Essay Preview: Zara
Report this essay
Content
Introduction
During the course of the module I decided to focus on the high street retailer ZARA with a main focus on their winter shorts. In order to obtain more information about their design process I will try to get in touch with the company headquarters to systematically explain the production procedure.
Following, there is an example of question I intend to ask:
Where do you get your inspiration from?
How many designers work for ZARA?
How is the atmosphere and culture in the company?
Why is ZARA one of the fewer retailers who have up to date fashion?
How do you decide on the products?
How many sketches do you draw and how many of these go actually into production?
Where are the products produced?
Etc.
1. The product
The clothing I have chosen is the winter shorts. It is a must have for this autumn/winter 2005/06 and was one of the fashion key items on the catwalk. The reason why I chose to talk about ZARAs winter shorts is the fact, that it has been an eye catcher during the spring/summer 2005 and had an influential emphasise on the Haute-Couture winter/autumn collection 2005/6.
The shorts are made of the scenes hottest trends such as velvet, tweet or decorated with laces, ribbon and gold. At ZARA, the overshell of the pants is made of 97% cotton and 3% spandex. The price range varies from Ј19 to Ј30 and has been made in Spain. Nonetheless, not all of the available items are made in Spain but further explanations will be stated in the main report.
The garments are not displayed in the usual way but often mixed together with matching tops and jackets to encourage customers to buy combined outfits. Additionally, ZARA offers divers colours so that the customer has the possibility to pick out of a wide range from basic to trend colours. ZARA displays this new autumn/winter fashion item through the whole store: from the visual merchandising in the window to the shop floor. They offer the pants in different lengths, fabrics and styles.
Description:
As stated above the reason why this garment caught my attention is the fact that it has been a key item during spring/summer 2005 and has been recreated for the autumn/winter collection 2005/06. These two winter shorts belong to ZARAs basic range. Both shorts are made of 97% cotton and 2% spandex and have been manufactured in Spain. They are cropped at the bottom, have two pockets at the side as well in the back. As an additional detail, they have a belt around the waist. ZARA offers a size range from small to extra large. They both have a comfortable fit and the length goes down to the knee ideally for wearing over-knee boots or flats combined with tights. Although the shape is the same they differ from each other in the price, surface and use. On the left hand side, the pants cost Ј19 while the others are available for Ј25. The winter short on the left side has a shiny smooth surface which makes it ideally to wear it in the evening combined with camisole top and high heels. The short on the right side is made of corduroy which is a typical fabric for the autumn/winter season and therefore more suitable for the daily use. Furthermore, this style is currently only available in black.
2. About Zara
“Zara offers the latest trends in international fashion in an environment of thought-out design. Its stores located in the main commercial areas of cities across Europe, America and Asia, offer fashion inspired in the tastes, wishes and lifestyles of todays men and women. (…)”
ZARA is a contemporary lifestyle brand, which offers a good selection of basics as well as fashionable clothing for women, men and children at very affordable prices. The major focus is clothing, but in many cases these ranges are supplemented with fashion accessories and a growing selection of footwear. The womenswear collection is divided into three sub-brands:
ZARA Basic,
ZARA Woman, reflecting the very latest styles inspired by designer fashion
TRF, a young-oriented range with a sport/urban influence
ZARAs product mix is strongly influenced by customer responses, with feedback directly transmitted to the brands in-house design-team. The design-team is in daily contact with the store managers who report what has and has not sold in order to decide which collections and colours are kept or altered depending on the customers demands. ZARAs product offer appeals to a fairly broad age group, however, customers are more likely to fall into the under 40 age range.
Grupo Intidex, ZARAs parent company, uses a network of independent workshops located around northwest Spain and Portugal to sew the clothes together, while design, fabric cutting, and finishing is handled in-house. “ZARA sources 52% from Spain, Portugal, other parts of the EU and Morocco.