Why I hate Zara

While some friends think I’m trying my hand at beating consumerism,as many smart women today are doing (check theuniformproject.com ,where a girl wears one dress in different ways for 365 days),others who know me a bit better blame it on an old habit — of being a plain old snob. I will not wear what everyone’s wearing,as much as I adore it. I will not desire what everyone covets,even though I really want it. This is also why I never owned a pair of Levi’s.

Both groups are correct. But only marginally so. Personality quirks aside,my problem with Zara — the retail mammoth that I bet every western-dressing woman on this planet has at least one item from — is far deeper. It doesn’t require you to think.

Zara prettifies clothing to such a great extent that it barely allows the wearer’s personal style or personality to come through. Anything you pick up from a Zara rack will be trendy and pretty,but it will not let you to forge yourself on it. You don’t own a Zara dress,it owns you. Zara is,pardon the slur,fashion for dummies.

Why else can we recall umpteen women not known for their art of grooming or attractive figures proudly proclaim they’re wearing Zara when they do? It’s their ticket to cool.

I am not against high-street fashion at all; I worship Topshop and have blessed serendipity in picking some really edgy finds at H&M. My toddler is dressed top-to-toe in Gap Kids. But Zara gets my knickers in a knot.

And not just a proverbial knot. I will still admit to a lot of Zara in my wardrobe,but rarely have I picked up a piece and not found it ripped at the seams or a button missing (this after paying full-price,I have never been to a sale at Zara). Throwaway fashion is delightful,not when it decides to tear itself apart before you’re ready to upchuck it. Quality — whether high-end or high-street — is and must be a no-compromise moot. Most of Zara is produced in Portugal,a country with one of the lowest costs of labour,and the rest of it in Bangladesh,Pakistan,Sri Lanka and other Asian countries offering cheap manufacture.

Zara’s success lies in providing a gazillion women with the false security of being hot-wired to the zeitgeist,even though it opened to a retail-crazy India 10 years too late. Its success lies in a gobsmackingly good business model: Zara needs just two weeks to develop their product,always runway knock-offs,and get it to its many thousand stores (most retailers,besides Topshop,take up to six months). It also produces over 11,000 styles a year,versus 4,000 of its competitors. And it will rarely have its clothes in the stores for more than a month,to ensure greater comeback clients. It also doesn’t advertise,it just prefers to spend that money on opening a new store instead.

Zara has been famously described by Daniel Piette,fashion director at Louis Vuitton,as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world”. I call it the McDonald’s of fashion.(namratanow@gmail.com)