New design and business models for
sustainable consumption:
Group 4
Kira Van den Ende
Andrea Taylor
Janika Magi
Maja Cornelius
Pauliina Varis
Silvia Gonzalez
Table of Contents
1.Topic Selection
2.Problem Statement
3.Stakeholders
4.Etnoraid
5.Zara Environmental
6.Zara Materials
7. Shop of the Future
7.1 Transparency
7.2 Technology
7.3 Education
7.4 Up-cycling
8. Conclusion
1. Topic Selection
The development team’s
decision was to focus
on a well-known company that has the ability
to influence consumers.
Zara as a company showed
power to invest which is
why choosing this company appeared realistic.
They are a very widespread retailer and already have sustainable
values in their environmental policy. This
policy is shown on the
Zara website through
their mission statement.
Taking a company that
has an environmental and
sustainable background
means it would be natural for them to build
on that policy. This
development team is at
hand to propose an idea
that will include a more
sustainable approach
within Zara.
2. Problem Statement
The fashion industry is dealing with issues that extend to
different fields. First, there
is the superficial way we consume garments, As if there was
no link between the final piece
of clothing and the original
material. Second, the way traditional way clothes are made
is out-dated in a world where
sustainable thinking is becoming more and more important.
As a solution to this, the team
will propose a new ‘Future
Shop’ to the fashion distributors of Zara, Inditex Group, to
have a new and successful initiative for the store. The new
business model for the retailer
would have to be accepted by
the board members within Inditex. This project focuses on
the sustainable factors that
already exist in Zara, taking a
bigger step towards more environmentally conscious responsibility. The team’s final idea
is to create a Shop of the Future that will improve consumer
awareness, create sustainable
ranges and up cycle old Zara
garments that can be re-sold.
Overall, it will have a large
focus on lifestyle. The team
has developed a road-map which
portrays the business goals in
chronological order (See Appendice 1).
3.Stakeholders
Stakeholders in the company are
extremely important because
of the way they will be affected through a change in the
business. Mr. Amancia Ortega, Chairman of Inditex Group,
opened up his own store originally in Arteixo. This small
shop was successful because the
clothes he sold were of good
quality and reasonably priced.
The development team’s idea
will reflect back to the original idea of quality over quantity. Ortega will also find the
fast fashion side of producing
the sustainable garments cohesive with the way Zara as a
company works today.
Customers as stakeholders would
be the new shop’s target market. The consumers would be
both men and women and would be
shopping for quality clothing
at a reasonable price.
The
group did market research by
asking questions, in Copenhagen’s Zara store, to find out
what customer’s think about the
‘Future Shop.’
4. Etnoraid
When the team asked customers questions relating
to the project in the Zara store it gave a good
insight into the consumer behaviour. The questions asked were:
Why Zara? (Good/bad things)
What makes you value a garment?
Would you like to know something about the production? (Perhaps whilst in the store or knowing
what’s really behind the price)
What do you think the shops will look like in
the future?
4. Zara Environmental
In Zara’s environmental policy
there are valuable methods that
the company already works with
for example see Appendice 2.
When Zara talks further about
what each of their policies
stated entails they start talking about ‘We save energy. The
eco-friendly store.’ This part
of the policy is interesting because Zara talk about how much
they want to save energy through
their lighting, heating and cooling systems. They also go on
to talk about recycling furniture and decoration as a method
of being sustainable and efficient. This caught the development team’s attention because the
clothing that Zara produce that
aren’t sold haven’t been mentioned in the topic of energy or
waste. This formed an idea that
Zara should have less waste and
more of an ‘up cycling’ method in
order to be sustainably fashionable. If the clothing is recycled
back into Zara, employed designers could be re-using materials
and reducing waste.
4. Zara Materials
Zara stated that they use ecological materials. Within the team
it was suggested that in order to
follow a ‘cradle to cradle’ approach, garments would have to be
made without mixing different materials. When a garment is made
with only one type of material
throughout it can then be up-cycle into different things and be
re-used. Zara would have to invest in a new range of clothing
that would be completely sustainable.
Zara already uses:
-Ecological fabrics
-Organic cotton
-PVC-free footwear
Based on the C2C principles the
new collection uses eco-friendly
materials, which can be recycled
either in a biological or a technical loop. Having the control
for material supply,
Zara is
able to produce fabrics for the
new collection in their own factories. The new collection alters the composition of fabrics
from the mixed one to using only
one material at a time. The more
ecological alternatives for material in use make the fibre-tofibre recycling of the materials
less burdening for the environment. The table below shows the
material in us and more ecofriendly alternatives for the fibres.
The process of reviewing and comparing
fibres makes opportunities to reduce environmental impact more visible. As an
example switching to organic production
brings a major reduction in the toxicity
profile for cotton. The main factor limiting the increased use of organic cotton
is its limited supply (0.18 per cent of
world fibre demand and around 1 per cent
of the total cotton market). Productivity of organic production is usually less
than for conventional production, by up
to 50 per cent, and this has given rise
to skepticism in the fibre industry about
organic cotton’s viability as a true replacement for conventionally grown fibre,
as lower yields require more land in order to meet demand.
Also interest in renewable resource based
fibres such lyocell, bamboo, PLA and soya
bean is growing and these are promoted
as replacements for petrochemical-derived
synthetic fibres like polyester. For example as an substitute for viscose lyocell (made of wood pulp, normally eucalyptus) is an environmentally responsible
fibre utilising renewable resources as
its raw materials. In the production
other than evaporation of water, the manufacturing process recovers 99,5 per cent
of the solvent, which is purified and
then recycled back into the main process.
The solvent itself is non-toxic and all
the effluent produced is nonhazardous.
Lyocell is also fully biodegradable.
Although Zara already uses organic cotton in their products, the intension of
the the new collection is to increase the
use of organic cotton and other environmentally low-impact-materials. For more
material alternatives see Table1 ( Appendice 3.)
7.Shop of the Future
Walking in to Zara in the future will
give you a whole new shopping experience.
The lay-out will be a lot more spacious.
Using natural materials and colors in
the shop design and furniture, choosing
for example wood, leather and non-toxic
paint, will create a more relaxed atmosphere.
TRANSPARENCY
Transparency is the key word in the new
concept. This means that the intention is
to create a glass wall between the customers and the production of the clothes.
There are three things the team is focusing on: technology, education and a visible workroom.
TECHNOLOGY
In some places in the store touch screens
will be found. These screens would be
used as an interaction between Zara and
its customers. They contain all the information regarding the garments. For example, if the customer finds a t-shirt
(s)he likes, he can look it up on the
screen and discover where the cotton
comes from, how it was spun and woven,
what materials were used etc.
Customers could also use it to look up
information about how Zara, amongst others, saves resources, recycles and takes
care of good labor conditions.
When the screens are not being used, they
broadcast a conceptual film about the way
clothes are made. All this is to raise
people’s interest and awareness about
everything that is behind the clothes and
thereby make them have more appreciation.
EDUCATION
When customers have an interest in the
production of clothes, they should be
able to ask questions about it. And who
better to answer them than the staff in
the store?
In the Shop of the Future, Zara’s staff
will have a good knowledge about materials, production and the Zara way of working. This is interesting for Zara in more
than one way: it would improve customer relationships and it would be a very
clever marketing tool.
Like Hutten L (2010) said, employees are
the first step to get information about
the company out into the world, without
advertisement.
UP-CYCLING
The third tool to make Zara into a more
sustainable company is an up-cycling visible workroom, in the back of the store.
This is where old clothes are given new
life. The old clothes come from customers who bring the Zara items that they no
longer wear to the store, in return for
a small discount. This is truly a win-win
situation, as it is profitable for the
company, the costumers and the environment.
Having a visible workroom will, again,
raise consumer awareness. It is the most
direct way of seeing how much effort goes
into every piece of clothing and subconsciously urge people to treat clothing
with respect.
Appendice 2:
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
Environmental policy
Through Zara’s business model, we aim to contribute to the sustainable development of society and that of the environment
with which we interacts. The company’s commitment to the environment is included in Inditex Group’s Corporate Responsibility
Statement, published on our website: www.inditex.com.
The following are some of the objectives and actions included
in the framework of the group’s environmental commitment and
have a direct impact on our shops and customers:
AT THE STORE
- We save energy.
- The eco-friendly shop.
- We produce less waste, and recycle.
- Our commitment extends to all our staff.
- An environmentally aware team.
We save energy. The eco-friendly store.
We are implementing an eco-friendly management model in our
shops in order to reduce energy consumption by 20%, introducing
sustainability and efficiency criteria. This management model
sets out measures to be applied to all processes, including the
design of the shop itself, the lighting, heating and cooling
systems and the possibility of recycling furniture and decoration.
We produce less waste and recycle. Recycling hangers and
alarms, which are picked up from our shops and processed into
other plastic elements, is an example of our waste management
policy. Millions of hangers and alarms are processed each year
and both the cardboard and plastic used for packaging are also
recycled.
- Our commitment extends to all our staff. Increased awareness
among our team members.
We hold In-company awareness campaigns and specific multimediabased training programmes to educate our staff in sustainable
practices, such as limiting energy consumption, using sustainable transport and modifying behaviour patterns.
We produce PVC-free footwear. No petroleum derivatives or nonbiodegradable materials are used in the production of our footwear (PVC free).
WITH THE PRODUCT
- We use ecological fabrics.
- Organic cotton.
- We manufacture PVC-free footwear.
We use ecological fabrics. Organic cotton.
Zara supports organic farming and makes some of its garments out
of organic cotton (100% cotton, completely free of pesticides,
chemicals and bleach). They have specific labels and are easy to
spot in our shops.
We produce PVC-free footwear. No petroleum derivatives or nonbiodegradable materials are used in the production of our footwear (PVC free).
IN TRANSPORT
- We use biodiesel fuel.
Zara’s fleet of lorries, which transport more than 200 million
items of clothing a year, use 5% biodiesel fuel. This allows us
to reduce our CO2 emissions by 500 tons.
Animal welfare policy
All products of animal origin sold in our shops, including fur
and leather, come exclusively from animals raised on food farms
and under no circumstances come from animals sacrificed exclusively for the sale of their hide.
Appendice 1
Conclusion
The starting point of this project was that the issues in fashion comprise two major points: the way we consume things and the
way we produce things. The main focus of this assignment was to
find a practical manner to tackle both of these problems. Working with the company Zara was an obvious choice, as they not
only have the power to invest, but also the power to influence a
wide range of consumers.
The resolution presented in this essay is the ‘Shop of the Future’. This is a new concept where the keyword is transparency,
meaning that a glass wall between the consumer and the production is created; it will establish a more profound relationship
between the clothes and the owners. This is obtained through
three focuses: technology, education and up-cycling.
Technology finds its utilization in the touchscreen to be found
throughout the store, where customers can interactively find information on the clothing. When they have further questions they
can be directed by staff. The employees will be thoroughly educated on materials, production and the Zara mission. Education
for the staff has a second purpose; spreading the knowledge in a
word-to-mouth fashion. The third focus, up-cycling, is a way to
close the ‘Cradle to Cradle’- circle. Customers can return old
Zara garments, and witness in a visible workroom how they are
given new life.
All the garments that are to be sold in this shop have to be designed according to the guidelines presented by this team. The
organic and technological materials will have to be separated
as much as possible. While up-cycling the returned clothes, this
should also be considered.
In a world changing as rapidly as it does today, it is important
to stay ahead of your game. That is exactly what Zara would be
doing by introducing the Shop of the Future. Due to the upcoming
lack of materials it will become inevitable to work more with
a sustainable approach and think Cradle to Cradle. Marketing
wise, the best move is to be a pioneer in this worldwide change.
It shows in their mission that they are already aware of this.
Hopefully they will consider this innovating idea to take the
enactment of their mission to the next level.
Bibliography
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Hutten, L., Cappozucca, P., Nayyan, S. (2010) A Roadmap for
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