Zara business proposal for sustainability Pop-up retail and new immersive platform

Abstract

[Abstract] The aim of this essay is to create a sustainable collection and a Pop-up for Zara, in order to reinforce the environmental and social commitment of the company. My recent internship in Glencare, one of Zara’s plants in charge of the production planning, has given me the chance not only to understand the company’s sustainability strategy, but also to detect opportunities of improving the mentioned strategy. Firstly, all Zara’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of sustainability implementation and diffusion to the public, have been identified, in order to determine any aspects that have room for improvement. This part of the thesis has been conducted, by examining Inditex commitments, life and ecosystems policies, and product standards and their sustainability reports. Moreover, a survey was delivered, in order to recognize how the public sees Zara’s sustainable initiatives. Once the characteristics that make Zara a strong or weak brand were determined, market research has been conducted regarding the innovative solutions provided by avant-garde technology in fabrics, processes and tailoring towards sustainability. In this way, hopefully the sustainability of the company’s supply chain would be improved in order to speed up the achievement of becoming net zero. All this information will serve as a starting point for a business proposal consisting of Pop Ups introducing a new collection of circular fashion for Zara, inspired by the essence of the Sustainability Innovation Hub (SIH), and the most Avant-Gard technologies and innovations in the sustainable textile creation field. The aim of this project is to communicate to and educate the costumer regarding the initiatives and technology advances in the fashion industry towards sustainability, from the heart of Zara. This collection will be developed by partnering with new innovative textile start-ups and by continuing partnership with SIH associates that have already collaborated with Zara. The items from this collection will be done using sustainable innovative techniques in terms of sourcing, manufacturing, process innovation, water reduction, recycling, and extension of the garment lifecycle. Furthermore, these Pop Ups will include an educational side, implementing workshops and visual content, in order to provide information about clothing repair, amplification of the life cycle of garments and communication of the Join Life and Zara standards and proposals towards sustainability. The communication strategy for this new Zara section will be based on the implementation of the Metaverse, which introduces the possibility for the customer of interacting with the company’s products, by dressing up their own avatars with the owned pieces from the collection. Furthermore, while creating a seamless experience for the customer, the company will be enhancing the social and environmental knowledge of the users, by showcasing relevant information about the technology used for garment creation and the positive effects it has on the planet. Zara has committed to be 100% carbon neutral in 2040, so this Pop-up collection would serve as a pilot experiment, in order to test the social, environmental, and commercial viability of the project. If it becomes successful, it can be implemented on a larger scale, to the whole supply chain by the aforementioned year.