Zara is a high street clothing brand which is very popular. In this article, we are going to take a look at the Zara brand and its manufacturing policy.
Zara is an international clothing brand which is a part of the Inditex Group. It is a Spanish company, and is well-known for delivering latest fashion clothes at an affordable price. The first Zara clothing store was launched in 1975, and now there are over 1,520 Zara clothing stores all over the world. It is one of the most popular fashion brands, that is bang on in terms of product quality, affordability, fashion trends, and customer satisfaction. It caters to men, women, and kids, and its menswear collection is one of the most extensive of all the high street brands. The USP of this brand is that the latest fashion trends that are seen on the runways of fashion designers in the fashion week of New York and Paris are available in the stores in less than 5 weeks. Such an approach to clothing availability in terms of production of clothing is unseen in other clothing brands.
Manufacturing Policy of Zara
One of the best things about Zara brand is that they have a wide variety of designs for men, women, and kids. There are also numerous Zara outlets all over the globe, where you are sure to find the latest trends. The Zara brand makes a very interesting case study for supply chain management. Most clothing brands take about 4 to 6 months to get the designs of clothes from the fashion designers table to the finished product in the clothing store. However, Zara takes only 5 to 6 weeks to get the latest designs of clothing in its store. This is possible due to the unique blend of designing, manufacturing, and distribution of the products. This also ensures that the customers are getting the latest trends in clothing which guarantees customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Zara has a very strong merchandising strategy that is based on vertical integration. Most of the processes of the supply chain are controlled by Zara, and 50 percent of its manufacturing process is done in Spain itself. The rest of the manufacturing is done in Europe and Asia, and mainly the high labor intensive processes are outsourced to Asia. This makes Zara take advantage of the low labor cost in Asian countries, which significantly brings down its production cost. Finishing processes like sewing buttons, zippers, and adding other trimmings are contracted to outside vendors. Thus the company is able to sell quality products to its customers at a very attractive rate. Although the company’s manufacturing cost of its products are higher than its competitors by around 15 to 20 percent, still it is way ahead in terms of profit from its competitors.
Prices are mid range and customers are greatly satisfied with the quality as well as the availability of latest trends. Another way in which Zara has been able to grow exponentially over the years is by its ability to discern which fashion trends will become fashionable, and then quickly moving on to manufacturing them. Zara is one of the most respected and trendy fashion brands in the world and its manufacturing policy is one of the best.
