FASHION & ENVIRONMENT

It is uncommon knowledge that the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the
world. The production and distribution of clothes contribute to various forms of pollution.
Consequently, a concerning question arises: what should consumers do to reduce the
negative impacts of the fashion industry on the environment? To answer this, let’s have
a deeper look in the idea that Zara and Uniqlo apply in their business model.

Zara and Uniqlo are well-known international retailers and are rivals in the fashion
industry. While Zara follow their path of fast fashion, Uniqlo goes on an opposite
direction of sustainable fashion. In this essay, we would like to discuss how these ideas
of Zara and Uniqlo affect the environment and express our opinions about what buyers
should decide on for a green life.

Zara and Uniqlo target the same industry, similar markets but apply two different
strategies in their business to approach potential customers.

Zara’s goal is to become a high-end retailer which always provides the most up-to-date
fashion clothes at affordable price in a short time. Zara owns supper efficient supply-
chain steps, allowing it to produce over 450 million items and launch 10000 new
designs annually (Forbes, 2018). In other words, Zara enables its customers to reach
the latest trendy fashion within only a month as it changes its inventory in 2-3 weeks.
However, focusing on the trend will leave the quality behind, explaining why Zara’s
clothes are sometimes not long-wearing.

Uniqlo, on the other hand, pursues a strategy emphasizing on sustainable clothes

targeted at people of all ages. It stresses on the demand of buyers, not quantity.
According to the founder-Tadashi Yanai, the corporate strategy for Uniqlo so far is to
“totally ignore fashion” instead of chasing fast-fashion trends like its other competitors.
They follow the vision stated that: “Uniqlo is a modern Japanese company that inspires
the world to dress casually”.

According to Fast retailing.com’s report, Uniqlo has a 1-year plan for their production in
advance so that their products are always available in an entire year. This approach
aims to drive consumers to update their wardrobes based on changes the company
identified in the culture and how we live, changes which could be uniquely exploited.

Though they apply two dissimilar business strategies, they still get their own success.
But besides that success, both these two companies, like the rest in the fashion
industry, unavoidably negatively affect the environment. Firstly, water is the most
serious victim of fashion. Secondly, the fashion industry also intensifies soil pollution.
Lastly, the air is extremely polluted due to the emission gas from garments factories.

Despite these negative impacts, thanks to its business idea, Uniqlo has done a lot to
compensate for its harm. In 2019, it has redused cardboard boxes, or reused them and
replaced with collapsible boxes. From 2006, recycle plan is strictly carried out. About
80% of wearable clothes collected are used to donate. 20% clothes left are recycled as
fuel. Moreover, Uniqlo thrives to reduce greenhouse gases through stores.

Uniqlo also shows its concern about environment through how it attracts their
customers. It provides customers with the feel of “green” on first sight. All clothes are
arranged according to their style and colors. Additionally, less mannequins are
displayed to attract shoppers (compared to Zara), and more information about the
product are showed.

Zara, on the other hand, does not has any commercial. They concentrate on catalogue
and the appearance of the store, especially the window signage. Furthermore, retailers
put the most expensive clothes in the entrance and the cheaper one in the farthest part
of the store. They also change their store’s entire look after 3 weeks, whenever new
collection appears.

To sum up, Zara’s target is to reach the latest fashion trends, while Uniqlo aims at the
basis and sustainability. We highly suggest that people use Uniqlo’s products in the
daily life for 2 reasons. Firstly, with basic and sustainable clothes, we will save
ourselves lots of time and money as we don’t have to spend much money on clothes,
for these clothes have high quality, enabling them to endure a long period. Secondly,
we can contribute to reducing the detrimental impact of our clothes on the environment.
The less clothes you consume, the less harm you do to the nature. However, we cannot
deny that Zara’s products are gorgeous and trendy. Therefore, it is recommended that
Zara’s products be used on special occasions since it will make you shine in the middle
of the crowd.