Zara UK Customers Offered In-house Swap, Mend and Donate Service

Shoppers walk past a Zara Store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo
Shoppers walk past a Zara Store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo
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Zara UK Customers Offered In-house Swap, Mend and Donate Service

Shoppers walk past a Zara Store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo
Shoppers walk past a Zara Store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

Zara said on Friday it will launch an in-house service for British customers to sell, repair or donate second-hand clothes, moving the Spanish brand into a growing part of the market.

The platform, to be launched on Nov. 3, will be available through Zara stores, its website and a mobile app.

It is the first time Inditex (ITX.MC), the fashion group that owns Zara, has offered a service to resell its products. The company said the initiative would contribute to the reduction of waste and the consumption of raw materials, without clarifying if it would expand the service to other markets.

The Zara Pre-Owned platform brings in-house the success of second-hand Zara clothing sales on other online platforms and among shoppers on social networks such as Instagram, Reuters reported.

The resale space will be organized by product categories, with detailed information for each item including current images provided by the seller and original product information provided by Zara, the company said.

Zara is following other fast fashion brands such as its main competitor H&M (HMb.ST) in offering products for resale at a time when the global second-hand apparel market is growing.

The global second-hand clothing market is estimated at $71.2 billion in 2022, according to a Future Market Insights report published in September.

Future Market Insights expects the market to grow by 14.8% a year in the next decade as people embrace the environmental benefits of using second-hand clothes.

Zara already offers customers the option to donate its clothing to charities in several markets.

Zara customers in Britain will also have the option repair their garments from any season, either in-store or applying online.

Inditex has 100 stores in Britain, including 60 Zara shops.



Shein Faces 150-mn-euro Fine in France

FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo
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Shein Faces 150-mn-euro Fine in France

FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of a Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo

E-commerce giant Shein faces a possible 150-million-euro ($175-million) fine in France for failing to properly get consent to track users on the internet.

The regulator, the CNIL, faulted the fast-fashion retailer for using trackers called cookies that enable for targeted advertising to users without their approval as required in Europe, or for using a confusing method to get consent.

It also found during a 2023 inspection that when users refused the tracking cookies Shein continued to read information from them.

Given the firm has the technical and staff resources necessary to comply with the regulations its behavior was negligent, said CNIL.

Shein had recently complied with the regulations, it added.

A final decision on fining the fast-fashion giant should come within weeks.

Shein called the proposed amount of the fine "disproportionate", in a statement sent to AFP.

"Since August 2023 we have actively worked with the CNIL to ensure our compliance and respond to their queries," the China-founded firm said.

This additional possible fine from the CNIL follows a record 40 million-euro penalty it received last week from France's competition and anti-fraud office over "deceptive commercial practices" by misleading customers on price deals and on its environmental impact.