NGOs demand end to airborne fashion and justice for Bangladeshi workers at Inditex AGM

On the day of the Inditex Annual General Meeting, an international coalition of NGOs confronted the Fast Fashion giant over its severe environmental and human rights failures. The coalition – which includes Campagna Abiti Puliti, Clean Clothes Campaign, FAIR, Fondazione Finanza Etica, Public Eye and Setem – demanded that Inditex abandons its reliance on climate-damaging "Airborne Fashion" and ensures that all trumped-up legal charges against Bangladeshi garment workers are dropped.

The first demand regards Inditex’s Airborne Fashion model. Recent research from Public Eye shows the company’s transport and distribution emissions increased by 10% in the last year, now amounting to 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents. This makes transport responsible for around 20% of the total climate footprint of an individual Zara garment, a direct result of flying tonnes of clothing around the world to fuel its ultra-fast business model.

The second demand addresses the ongoing crackdown on labour rights in Bangladesh. Following the 2023 minimum wage protests, which originally impacted at least 6,000 workers who produce for Inditex, nearly 3,000 still face the threat of arrest under trumped-up criminal cases filed by suppliers. The coalition condemns this as a union-busting tactic designed to create a climate of fear.

The demands were underlined by peaceful street actions at main stores of the fashion giant, including in Barcelona and Milan. “Activists and consumers are demanding clarity from the Spanish giant on its risk mitigation policies for truly responsible business conduct. The demand for a living wage from the workers who make its clothes and the demand to abandon the reckless use of fossil fuels to transport them are two sides of the same struggle. Social and climate justice are interconnected,” said Deborah Lucchetti of Fair and Campagna Abiti Puliti, coordinating actions in Italy.

"As shareholders, you have the power to put Inditex on a sustainable course," said David Hachfeld of Public Eye. "We urge you to demand a complete and rapid phase-out of Airborne Fashion. Inditex should publish transparent data on its cargo flights and set clear targets for a logistics model that functions without these climate-damaging practices."

"Nearly 3,000 workers in Inditex’s supply chain are still facing prison simply for demanding liveable wages," states Bogu Gojdź, of Clean Clothes Campaign. "This is a brutal intimidation tactic. Inditex has the leverage to demand its suppliers drop these baseless charges, and its failure to do so makes it complicit in the repression of workers who make their profits."