Zara over Join Life slogans like “zero waste” and “net zero emissions,” saying they were presented in general terms without saying what they actually applied to — “zero waste in our own facilities,” for example, may have applied in Poland to as little as 1 in 40 stores. Those are charges, not a finding — but they are charges from a regulator, not a blogger. And in May 2025, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission warned Zara's operator there for marketing leather goods as “eco” without enough to back it up.

Then there is the cotton. An investigation by Earthsight in 2024 traced cotton from farms linked to deforestation and land grabbing in Brazil — cotton carrying the Better Cotton seal — through suppliers to H&M and Zara. Better Cotton's own follow-up found no violations, which Earthsight called “almost worthless.” When the certification itself is the thing being questioned, the label stops meaning very much.

And I cannot write about Zara without naming the labor record. In 2011, inspectors in São Paulo found migrant workers in workshops producing for Zara in conditions described as analogous to slavery — 16-hour days, minimal pay, restricted movement. The Brazilian government brought 52 charges; Zara blamed a supplier, paid around $1.5 million, and then fought the sanctions in court for six years — and lost. A 2025 report found that of 110 brands surveyed, including Zara, none could show any suppliers paying a living wage.

To be fair, Inditex does report progress: 73% of the fibres it used in 2024 were “lower impact,” and 39% were recycled. But “lower impact” is Inditex's own category, not an independent certification — and it sits on top of a business that makes more clothes, faster, than almost anyone else on earth.

So is Zara sustainable or is it greenwashing?

I'm going to say greenwashing. A self-awarded label, record volumes of fossil-based fabric, regulators bringing charges over the slogans, and a supply chain with that history — the green claims do not survive contact with the evidence. The speed is the point of the business, and speed is the opposite of sustainability.

If you love the Zara look, the most sustainable version of that habit is buying secondhand first — and I have covered brands doing fashion differently, like Reformation and Allbirds, on the hub. What do you think — is Zara sustainable, or is it greenwashing? Let me know, and if there is another brand you want me to cover, send it my way!

I have many more deep dives on the Sustainable or Greenwashing hub — stick around for all things mind, body, and planet! 🌎

XOXO, Krys

Sources:

Krystalynn Gier

Krystalynn Gier is an eco-educator and sustainability content creator who is passionate about sharing low waste living tips, health and wellness hacks, and cozy home decor with those interested in learning about a low waste life.

https://www.krystalynngier.com
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