Zara Brand and the Slavery in Brazil

Duchess of Cambridge in her £49.90 Blue 
Conrflower dress by Zara (Lebanontimes.com)

Many of us love Zara and it is a must have brand in men's or women's closet. Zara is a high street fashion chain from Spain with nearly 2000 outlets in more than 70 countries worldwide.

This brand had been out under investigation for slavery style worker and hiring children labour; The Telegraph Australia. According to the report, the factory in Argentina was using Bolivian labourers including children to work for almost 16 hours daily without any rest time and prohibited from leaving the factories without permission from the factory's supervisors.

According to a spokesperson of Charity La Alameda, Buenos Aires, the labourers have to work from 7am to 11pm without any break from Monday to Saturday. Besides, the labourers also have to stay in the factories which is cramped with sewing machines, cloths, needles and children. To make is worst, those labourers have to work in poor lighting sight and no air ventilation.

This is the second time for Zara being accused with slavery and children labourer since last 2011 resulted 14 bolivian and 1 Peruvian was rescued from a factory in Sao Paolo, Brazil. One of the child labour said that, he have to work for 12 hours daily with salary between USD140 to USD250 monthly. Besides, he has to live in a poor and unhygienic environment. 

Back then, Zara has been forced to apologise to the Sao Paolo's Right Commission with fine USD500,000 plus compensation to the workers.

According to Zara, they were surprised with the new "revealation" as they haven't receive any notifications from Argentinian authorities. Zara have more than 60 manufacturers in Argentina and they are willing to give a full cooperation towards the investigation. 

77 years old Amancia Ortega, the man behind Zara Brand (fashionbombdaily.com)

To add on, Zara's profits was rocketing since past 3 years ago after the Duchess of Cambridge had regularly wore their garments and known as "kate effect". In the meantime, the low profile and majority owner of inditex, the company that owns Zara, Amancia ortega, 77 years old is the 3rd world's richest man with USD55 billion of fortune (Forbes).

In South East Asia itself, there are 6 outlets in Malaysia, 7 in Singapore, 4 in Thailand, 6 in The Philippines, 7 in Indonesia and 1 in Vietnam. 

I personally love Zara and grow up with the brand. In a way, I feel guilty if I wear something from other people suffering work. In other source, I found out that the garments made from Argentinian workshops were mostly delivered to UK's market - M.R.Danial