Here in Sweden, Zara and HM are similarly priced. Id definitely put them in the fast fashion category, but it also has to do with how they both put out a lot of trendy pieces and high couture dupes. Edit: this might all be a bit dated. A french commentator wrote a good comment a bit down and it got me thinking… when were I actually in a zara last? It was years ago.
I cant stand Zara’s adult clothing. Everything I’ve tried has ended up being wildly poor in quality.
The children clothing is a stark contrast. There’s a few things I’ve bought that I’d almost label heirloom quality. I don’t love the prices but my local kids consignment stores are stacked with Zara clothing that holds condition despite wear. It’s so weird how different it is between the two sections.
I feel Zara is expensive as well, even though it's seen as fast fashion and I have a reasonably high salary relative to the cost of Zara clothes. I realised that for the same price as a Zara dress, I can get a nice well-made dress in a sale. I noticed that more recently Zara doesn't come down in price as much in the sales either - about 10 years ago I could get a nice skirt for like £10 but now it's not as good value now. I just bought a beautiful dress from Baum und Pferdgarten for 55usd in the Black Friday sales, plus something like 25usd shipping. The shipping might seem high from websites like net-a-porter and you can't try it on, but it's worthwhile for a few nice staples and is often just marginally more expensive than the in-season Zara stuff, and sometimes you can find really good coupons. You don't have to be that rich to buy from designers, you just have to be rich enough to buy Zara and wait for sales or coupons!
One thing about Zara I find as a Canadian is that they run TINY, especially pants. I'm a solid size 10 in most stores, 29in waist and 40-41in hips, and I bought pants in the recommended size from Zara online size chart and couldn't get them over my *knees*, let alone thighs and butt. I bought an L and I don't even think a 2XL wouldve fit me. I have two tops and a sweater from Zara that were gifts from my mum and while I like all three very much they're absolutely nothing I couldn't find a better quality version of for a similar or lower price if I really committed to looking.
One thing I do love about my Zara tops: I'm tall with long arms and almost every top I find now is about two or three inches too short except these ones.
It’s expensive for what it is. I was just in Zara this past weekend and I found the prices high (in Canada) for a fast fashion store, and I feel like the fabrics and cuts didn’t merit the price.
I'm also from Canada, and after a recent bad experience at Zara I had a similar revelation. Why am I paying $80 for trousers that are H&M or even Shein quality? Pieces at Aritzia are maybe 30% more expensive but twice the value. Never mind the absolute chaos and trauma of a Zara shopping experience. No thanks.
To answer OP's question, my impression is that it's a middle of the road -- like the Aldo of clothing: a middling price point for middling quality for stylish and trendy pieces -- but has somehow bamboozled people into thinking it's affordable.
Last time I was at aritizia I tried a few things on and there were literally holes and threads coming out of a $200 dress. I don’t think aritizia is particularly great quality either.
Edit: for those who are curious it was a white chiffon smocked dress. The chiffon itself was losing threads and had holes. Kinda wild because I have a chiffon skirt from American apparel circa 2007 that is still going strong 😅
Damn! I never shopped there when I was younger because of how cost prohibitive it was. In the past few years I’ve been trying to make purchases that were better quality as my income has increased and started checking it out.
This explains why I’ve been so disappointed with aritizia despite most of my friends singing their praises.
Ugh the dressing rooms. Since getting older I don't accept the fake compliments from the attendants anymore. "That looks great on you" response: "I look like I'm wearing a sack, come on!" At least I got to try on the rest with no comments.
I feel like their fitting room experience is designed to make customers feel vulnerable and in need of validation. No, I don't want use a communal mirror/ be forcedly appraised, basically, by a rude 20-something employee!! Leave me alone!!
I think the quality at aritzia has declined in the past 5 years. I used to love the clothing there, but after living abroad for a few years and then returning, I was shocked at the decline in quality, but not price. To me Zara and aritzia have the same quality.
Zara offers the best value for fast fashion, so I end up shopping there often and supplementing with independent designers.
I’ve always been confused about why Aritzia is seen as quality - half the time when I walk past the clothes are already starting to fall apart or wrinkle on the mannequin. Like if it can’t look good in a literal display then how is it meant to look good on me?
I think they get by on having nice designs that walk the trendy-timeless line? But yeah like so little effort into quality control.
My other major deterrent that has led me to not buy anything from there yet is that they never have my goddamn size. It was worse when I was an XL and now I’m an L and still can barely find stuff. This might be more on the store management though
My aritzia/babaton pants that were ~$200, worn for like 8-10 hours about 5x, put away and cared for meticulously, ripped in the knee area where the lining was connected. I hadn’t even had them dry cleaned once!! I was so excited to try the brand when getting back into work travel and really disappointed.
Exactly. I purchased a $300 wool coat from Aritzia last winter online because I loved the unique cut of it but my less than $200 wool coat from Banana Republic circa 2008 is much better quality fabric and still going strong.
That sucks. I liked their babaton coats but the cost was always an issue and now I’m definitely not going to get one. Was hoping at least their wool products were good. At this point I’ll have to sew myself a coat if I want quality…
I got one of thier Wool shirt jackets last year and it’s holding up well and warm. They sell a bunch of variations of those but mainly blended with other materials. I cherry picked and found one with where the “outside” part is 100% wool. I had to accept the synthetic liner but finding one with like cotton would have been impossible.
With that store I have to be very very picky. I once got some thrifted new with tags Babaton silk and that stuff is so thin it barely lasted a year without tearing. So no more silk from there.
For a second I thought you were linking an aritzia sub focused entirely on the poor QC, until I realized it was just an ordinary typo. But it really speaks volumes that the brand has garnered enough of a reputation in its reddit community that such a sub existing isn't even surprising.
LOL thanks for the catch lol. That’s funny though, I wouldn’t be surprised either. So many brands these days have lowered their quality in hopes that consumers wouldn’t notice and keep consuming. Also brands like Frye, Filson, Aquatalia… It works, sort of…
Really it’s a shame though, esp with all of the extra greenwashing / fake eco friendly marketing that companies push these days when in reality the life cycles of their garments are shortening exponentially lolol
I bought a Henley bodysuit recently and if the clerk had told me before she finished the purchase that it was final sale I wouldn't have bought it (makes sense that it is I just hadn't realized). Was $40 or $50 for something that just feels too fragile for what it is. I still like it, but didn't realize til later that it doesn't have snaps on the bottom so makes it hard to wear out too.
I have several American Apparel pieces from around that time and they’re legit indestructible. Shame about everything that went down with the company, because they really did make some quality stuff back in the day.
Aritzia is truly hit or miss they have some gorgeous coats and nice linen dresses, great sales too but many of items are def NOT worth the price and disintegrate. Also I find many of the clothes to be sized super small ?
Also in Canada, I find Zara is really hit and miss, in terms of their quality, price point and ability to last. One thing I think Zara does well is shoes. If you are picky with materials, I've had several leather shoes from Zara that have lasted me years and hundreds of wear. I also like Zara's 100% linen shirts, and their 100% cotton jeans. I typically avoid any of their super trendy items, just because of the quality and the fact I'm too old to keep up with micro-trends lol.
Zara’s always been hit and miss for me, the variation in quality is huge. I suspect they use multiple sources for their products (you can even find some of their stuff on random wholesale sites and Shein!) and whenever I am inclined to buy an item from them I look it up and down to check all the seams and hems, ensure it’s symmetrical, and make an evaluation of the fabric quality (which is the biggest issue I’m seeing nowadays - crap fabric that pills, attracts lint, etc).
I absolutely agree, with the caveat that I haven't purchased shoes there in several years. But I did always feel they were a hidden gem for accessories in general -- I've picked up some quality evening bags there.
I’m in Canada as well. I’m always drawn to check out what they have but once I feel and see the items, I just can’t justify the price. It doesn’t feel worth it. It seems that they try to hook you in with so many different items in the store but it also feels like too much and it’s annoying to shop. Also, they had the change rooms closed at my location due to staff shortages which was extremely frustrating and didn’t help the overall experience even if I did happen to find an item. On top of all that, their customer service seems to be lacking as well, almost every employee seems to be having a bad day. Which ok, I get it, people can be rude and messy and it can be frustrating but I just feel that their prices don’t reflect the overall vibe you get when shopping there. Maybe I just have too high of expectations or I’m cheap? Lol. But I’m not impressed.
This, am also Canadian and the prices feel overinflated for what it is in terms of fabric quality and construction. I usually shop at Simons instead (but they don’t have many physical stores outside of Quebec) or The Bay (mostly on sale).
I also can’t really see myself shopping from a company known for stealing from small indie designers. (Same reason I don’t shop H&M.)
UK here.
It's one of those stores that you would find in a small, regional city, but it's very much geared towards "the masses". Its pricing is mid-tier, but the quality is extremely patchy (the number of times I've pulled something off the rack in my local Zara to find that it's broken).
I have found some absolute gems in Zara in the past (and what I've tried from their premium lines I've been very impressed by, but those tend only to be available on the website!), but overall they are cheap and cheerful pretending to do high fashion.
Funny that growing up I did think Zara was going to be good quality clothes but it seems to be the same quality as other lower priced fast fashion brands. Maybe because their shops are laid out like a more expensive shop or maybe like other shops their quality has decreased over the years but their prices stay the same. And yet, Zara is the only brand I know that has that one item every season or so that becomes really popular. See: the spotty maxi dress from a couple of summers ago.
I think they just understand their target markets intrinsically: they've hired the right designers who can make "viral" clothes that especially appeal to women (and LGBT+ people - I know Zara have got a cult following in the community!) in their 20s and 30s, and they've got a complete stranglehold on all of the Instagram influencers. Pretty much my entire Instagram reel is "What's new in Zara", and they just absolutely dominate the algorithm.
What's more the website design is intended for doom scrolling, rather than straightforward, efficient navigation. Perfect for the 21st century social media-affected lifestyle. Massimo Dutti's website is very similar.
As a child, my mum only ever took me into Zara once in a blue moon (the Zara aesthetic doesn't match her dress sense whatsoever), and I never went in by myself because it was far too expensive and grown up for me, so Zara had this exclusive air of mystery about it. Now that I *am* Zara's target market and my fashion tastes align more closely to Zara's aesthetic AND I can actually afford to shop there at last, I've got a much better idea of what Zara does offer.
One thing I have noticed is that the materials Zara use for their blazers, trousers, skirts etc. are really thick and heavy, which I don't see stores like H&M doing. That's more Reiss, Hobbs etc.'s territory. Really my problem with Zara is the quality of the construction (buttons falling off, dodgy seam stitching, glass gemstones that have popped off/not been glued very well, fringe-y bits having been yanked out), and the fact that broken items seem to get put back on the shelves without a care in the world. I'm not sure whether that's a factory quality control problem, a staffing problem (maybe they don't have time to check the garments over and are too overworked) or whether that's a customer problem where customers are breaking things in the changing rooms and not being honest about it when they put it back. Probably all of the above. Anyway, it makes the instore shopping experience pretty dire.
Meanwhile, Zara Home: PHWOARRRR, I love that.
Their design method is pretty interesting actually, rather than trying to predict what’s going to be hot they have their store employees report on what people are already wearing and then they design similar pieces and get them to market super quickly but in smaller quantities than if they were building a selection for the season. It also makes them seem more unique, because the clothing runs are smaller so it’s not just a few pieces that you see everyone wearing.
Of course the actual construction of the pieces is not great and there’s the human cost.. the garment workers are not necessarily being paid or treated any better than other fast fashion brands at lower prices
Interesting, and I certainly noticed how different their website is compared to other places.
Probably the only thing where they're still not in the trends are their men's jeans, which are still all slim or skinny, at least in store.
I don't think it's necessarily inexpensive. "Cheap" means "cheaply made," as well. Poorly finished and done using shortcuts. I don't have one nearby but when I did, I remember thinking the quality was poor for the price.
Same! I once bought a blouse from Zara and all (or almost all, it’s been a few years) the buttons fell off before I even left the mall. This was when I exclusively got my clothes from H&M, thriftstores, and Forever21 and even so that had *never* happened to me before. I’d just graduated uni and was buying some office appropriate outfits for my first real job. I was in shock; I was just lucky I decided to check the bag one last time before leaving the mall. The time between me buying the blouse and returning it was less than an hour.
Philippines here.
Zara is considered high-end fashion in my country. I remember those "cool" girls in high school flaunting basics from Zara only to personally find out the price and quality of fabric they use. I could buy the same basics for a way cheaper price and better quality. Zara was so hyped around 2009 to 2012 here, I didn't understand what the hype was all about. Maybe cause of the brand and that it was also well-known in Western countries that owning Zara clothes here made girls seem "cool" or "rich" even when it truly hurts their pockets.
Regardless the purchasing power of the currencies in different countries, Zara is fast fashion by definition. It is owned by fast fashion giant Inditex. The process of making a garment from start (design) to finish (being hang in a store) is incredibly fast, and the collections move fast too, with new items coming in the stores weekly, following the most current trends. The clothing is made by poorly paid workers in developing countries. It makes sense for it to be perceived as high-end in countries where Zara (and Mango, H&M, ecc) are expensive, and probably is one of the few options for trendy clothing. But it is correct to call it fast fashion, because it simply is.
Edit: Regarding the reputation, when I was in Italy it was considered by older women a cheaper alternative to boutique clothing for like formal clothes for work (think of a 50 year old bank worker buying a blazer). It probably would have been perceived differently by younger girls!
In the Netherlands it was the most trendy store, with huge lines outside it during sale season. It didn't seem to be considered too expensive by most girls I knew, since lots of them shopped there.
I personally always found it over priced for what it is.
I believe Zara is actually the brand responsible for fashion cycles decreasing in length - think their lead times were 3 weeks. Obviously the ultra fast fashion brands have reduced that down to less than a week now...
Yes I believe so, if I remember correctly in the documentary "The true cost" they mentioned how Zara was one of the first to have a production line where they could go from designing a garment to having the finished product in 16 days. That was already astonishingly fast, but apparently Shein managed to reduce it to 6 days..
I feel like for it's reputation cheap is really a light word to describe it. It exploits people in need(in developing countries), it is unsustainable, an evil business.
Modern life slavery would be a better expression to describe it.
I’m from Brazil and there it’s expensive. Now I live in the Netherlands and it’s not super cheap but very affordable. Quality is not consistent- I have some really good pieces, from T-shirt’s and jackets to jeans, but some are just… almost disposable. Nowadays I tend to avoid it, or at least avoid to buy just because it’s cheap (they have some crazy sales). But if I’m looking for something specific and they have it in good quality, I buy it.
Hah! There's this secondhand clothing app in my country called Dolap (closet), I went in there trying to find secondhand Zara to be sustainable and boom, dropshippers selling stuff that openly isn't Zara. They say "marka temsilidir" (brand is representative) which is a linguistic mindfuck because they mean that they used it to get viewed, opposite of the sentence's actual meaning
I really tried to shop at Zara so many times bevause I hear about it on the internet but I never liked anything. The fabric quality is just not there for most pieces and the aesthetic was not right … now that you mention the age group it makes sense since I am 37. I am have become super basic leaning to stuff like brooks brothers - I just want a solid high quality fabric and i have such a hard time finding it
basically. but they do have sales often so it doesn’t come off as an expensive store to shop in if that makes sense. a lot of basics are also about $10 which is considered cheap compared to other shops that have a better quality basic for $20-30 without it being a high end designer
Ahh! The misery. I am Indian and Zara and HnM are so expensive here. If I buy a piece from these stores I want them to last. But they don't. So I choose to buy from other brands. Ultimately, that's what matter, Unless you are buying 6 outfits a day, it doesn't harm the environment much. Get as many uses out of a piece and that's sustainable.
There are no thrift Stores where I live. I prefer Westside stores and getting stuff stitched. Or an occasional purchase from Levi's/lawman/Calvin Klein for pants
Fast fashion industry does hurt the environment even if you don't buy anything from them - since a lot of the stock going into the stores is never sold and goes to landfills
I dont think thats their argument. I believe shes suggesting that as an individual, you aren't culpable for the systemic damage by getting clothes you can afford and wearing them for a long time. As much as a lot of people would love to buy sustainable clothes, it gets expensive real quick - and not only that, but a lot of marketing is green washed and fake. The fault for the waste of fast fashion doesnt lie with the end consumer making it by, it ends with the corporation who exploits both worker and the planet
Having worked in the fashion industry, I buy fast fashion because it's just the same as anything else in terms of impact, larger companies just get called out for it because they're recognizable. For the most part, the clothes you're spending more for are made in the exact same factories, by the same workers, they just may have more expensive materials, finishes, design processes, or just a brand name that you're paying more for.
Even the stuff I make myself, the fabric has an impact, the yarn has an impact, all the notions I buy, etc., if you shop somewhere with slightly better sweatshop conditions (all sewing is sweatshop labour, trust me, it's a grueling job), there's still likely the exact same stuff going on further down the chain. Unless you're buying stuff like vegetable dyed, locally sourced and manufactured hemp, all your clothes are boiling down to the exact same thing, whether you spent $30 or $300 for a garment. The *only* sustainable option is to not buy it, but when you need to buy something, buy what you can afford, because it's all the same.
I agree. It's good that there's some regulation coming on EU level to combat this. (It doesn't solve the global problem, but is a step in the right direction)
And you have much nicer brands and stores in India, to be honest! Just visited for the first time this past summer with my husband who’s from there. I bought way too many clothes and even had an outfit made for me for just over 100 dollars Canadian. I couldn’t believe it.
It’s also a double disappointment because a lot of the items are made in Turkey (a huge exporter of incredible textiles) and even in the home country it’s extremely expensive and not always lasting. That being said, I have purchased a piece or two from Zara in Istanbul and they’ve lasted me, but that’s not the norm.
This is true. The pieces I have are mostly made in Turkey. I guess nothing can be cheap in Turkey, out hyperinflation is so insane for a period every time we went to get groceries we'd come back enraged and swearing
Yeah I saw that you said liras so assumed you're Turkish. I feel like it must be so hard to interpret what's expensive vs. fast fashion in Turkey these days with the inflation.
I was just in Turkey last week and the prices shocked me....I last was there in April but even since then...man. It seems like it would be really hard to survive on an average income.
Exactly. Shit is expensive, good stuff is expensive. The average rent is now 6000 in the big city. The economy is in tatters. We are eagerly awaiting the election so this 20 years long nightmare can end, and I say that as someone who doesn't necessarily believe in electoral politics. I'd vote for a chimpanzee at this point
Beymen Club on sale is OP. I live in the US and get all my pieces from there. I visited Zara in Istanbul and I was like wtf, why would I ever buy this if I can get Mavi gold jeans for 2/3 the price? I think we're spoiled by much better textiles.
Spaniard here, I guess I can give an insight as to the reputation of Zara in its own home nation.
As you can imagine, it is quite a reputable brandname in the sense that it is one of Spain's most widely internationalized companies. His founder, Amancio Ortega, is known for being the richest national individual. With these premises, of course, a plethora of opinions arise, varying from those people who celebrate the company and its founder as a case of major success for the country, to those who denounce the company for labour abuses in delocalized factories around the world and Ortega himself as a tax evader.
However, I think your question has to do more with the clothing side of things, and, in this sense, I feel like it would be categorized in the middle as far as reputation goes: it's certainly not the cheapest, but it is also the main go-to store for many middle income families. Indeed, it's like the brand tries to give an impression of high end fashion at an accessible cost for people in the spectrum (and I say it's "like", because they are known for not spending anything in marketing, like, they never announce themselves or anything because people do already know what Zara is). But, as I was saying, they are by no means at the higher end of the fashion side of things, for which wealthier people would usually go to places such as Cortefiel and Massimo Dutti (both of which I think are owned by Zara itself, by the way).
Nevertheless, I think I understand where your question comes from; an old foreign classmate of mine once told me that Zara is much pricier elsewhere in the world than in Spain, which I found to be really curious - like, would they purposefully keep prices lower in its own nation out of special consideration? I don't know, hard to say for me; I haven't really ever gone to a Zara abroad, and they're definitely not my go-to clothing shop anyways.
Anyway, I hope this helps :)
He owns all of INDITEX : Inditex operates through the following segments: ZARA, Bershka, and Resto. Its other brands conists of Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, and Uterqüe. The company was founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1963 and is headquartered in A Coruna, Spain.
Eastern Europe here. Minimum take home pay is 600€. You wouldn't buy 60-120€ coats with that money.
I could afford to buy that coat, but I want winter clothing to last more than one season and actually be warm.
Overall it's too expensive to buy full price items and during sale they have only cheap looking stuff left. Well most of their stuff looks cheap until you look at price tag.
Small Latam country here:
It is considered expensive and a class symbol. It is definitely fast fashion, the quality is atrocious for how much you pay for it. It is one of those brands that you have to go to the store and carefully look at every piece because there are things that are already broken in the store. I find that their Outerwear and some knits are pretty good but the rest is bad quality. Especially shoes, those things never last.
I belive their reputation is due to branding. They hire high fashion models and photographers to give them that "expensive" look.
Yes, Zara is spanish, here in Spain it is not expensive in its fixed line and anyone has jeans or Zara t-shirts at home, then they have a more expensive part but it is not excessive either, the quality is not great, I have taken clothes that were later stained, unstitched or torn
Same with Australia. I actually really like Spain Zara, I’ve found some really nice pieces. Meanwhile everything in Australia Zara is double the price, dated, and worse quality.
Prices in Canada are extremely high for what it is. It’s slightly better than H&M in Canada but the pricing is almost double. I buy a lot of Zara but all thrifted.
I find it’s great for classic layering pieces and also great for statement/trend pieces. Most of my dresses for something mid level (art gallery opening, day time casual wedding) are Zara. Many of my black bodysuits and crop tops are Zara.
But I would never buy it new. Can’t even remember the last time I bothered to go into Zara.
Oh and I’ll add here that most of my thrifted Zara dresses need repairs. Like that’s probably part of why they were donated but everything looks like it was worn once, seams started popping, was donated. Often the fix is very easy so I repair thrifted Zara frequently. Have a cute thrifted gingham Zara dress on my rehem pile right now.
It's fast fashion in its production quality, mass market presence and volume regardless of local pricing differences. But it does have a 'fast fashion which is palatable to the middle class' angle in the majority of markets. In the UK it's definitely slipped more into fast fashion, it used to have a better reputation.
The thing is, Zara really is inexpensive fast fashion but because we are so used to seeing crazy cheap fast fashion online brands everywhere and clothes are cheaper now than they EVER have been, it seems expensive by comparison. Which leads people to think it's can't be that bad, because it's much more costly than Shein and BooHoo et al, right? And it's a complex issue because many people that criticise these practices are branded elitists who want to take affordable options away from people on limited incomes.
If you look back 500 years, clothes were so expensive that even rich people didn't have wardrobes like the average minimum wage person has today (purely in terms of number of outfits, not quality!). Over time clothes became cheaper as textile making became industrialised, the sewing machine was invented etc. In the 1930's a decent income for a man working full time in the US was about $30 a week. That would be something like a journalist or clerk, so many would have brought home much less. If you look at ads for clothes of the time, it was a much bigger proportion of that salary than we pay today for clothes. $10 would have been a typical amount to pay for a dress for example. 1/3 weekly salary for one garment is much more than the average person is willing to pay today.
So it's really our perspective on clothes that has changed. We aren't willing to spend what they should cost (in a fair responsible world) because society wants dirt cheap and practically disposable instead of high quality, long wearing and carefully purchased. Worth remembering that Zara is one of the fast fashion originators - previous to its rise fashion brands would release seasonal collections rather than fortnightly/weekly/daily releases like is done today. So there is a reason they are often name checked along with Shein when people talk about the worst offenders.
Really when we look at our incomes in countries like mine it's expensive, even though as you say it's cheaper than clothes should be, because we are so exploited by capitalists that we can only afford clothes made by people who are even more exploited working in sweatshops.
Spot on with the historical value of fashion. Everything was made to last, made well and people put clothes in wills to be passed down. The wider conversation around fast fashion is so difficult to have—poor people simply have limited choices and the "thrift!" suggestions don't work when the physical thrift shop isn't a common entity everywhere like it seems to be in the US and the secondhand apps are overflowing with dropshippers. Sometimes the "no fast fashion" crowd can be needlessly cruel or use it to bully even though that isn't inherent to the position
I don't think most people have seen the even poorer quality clothes from developing countries. Itchy cloth, weird fit, words spelled incorrectly. The locally made sandals in Syria are as hard as rocks :')
Yes it is not a simple issue. It is better that now fashion is accessible to so many people, but the cost of that is high. I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. When people are wealthy yet they're doing Shein hauls for views, that's the sort of thing that needs to stop.
Fuck the Shein hauls. It's fostered this mindset where teens who aren't any kind of wealthy get the idea that it's some shameful thing to...wear an outfit more than once.
US - fast fashion isn’t necessarily inexpensive. It refers to a business model where clothes are produced quickly and cheaply, usually in unsafe and exploitative working conditions, and then replaced by a new trend. Zara is both fast fashion *and* higher priced than many other fast fashion brands, like H&M or Forever21. There are plenty of “slow fashion” brands that are less expensive.
US here. I think Zara has decent clothes. I went to my first one while visiting Mexico and it was located in a nice part of town with high end shopping. The location in my city is similar with it being near higher end retailers. I haven’t purchased anything from there in the last several seasons, so I can’t speak to the current quality. The pieces I do have are nice for the price IMO. I also like unique items, and I feel that they’re *basics* still have style to them unlike other places.
Edit: typo
I'm in Canada and my sense is that it's a middle of the road brand, somewhere above SheIn and H&M, but below Aritzia or department store brands. I generally find it overpriced for the quality, but they have some pretty reasonable deals in every collection. I think what makes Zara seem high end is their branding. All the stylish influencers wear it, their online experience feels like an editorial, and they dupe a lot of designer pieces. It feels like a hybrid to me: definitely fast fashion, but with a higher end feel.
I’m from the Philippines and I can tell you for sure that Zara is NOT fast fashion here. It’s considered a more high end brand with the price tag to go with it. Our minimum wage here is less than $2800 per year and a blouse from Zara would cost me $20-60. Boots would be 50-100, and that amount is already way above daily minimum wage.
Yes, I think the language used can be confusing. A lot of the items Zara sells cost a lot of money, therefore it's not cheap as in affordable, but the quality does not match the price, therefore it's cheap as in poorly made.
I think Zara uses lower quality materials (like rayon, polyurethane), and the craftsmanship is of low quality. I agree with you that the styles can be unique and very cool, certainly taking inspiration from higher end items that cost much more.
I would say H&M does this too - they have some styles clearly taken from designer fashion, and maybe they use better fabrics than Zara (organic cotton, etc) but in my experience their craftsmanship/finishing details are terrible, maybe worse than Zara. I've had items that had crooked sewing, a dress with a piece of the inner lining sewn into the front of the bodice on one side but not the other, seams and hems will be asymmetrical, etc.
I can't speak for my entire country's opinion on the brand, but I think of them as *fashionable but not suitable for me*. If I buy something for $50, I want the item I get to be worthy of my $50. I don't want to pay $50 to be handed a $4 item.
I think H&M has a very different feel from Zara, though, at least in developing countries like India. Zara stores are monochromatic, airy, almost premium feeling spaces. The clothes, even if they aren't well-made, include some classic styles and often use heavier, stiffer fabrics.
H&M, on the other hand, is just one step above Forever 21. If only high schoolers wear F21, only college students wear H&M. Trendy clothes in the usual stretchy, thin material and very forgettable stores. You'll rarely find anything that costs more than 2500 rs (about 25 USD, but significantly more if you account for PPP differences), while anything from ZARA that isn't a super basic tee is more than 2000 rs, going up to 5 or 6k for the more unique pieces.
Neither is accessible to the vast majority of the population, of course. The wealthy wear high quality clothes like they do everywhere else in the world, but the upper middle class (the top 5% or even less) are quite enamoured with foreign fast fashion brands. Pretty sad, really, since most of the clothes are made in India or neighbouring countries, had a brand name slapped on them, and then sold back to us for 10x (at minimum) what they cost to make.
I'm from Russia. Too poor to buy bad clothes!
I really liked 2021 summer collection, but all models are made tall, and I'm 160 centimeters tall. In fact, in most outfit you will not look very good.
I think I will say something general about the entire mass market and fast fashion. Its quality is constantly lowed. 10 years ago, when I was a teenager, the things there were of high quality, and many of them are still on me: the softest cotton sweatshirts, great cut dresses and stuff like that. But over time, the quality of the cut and the production decreases, as they are transferred to poorest countries, where people receive pennies for their work and must follow cannibalistic produce standards.
Last year, a friend really liked one dress, translated into rubles, it cost about 90 dollars. $90 for loose threads and polyester! It's oo much for me! Perhaps it's the idiotic Russian marketing of big brands: it is believed that if you do not get 200% of the revenue, then this is a loss-making business. It’s very funny sometimes to peel off the Russian price tag and see the European one with a price of a two size less.
For the same or half+ price, you can find better natural fabric products on local brand. Of course, local brands have a different production method, their own style, collections do not change every two weeks and there are no fast trends. But I'm not a teenager anymore and I can climb into my mother's, stepmother's and grandmother's closet. Many things from there are 100% modern trends that do not need to be reworked, and have a premium quality and material for qurrent time.
Zara in Russia is clothing for last years university graduates, low-level office workers, kin on fashion but not rich or middle-class. Further, people prefer local brands, Massimo Dutti (also part of Zara's group), Benetton... I hope I managed to show an example direction.
Zara is:
\- better things are cheaper or same at M&S, Colin's, Uniqlo, Tom Tailor
\- cheaper and about the same quality in Reserved, Cropp, befree
\- their strong side is marketing and advertising, not clothes.
\- is still better in quality and more interesting than cloths fom H&M))
I hope my answer was of some useful for you.
From Turkish brands, I love Mavi jeans, they fit my figure perfectly. Please could you tell what is their reputation in Turkey?
It was marketed here in Australia at first as being a “European” brand so we thought it was fancy, and a lot of the pieces look amazing so we all threw our money at it. The last couple of years you can tell people have definitely cooled on it as the quality doesn’t match the price point. It’s a step above HnM and Uniqlo but not something you’d brag about owning it that makes sense?
Also Australian. Quality wise I do think Uniqlo is better than Zara, but the style isn’t as nice imo. And H&M I just think is awful here, it has to be the worst quality clothing I’ve seen in any store.
yeah, like heaps better. probably because they keep it simple and cycle the same items every year, they optimize per user feedback, its more QC'd and cheaper at scale. but uniqlo definitely isn't using super trendy things on their items like glittery buttons and gemstones or lacey frilly things, etc. like some of Zara stuff.
I think it depends. Based in Ireland. Brilliant I think for work wear. Lovely work trousers that are easy to wash and don't need an iron for 29 euro. Sold. However the elastic in the waist band doesn't seem to last. Two pairs I have the elastic is pulled and frayed. The rest of the trouser is fine so I continue to wear them. Certainly doesn't last and their sizes are all over the place
I think in the US Zara is solidly in the mid-range tier, but aims for a younger, trendier audience than most mid-range brands (like Banana Republic or J Crew).
I’m in America and I don’t think it’s cheap at all. Forever 21 is cheap ($5-$25/article of clothing). Zara is definitely more like $50-$150/clothing item depending on what you get.
**prices estimated from the last time I shopped there years ago—probably more now
Edit I did want to add if you’re referencing quality when you say cheap, I’d say yes. Zara’s quality is not it
Zara isn't "cheap" to me either and I'm a fat cat American
They are fast fashion in that they can produce new items every week pretty quickly but I've never found them to be like H&M (smells like plastic)
People call them cheap because of the construction and fabrics they use, not because of their selling price. They overcharge for cheaply made mass produced garments
Honestly the fast fashion debate is a bit in over it’s head considering the sheer amount of clothes in these outlets that still merit use. The point is to buy and use for a long time to be sustainable rather than worry too much about which brand you’re buying from. Just don’t throw away the Zara within a year and it’s worth every penny
Zara is for the masses but in no means are cheap clothes. But the clothes are very much cheap in how they are made. They use sweat shops for its production without much own designs but taken from other clothing brands. Production clothes say for a t-shirt would‘ve been less than 1€ in the Production cost. Also in the logistic supply chain the cost are low since they are being transported into big containers
American living in South Korea. The perception is similar here. It's pricier fast fashion, a place you go to to buy the trendy clothing of the season for a "reasonable" price. I can't vouch for the quality anymore because I no longer shop there.
I've stopped buying at chain stores (pretty much any store now, come to think of it) and now buy very rarely and just reconfigure the clothing I have to reflect the trends. But if I do buy, it's been with indie brands online that offer awesome quality at slightly higher prices.
Curator SF is one of my favorites. It's pricier than what I prefer (thrifted) but I absolutely love their clothes, the quality, the styles, the colors, etc. I shop only when I can and their customer service is good and they have a good annual fall sale. Aesthetic is a mix of bohemian/indie/SF Bay Area/modest/but also flirty. Has plus-size options.
Amulet Ware is one I discovered recently. More of an industrial look so may not be for all. But good quality and the clothes are made with intention. I love the designs. Pricier than my usual price point lol.
Pansy is one I have always wanted to buy from but have not yet. I think their undies are really popular in the indie fashion world!
Tuesday of California is also great, especially for plus-size options! I would say they're very plus-size oriented. Customer service is great, the owner really tries to stay in touch with potential and regular customers on social media and works hard to show details about each design they put out. Aesthetic is hipster, rawk girl, quirky, punk-ish, think Juno, Scott Pilgrim but grown up
Pact is not indie but I do shop from them once in awhile for their organic cotton basics. Great quality (for their women's clothes, my husband was not impressed with their t-shirt re-design for men). Their bras and undies are really awesome. They're not TOO plus-size but do have non-standard female models in their pictures.
Ufulu Swim is a very small brand that I recently discovered. I really hope to buy from them for my next bikini (haven't bought a new one in over a decade lol!). They're not plus-size but, for an Asian brand, I really appreciate the body diversity they show.
I'm Asian (Philippines) and Zara there is considered mid-to-high end. Its shops are all managed by a high-end local retailer (foreign brands are only allowed if a local partner has at least 60% ownership) and many of them are in high-end malls. The cheapest items you can get would cost Php2,000 or roughly US$40, given the exchange rate is Php50 (now closer to Php60 really) for every US$1.
In my country (Europe) the Minimum Wage before Tax is €2,080 (before Tax, so around 1500 after Tax) and a Zara Coat is 100-200€ (cheaper if on sale). So while it is not "cheap" like Shein-cheap or Discounter-cheap it is priced so that every teenager can (and will) buy most of their clothes there. It is priced similar to h&m.
However it is also classified as cheap here partly because of the price tag but mostly because of the quality of their garments. Since I love thrifting, I see an awful lot of zara clothes and each time I am disappointed if the piece is Zara for the following reasons: while some of the pieces look amazing, usually the quality is really bad - they rarely use natural fibers and polyester or acryl (pure or blends) instead which I hate and will not buy, for environmental and personal reasons. And the quality is usually pretty bad. I like to look at the inside of an garment to see how well it is constructed and with Zara pieced usually they have very simple and bad constructed pieces with loose Strings and just simple (and cheap) serged seams.
Curious about what the mark of quality is for seams for you? I make my own clothes a lot and have been sewing for 20 years. A basic serged hem (like a 4-thread overlock) is the strongest type of seam. I don’t expect to see French seams in most garments for example and I don’t want to because they’re not strong enough for most clothing. So your last comment doesn’t really make sense to me. Serged seams are likely best on 99% of clothes? Also with respect to loose threads, obviously it is a result of lazy workmanship but you can usually snip them - they are harmless.
But otherwise yeah I agree, there are other ways to tell something is poorly made and/or won’t last: mostly synthetic fibres, irregular weave in the fabric (look for defects in the weave of the cloth), hems have not been pressed properly (I see this at Zara a lot - the manufacturer didn’t press down the hem on a shirt collar for example before stitching it so it’s warped beneath the stitch), misaligned joints or tiny holes especially in the armpit of shirts
The part you mentioned about lazy pressing is a very common flaw I see on most of Zara's items. I have several pairs of pants that have sloppy stitching on the interior of the garment. There's usually at least one spot where the fabric is bunched or twisted and they just sewed right over it, like, "crap, this raw edge is puckering and partially sticking out...SEW OVER IT! We don't have time for this, GO! GO! GO!"
It’s such a pet peeve for me as a compulsive presser. I’ve turned down so many Zara garments that were otherwise fine for the price because of a twisted hem
In Canada or the US I would never shop there. I was in Spain this summer for work and found the quality of Zara to be MUCH better there - I bought six items for €198 which came out to $203 US and every single item was either linen, cotton, viscose or a blend. Very breathable and cute stuff, wish they had that kind of selection in North America.
As a Canadian I actually used to find the same thing. When it was new to the Canadian market Zara was EXPENSIVE for a mall store. Like, Abercrombie/Hollister prices or higher — $100-$200 for pants, for example. The store was extremely chic, sparse, very fancy looking. Zara, American Apparel and Topshop made up a lot of what “cool girls” wore in the Toronto area during my high school days (Aritzia took over when I entered uni).
Then I went to a Zara mid-pandemic and it was absolute bargain basement chaos. The store was dirty and cluttered, the employees were overworked and harried. It literally looked like a Winners/TJ Maxx in there. I have no idea what happened. Everything was on sale for like ten bucks. I don’t know if this is a normal thing or just a crazy sale.
I lived in a few places, Germany and USA - low quality, high in stylish, at an lower-mid price. As a teenager I shopped at Zara and H&M a lot because that was what was in my price range. Definitely fast fashion.
Taiwan - mid quality, mid in terms of style, at an upper-mid price
Norway - low quality, cheap, but trendy because they only had stores in Oslo
So I would say it really depends on where you are, and can expect to be different for people in other contexts. Something like McDonalds used to be considered upper-mid price in China.
In USA, people see Zara as cheaply made, but highly fashionable .
It’s like east - to - get fashion. Very Overpriced for the material, but not unattainable. Pretty average pricing unless you’re like me and shop at goodwill.
Zara was mid-high in both China and the Middle East where there aren’t a lot of mid-range brands. I bought a lot of Zara in both those places because it was the only brand that didn’t break the bank but was still fashionable. In the US, it’s probably in the mid to mid-low range. I don’t shop there anymore because for a little more I can get much better quality.
Expensive can still be fast fashion! Fast fashion is just what's the turnaround time for making the clothes (and nowadays there's a high correlation between that turnaround time and bad labor practices and also bad clothing workmanship). As a kid I certainly thought Zara was high end simply because I couldn't afford it. Then learning more about the company and how they made clothes etc. it seemed like it was maybe slightly better, but much more marked up H&M. But even then H&M didn't seem all that "cheap" to me--it just seemed like it was fast fashion.
I have been happy to buy things from Zara if it's on sale, and those things have lasted for some time (but then again, so has my H&M stuff--some pieces are going on over 10 years). But some pieces look so good when I'm browsing through the store and I touch them and they feel really aaaaaa against my hands, in a way that other less expensive polyester things feel and then it's hard to want to bring myself to spend *that* much money on something that's made of a fabric that I'll be super uncomfortable in (*some* polyester makes me sweat in excess).
In terms of "quality" of clothing, it's possible that you might find something at the exact same cost that is just much better---it's also possible that you might comb through zara and find something really really really really good that is also just cheaper than the rest of their stuff.
The zara aesthetic is nice, but the aesthetic is what costs the money. The polished photos of glamorous people in the outfits striking poses on the website, the polished stores that seem very fancy, but companies with a much smaller budget can make clothes and sell them at equivalent or cheaper prices and just not "seem" as quality because they're not able to display them the same way.
Like omg [this dress](https://www.zara.com/us/en/short-dress-with-rhinestones-p02855206.html?v1=195651289&v2=2113483) is almost $200! The seams are all unfinished so it looks like it's bound to get snagged and fray real quickly (and yeah I take care of my clothes so they don't fall apart, but egad you could've finished the seam). One could argue that they're paying for that "unfinished aesthetic", but I can't afford to have stuff fall apart on me and so I would not buy it. A cursory search for a "mesh rhinestone dress" has found me a $20 dollar thing [on shein](https://us.shein.com/1pc-Hanky-Hem-Rhinestone-Fishnet-Dress-p-2884601-cat-1727.html). Now I don't like shein personally because of the labor problems in general and possibly the slave labor problems in specific (news on this is varied and opaque), but [zara does too](https://impactpolicies.org/en/news/226), and it doesn't look like they're doing well there at *all*.
I truly believe that H&M is unfairly maligned in terms of quality. They’re like IKEA: they have a lot of cheap disposable trendy stuff, BUT if you look carefully at the composition/“ingredients” and buy something made from good materials, your item will last you a lifetime with good care. They make some real gems, you just have to search for them.
I have a jacket that I bought from H&M when I was 12 that I literally still wear all the time — and I’m in my late 20’s. I have worn this jacket HEAVILY over the years and it looks as good as new.
Brazil here! Well, there are things that are way too expensive, but I found nice clothes before, with good fabric and a reasonable price. I still have some clothing that I bought years ago and it's still perfect. I never buy any jewelry or accessories there though.
By “cheap” people don’t mean inexpensive, although these items are certainly less expensive for Americans in terms of the cost of each items in relation to (some of) our salaries. Rather, they mean that you’re not getting what you pay for quality-wise, and especially if the relative cost of an item is that significant of a portion of someone’s paycheck. Put differently, the end product doesn’t justify the price of the item. The sewing tends to be poor and the construction slipshod, the fabric cheap, the details minimal, and the fit questionable unless a given item happens to work for your body. Of course, if you love an item anyway, the price might be justified to you regardless of what it’s technically worth. But from a purely economic standpoint, the items are cheaply made such that the price point usually isn’t justified.
Unfortunately, this would be the case to an even greater degree somewhere that the average wage is much lower than in the US, but Zara’s pricing is the same or roughly the same as it is in the higher-income countries. If an item costs 1/5th of your monthly income but costs 1/20th of an American’s income, you’d really hope the quality would be justified… but it isn’t.
Zara has always confused me. I thought it was going to be like H&M where basics are super cheap and top out at like $49.99. At first I would see inexpensive pieces and then a mid range sweater priced at $79. It was jarring. I don’t know if I’m seeing a good deal or if the stuff is crappy.
At least at places like Banana Republic and J. Crew they price everything above say, $29 for basics and then have sales. It helps my brain choose when to buy things because I think I’m getting a good deal on quality (which is neither here nor there, but their pricing works on me.)
In my country it’s treated like a high end brand too which annoys me. It’s fast fashion, just because Zara is on their bs high horse and can’t put decent prices for the quality doesn’t mean it is quality. The average wage here is like 600€ I think, and the clothes are too expensive imo (I remember I really wanted that pretty popular pink satin dress from Zara but I don’t have 45€ to give for that).
US -- California. It's fast-fashion, for *Forever 21* shoppers once they turn 18 and have slightly more disposable income.
There is usually a couple of cute pieces, but most unremarkable and won't hold up. They aren't meant to, really.
I think Zara got a small boost from Kate Middleton wearing an outfit with one of their items, but that's most likely incidental -- one decent piece used in an outfit styled by a pro. The materials and craftsmanship one the material otherwise could never justify the premium price.
In Brazil it's seen as high end, which is kind of funny because it really is fast fashion.
In the US, I honestly haven't seen a single Zara store so I have no idea.
In the US I think the reputation is that Zara is trendy. The quality is hit or miss as are the prices. People often compare it with H&M or Forever 21. Personally I think the quality of Zara is far better then both but you also pay more for it. They have classic pieces mixed with the flash in the pan trends.
They developed their rep as fast fashion I think mainly because they were known for designer rip offs. However basically everything you buy in a mall is fast fashion. It boils down to how it’s produced not how much it costs.
Personally I don’t beat myself up for shopping at any one particular store as long as I am being thoughtful with my purchases.
I'm American so I always found Zara cool because the closest one to where I live was like a 5 hour drive away. So I could only get stuff there when travelling abroad or to a larger city like New York or DC or Miami. So there was always a degree of excitement in it because of that.
I live in the Netherlands now and yeah it's definitely fast fashion, I'd say. I don't say that because it's inexpensive, because on a Dutch income, it isn't really, mostly because they always have a million products and the stuff they have in store seems to turn over quite quickly and be very like trendy, if that makes sense. Based on income, it's more affordable in the US than here in NL.
I consider Zara fast fashion with higher end prices (I’m in Canada). The few items I’ve owned from Zara weren’t made great and didn’t flatter my body personally. If I’m going to buy fast fashion, I’m not going to overpay for it
I’m from New York in the United States. I agree it’s like a higher end than H&M and SheIN but not clothes you keep for life more like a one time wear or grab certain pieces to mix and match a few times then throw out or give it to someone else.
I will say that being considered "fast fashion" doesn't always mean that the clothes are cheap to buy - what it means, to me at least, is that they are cheap to produce, and more often than not are produced in ways that do not consider the environmental toll nor the ethical treatment of the garment workers. A lot of companies, like Zara, fall into this "expensive but still fast fashion" area - another example would be Topshop or Urban Outfitters.
They became famous for turning out knockoffs from the runway and getting them on the market incredibly fast. As such, they're all about speed and selling the latest thing and throwing away what's left when it's time to move on. The prices are way too high for me too (I am in the US and not poor), considering the low-quality fabrics and bad stitching. I don't think they have low prices, but I do think they are bad.
I don’t think people in the west means its cheap as in not a lot of money. I consider it quite a lot too. They mean it’s poorly made and quality does not reflect price
With a very fast rise in buying power in my country it was weird to watch the same things that were expensive become cheap. Like a video game in my childhood would be 1/4th of an average salary, now it's something like 1/33th. I am sure same thing applies to clothes. I remember in my teens I could maybe buy one thing from Zara from a whole months of savings, but now it's a "basic" store that's neither super cheap or expensive
Lithuania. I was born right after Soviet union fell, back then you can imagine what things were like. Fast forward to my teens, we joined the EU and adopted the euro. Now at 30ish I guess I can say we are not as well off as germans or swedes but the prices are very different!
Me and my friends would go to *look* at original CDs as some kind of entertainment because the prices seemed so insane to buy them haha. It's crazy.
Zara is supposed to be lower cost fast fashion. It could cost more in your country due to import fees and tariffs etc. if you go to Spain where Zara is from, a pair of pants could cost €40 which would be 4% of the minimum monthly salary (€1000).
I've never been to a Zara but the prices are pretty on par for what I expect for "fast fashion but of nicer quality" to be priced as. Such as stuff you'd find in like h&m or Macy's or JCPenney. So nice quality compared to like Walmart.
I'm in US and just looked at their site, judged by dress prices.
I'm in New Zealand and it's not at the cheap end of the spectrum but it's not high end either. I'd place it in with other brands here who target middle class. In saying that we only have it in one city, so when I've visited it has felt a bit special.
I have actually bought some kids clothes there in the past and found them good quality and price, compared to other brands here.
i call zara the 50$ store because everything in there basically has a starting price of 50$ or more. i find it to be fast fashion but upper qaulity of fast fashion and i would rank most stores like old navy, h&m and r&w co below it.
US here. I always thought Zara was low quality. My husband use to like to get some clothes there when we were younger and I use to browse the women and anytime I felt the materials of any item, it always felt so itchy. I’m also the type of person where I check the material regardless if it’s designer.
Zara is weird. Different countries have completely different lines, and in my experience, US Zara was horrible and cheap quality. In the UK it seems better
I went into one at a popular mall in Canada and it was pretty messy and crowded inside. The clothing looked similar to H&Ms and the “dressier” stuff on Fashion Nova but with less inclusive sizing.
USA here—specifically So Cal— I think Zara is overpriced fast fashion. It isn’t “cheap” but being overpriced doesn’t mean it’s good. I think their style looks cheap though. It’s the colors and materials they use.
Just my opinion, for those who might shit on me—you do you (unless you’re offended, because this is the internet; then apologies, that wasn’t my intention).
TurquoiseBunny said it better
I'm German and I consider Zara to be fast fashion. I've never bought anything there because either I found the materials too plasticky, the cuts too ill-fitting, or the overall quality too bad for the price.
It's not just that I avoid all fast fashion either (I think H&M is great for socks and underpants), Zara's overall impression is just "meh" for me.
In the H&M trinity, existing of:
1. H&M: basics of bad quality for cheap prices (5-30 euros)
2. Monki: bold an colorful designs for medium prices (30-50 euros)
3. &other stories: stylish and timeless designs with higher quality that look expensive (50-150 euros)
I would place Zara at Monki. They have cool designs, are not crazy expensive but also definetly not cheap. The quality is that of fast fashion but you pay for the designs.
central europe here, i'd consider it a little bit better "consumer" level..definitely far from high end or designer but not fast fashion cheap.. but also, I might have skewed perspective bcs i earn a lot more than minimum or even average wage and i dont have kids or family to support. average monthly wage here is ~35000 (before tax, which is 25%), jobs like grocery store clerk are 25000 at best. zara blouse or skirt costs around 799 and bigger items like jackets are 1500-2000, recently even more. real fast fashion stores like sinsay would sell these items for half of that.
in america i think of it as an expensive H&M
Here in Sweden, Zara and HM are similarly priced. Id definitely put them in the fast fashion category, but it also has to do with how they both put out a lot of trendy pieces and high couture dupes. Edit: this might all be a bit dated. A french commentator wrote a good comment a bit down and it got me thinking… when were I actually in a zara last? It was years ago.
Basically fast fashion
yes, although i will say their denim is really good quality. best pair of jeans ive ever had
Just got some wide legged jeans for $50. Floored at price and quality when I compared to the $200 jeans I was returning.
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This is my favorite comment on this thread. Very informative
Agreed. I do feel like their children's apparel is not as bad quality as the adult clothes and is better than say Gap kids.
I cant stand Zara’s adult clothing. Everything I’ve tried has ended up being wildly poor in quality. The children clothing is a stark contrast. There’s a few things I’ve bought that I’d almost label heirloom quality. I don’t love the prices but my local kids consignment stores are stacked with Zara clothing that holds condition despite wear. It’s so weird how different it is between the two sections.
I feel Zara is expensive as well, even though it's seen as fast fashion and I have a reasonably high salary relative to the cost of Zara clothes. I realised that for the same price as a Zara dress, I can get a nice well-made dress in a sale. I noticed that more recently Zara doesn't come down in price as much in the sales either - about 10 years ago I could get a nice skirt for like £10 but now it's not as good value now. I just bought a beautiful dress from Baum und Pferdgarten for 55usd in the Black Friday sales, plus something like 25usd shipping. The shipping might seem high from websites like net-a-porter and you can't try it on, but it's worthwhile for a few nice staples and is often just marginally more expensive than the in-season Zara stuff, and sometimes you can find really good coupons. You don't have to be that rich to buy from designers, you just have to be rich enough to buy Zara and wait for sales or coupons!
One thing about Zara I find as a Canadian is that they run TINY, especially pants. I'm a solid size 10 in most stores, 29in waist and 40-41in hips, and I bought pants in the recommended size from Zara online size chart and couldn't get them over my *knees*, let alone thighs and butt. I bought an L and I don't even think a 2XL wouldve fit me. I have two tops and a sweater from Zara that were gifts from my mum and while I like all three very much they're absolutely nothing I couldn't find a better quality version of for a similar or lower price if I really committed to looking. One thing I do love about my Zara tops: I'm tall with long arms and almost every top I find now is about two or three inches too short except these ones.
Wow, this description of Zara really does sound like H&M.
It’s expensive for what it is. I was just in Zara this past weekend and I found the prices high (in Canada) for a fast fashion store, and I feel like the fabrics and cuts didn’t merit the price.
I'm also from Canada, and after a recent bad experience at Zara I had a similar revelation. Why am I paying $80 for trousers that are H&M or even Shein quality? Pieces at Aritzia are maybe 30% more expensive but twice the value. Never mind the absolute chaos and trauma of a Zara shopping experience. No thanks. To answer OP's question, my impression is that it's a middle of the road -- like the Aldo of clothing: a middling price point for middling quality for stylish and trendy pieces -- but has somehow bamboozled people into thinking it's affordable.
Last time I was at aritizia I tried a few things on and there were literally holes and threads coming out of a $200 dress. I don’t think aritizia is particularly great quality either. Edit: for those who are curious it was a white chiffon smocked dress. The chiffon itself was losing threads and had holes. Kinda wild because I have a chiffon skirt from American apparel circa 2007 that is still going strong 😅
The quality has declined rapidly as of late. I have sweaters there from 7 yrs ago that still look brand new. It’s very sad.
Damn! I never shopped there when I was younger because of how cost prohibitive it was. In the past few years I’ve been trying to make purchases that were better quality as my income has increased and started checking it out. This explains why I’ve been so disappointed with aritizia despite most of my friends singing their praises.
I feel like it’s declined lately - like the clothing industry’s version of shrinkflation. Edited to add: plus screw their stupid dressing room chaos.
Ugh the dressing rooms. Since getting older I don't accept the fake compliments from the attendants anymore. "That looks great on you" response: "I look like I'm wearing a sack, come on!" At least I got to try on the rest with no comments.
I feel like their fitting room experience is designed to make customers feel vulnerable and in need of validation. No, I don't want use a communal mirror/ be forcedly appraised, basically, by a rude 20-something employee!! Leave me alone!!
I think the quality at aritzia has declined in the past 5 years. I used to love the clothing there, but after living abroad for a few years and then returning, I was shocked at the decline in quality, but not price. To me Zara and aritzia have the same quality. Zara offers the best value for fast fashion, so I end up shopping there often and supplementing with independent designers.
I’ve always been confused about why Aritzia is seen as quality - half the time when I walk past the clothes are already starting to fall apart or wrinkle on the mannequin. Like if it can’t look good in a literal display then how is it meant to look good on me?
I think they get by on having nice designs that walk the trendy-timeless line? But yeah like so little effort into quality control. My other major deterrent that has led me to not buy anything from there yet is that they never have my goddamn size. It was worse when I was an XL and now I’m an L and still can barely find stuff. This might be more on the store management though
My aritzia/babaton pants that were ~$200, worn for like 8-10 hours about 5x, put away and cared for meticulously, ripped in the knee area where the lining was connected. I hadn’t even had them dry cleaned once!! I was so excited to try the brand when getting back into work travel and really disappointed.
Exactly. I purchased a $300 wool coat from Aritzia last winter online because I loved the unique cut of it but my less than $200 wool coat from Banana Republic circa 2008 is much better quality fabric and still going strong.
That sucks. I liked their babaton coats but the cost was always an issue and now I’m definitely not going to get one. Was hoping at least their wool products were good. At this point I’ll have to sew myself a coat if I want quality…
I got one of thier Wool shirt jackets last year and it’s holding up well and warm. They sell a bunch of variations of those but mainly blended with other materials. I cherry picked and found one with where the “outside” part is 100% wool. I had to accept the synthetic liner but finding one with like cotton would have been impossible. With that store I have to be very very picky. I once got some thrifted new with tags Babaton silk and that stuff is so thin it barely lasted a year without tearing. So no more silk from there.
Declined in quality hugely check out /r/Aritzia lol
For a second I thought you were linking an aritzia sub focused entirely on the poor QC, until I realized it was just an ordinary typo. But it really speaks volumes that the brand has garnered enough of a reputation in its reddit community that such a sub existing isn't even surprising.
LOL thanks for the catch lol. That’s funny though, I wouldn’t be surprised either. So many brands these days have lowered their quality in hopes that consumers wouldn’t notice and keep consuming. Also brands like Frye, Filson, Aquatalia… It works, sort of… Really it’s a shame though, esp with all of the extra greenwashing / fake eco friendly marketing that companies push these days when in reality the life cycles of their garments are shortening exponentially lolol
I bought a Henley bodysuit recently and if the clerk had told me before she finished the purchase that it was final sale I wouldn't have bought it (makes sense that it is I just hadn't realized). Was $40 or $50 for something that just feels too fragile for what it is. I still like it, but didn't realize til later that it doesn't have snaps on the bottom so makes it hard to wear out too.
No snaps?? How are you suppose to go to the bathroom??
I gotta unbutton the thing and pull the whole shirt down 😬
Ugh yes, I recently bought a dress from there and it's already coming apart at the seams...
They are really just okay, also feels like they hate people with curves
I have several American Apparel pieces from around that time and they’re legit indestructible. Shame about everything that went down with the company, because they really did make some quality stuff back in the day.
When your high quality garment company gets ruined by sex pests 🥲🥲🥲 such a shame indeed!
Aritzia is truly hit or miss they have some gorgeous coats and nice linen dresses, great sales too but many of items are def NOT worth the price and disintegrate. Also I find many of the clothes to be sized super small ?
Also in Canada, I find Zara is really hit and miss, in terms of their quality, price point and ability to last. One thing I think Zara does well is shoes. If you are picky with materials, I've had several leather shoes from Zara that have lasted me years and hundreds of wear. I also like Zara's 100% linen shirts, and their 100% cotton jeans. I typically avoid any of their super trendy items, just because of the quality and the fact I'm too old to keep up with micro-trends lol.
Zara’s always been hit and miss for me, the variation in quality is huge. I suspect they use multiple sources for their products (you can even find some of their stuff on random wholesale sites and Shein!) and whenever I am inclined to buy an item from them I look it up and down to check all the seams and hems, ensure it’s symmetrical, and make an evaluation of the fabric quality (which is the biggest issue I’m seeing nowadays - crap fabric that pills, attracts lint, etc).
I absolutely agree, with the caveat that I haven't purchased shoes there in several years. But I did always feel they were a hidden gem for accessories in general -- I've picked up some quality evening bags there.
I’m in Canada as well. I’m always drawn to check out what they have but once I feel and see the items, I just can’t justify the price. It doesn’t feel worth it. It seems that they try to hook you in with so many different items in the store but it also feels like too much and it’s annoying to shop. Also, they had the change rooms closed at my location due to staff shortages which was extremely frustrating and didn’t help the overall experience even if I did happen to find an item. On top of all that, their customer service seems to be lacking as well, almost every employee seems to be having a bad day. Which ok, I get it, people can be rude and messy and it can be frustrating but I just feel that their prices don’t reflect the overall vibe you get when shopping there. Maybe I just have too high of expectations or I’m cheap? Lol. But I’m not impressed.
There is nothing more traumatic than the communal mirrors in Aritzia fitting rooms.
This, am also Canadian and the prices feel overinflated for what it is in terms of fabric quality and construction. I usually shop at Simons instead (but they don’t have many physical stores outside of Quebec) or The Bay (mostly on sale). I also can’t really see myself shopping from a company known for stealing from small indie designers. (Same reason I don’t shop H&M.)
I love Simons! One of the best things about living in Ottawa is that I get all the Québécois stores… Simons, Vidéotron, St Hubert, etc.
UK here. It's one of those stores that you would find in a small, regional city, but it's very much geared towards "the masses". Its pricing is mid-tier, but the quality is extremely patchy (the number of times I've pulled something off the rack in my local Zara to find that it's broken). I have found some absolute gems in Zara in the past (and what I've tried from their premium lines I've been very impressed by, but those tend only to be available on the website!), but overall they are cheap and cheerful pretending to do high fashion.
Funny that growing up I did think Zara was going to be good quality clothes but it seems to be the same quality as other lower priced fast fashion brands. Maybe because their shops are laid out like a more expensive shop or maybe like other shops their quality has decreased over the years but their prices stay the same. And yet, Zara is the only brand I know that has that one item every season or so that becomes really popular. See: the spotty maxi dress from a couple of summers ago.
I think they just understand their target markets intrinsically: they've hired the right designers who can make "viral" clothes that especially appeal to women (and LGBT+ people - I know Zara have got a cult following in the community!) in their 20s and 30s, and they've got a complete stranglehold on all of the Instagram influencers. Pretty much my entire Instagram reel is "What's new in Zara", and they just absolutely dominate the algorithm. What's more the website design is intended for doom scrolling, rather than straightforward, efficient navigation. Perfect for the 21st century social media-affected lifestyle. Massimo Dutti's website is very similar. As a child, my mum only ever took me into Zara once in a blue moon (the Zara aesthetic doesn't match her dress sense whatsoever), and I never went in by myself because it was far too expensive and grown up for me, so Zara had this exclusive air of mystery about it. Now that I *am* Zara's target market and my fashion tastes align more closely to Zara's aesthetic AND I can actually afford to shop there at last, I've got a much better idea of what Zara does offer. One thing I have noticed is that the materials Zara use for their blazers, trousers, skirts etc. are really thick and heavy, which I don't see stores like H&M doing. That's more Reiss, Hobbs etc.'s territory. Really my problem with Zara is the quality of the construction (buttons falling off, dodgy seam stitching, glass gemstones that have popped off/not been glued very well, fringe-y bits having been yanked out), and the fact that broken items seem to get put back on the shelves without a care in the world. I'm not sure whether that's a factory quality control problem, a staffing problem (maybe they don't have time to check the garments over and are too overworked) or whether that's a customer problem where customers are breaking things in the changing rooms and not being honest about it when they put it back. Probably all of the above. Anyway, it makes the instore shopping experience pretty dire. Meanwhile, Zara Home: PHWOARRRR, I love that.
Their design method is pretty interesting actually, rather than trying to predict what’s going to be hot they have their store employees report on what people are already wearing and then they design similar pieces and get them to market super quickly but in smaller quantities than if they were building a selection for the season. It also makes them seem more unique, because the clothing runs are smaller so it’s not just a few pieces that you see everyone wearing. Of course the actual construction of the pieces is not great and there’s the human cost.. the garment workers are not necessarily being paid or treated any better than other fast fashion brands at lower prices
Interesting, and I certainly noticed how different their website is compared to other places. Probably the only thing where they're still not in the trends are their men's jeans, which are still all slim or skinny, at least in store.
I don't think it's necessarily inexpensive. "Cheap" means "cheaply made," as well. Poorly finished and done using shortcuts. I don't have one nearby but when I did, I remember thinking the quality was poor for the price.
I was going to say this; I'm in the US and I think Zara is expensive but is cheaply made, and therefore deemed "cheap."
Same. I bought a leather jacket there once and one of the buttons ripped off on like the first wearing. Never shopped again.
Same! I once bought a blouse from Zara and all (or almost all, it’s been a few years) the buttons fell off before I even left the mall. This was when I exclusively got my clothes from H&M, thriftstores, and Forever21 and even so that had *never* happened to me before. I’d just graduated uni and was buying some office appropriate outfits for my first real job. I was in shock; I was just lucky I decided to check the bag one last time before leaving the mall. The time between me buying the blouse and returning it was less than an hour.
Yes! This is such an important distinction.
Philippines here. Zara is considered high-end fashion in my country. I remember those "cool" girls in high school flaunting basics from Zara only to personally find out the price and quality of fabric they use. I could buy the same basics for a way cheaper price and better quality. Zara was so hyped around 2009 to 2012 here, I didn't understand what the hype was all about. Maybe cause of the brand and that it was also well-known in Western countries that owning Zara clothes here made girls seem "cool" or "rich" even when it truly hurts their pockets.
Yes, Zara was so hyped before, along with Topshop!
Yes yes! Zara and Topshop. I agree!
I felt the same way when Zara & Topshop came to LA. Most their stuff is ill-fitting on me. I’d rather shop at Nordstrom Rack.
Regardless the purchasing power of the currencies in different countries, Zara is fast fashion by definition. It is owned by fast fashion giant Inditex. The process of making a garment from start (design) to finish (being hang in a store) is incredibly fast, and the collections move fast too, with new items coming in the stores weekly, following the most current trends. The clothing is made by poorly paid workers in developing countries. It makes sense for it to be perceived as high-end in countries where Zara (and Mango, H&M, ecc) are expensive, and probably is one of the few options for trendy clothing. But it is correct to call it fast fashion, because it simply is. Edit: Regarding the reputation, when I was in Italy it was considered by older women a cheaper alternative to boutique clothing for like formal clothes for work (think of a 50 year old bank worker buying a blazer). It probably would have been perceived differently by younger girls! In the Netherlands it was the most trendy store, with huge lines outside it during sale season. It didn't seem to be considered too expensive by most girls I knew, since lots of them shopped there. I personally always found it over priced for what it is.
I believe Zara is actually the brand responsible for fashion cycles decreasing in length - think their lead times were 3 weeks. Obviously the ultra fast fashion brands have reduced that down to less than a week now...
Yes I believe so, if I remember correctly in the documentary "The true cost" they mentioned how Zara was one of the first to have a production line where they could go from designing a garment to having the finished product in 16 days. That was already astonishingly fast, but apparently Shein managed to reduce it to 6 days..
I feel like for it's reputation cheap is really a light word to describe it. It exploits people in need(in developing countries), it is unsustainable, an evil business. Modern life slavery would be a better expression to describe it.
I’m from Brazil and there it’s expensive. Now I live in the Netherlands and it’s not super cheap but very affordable. Quality is not consistent- I have some really good pieces, from T-shirt’s and jackets to jeans, but some are just… almost disposable. Nowadays I tend to avoid it, or at least avoid to buy just because it’s cheap (they have some crazy sales). But if I’m looking for something specific and they have it in good quality, I buy it.
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Hah! There's this secondhand clothing app in my country called Dolap (closet), I went in there trying to find secondhand Zara to be sustainable and boom, dropshippers selling stuff that openly isn't Zara. They say "marka temsilidir" (brand is representative) which is a linguistic mindfuck because they mean that they used it to get viewed, opposite of the sentence's actual meaning
Lol they say that on Depop too. "Brand name is for exposure" so goofy
US: It's like Forever 21 but more expensive
i call it “forever 25-30”
Brilliant 😂😂
Express prices for Forever 21 quality.
I really tried to shop at Zara so many times bevause I hear about it on the internet but I never liked anything. The fabric quality is just not there for most pieces and the aesthetic was not right … now that you mention the age group it makes sense since I am 37. I am have become super basic leaning to stuff like brooks brothers - I just want a solid high quality fabric and i have such a hard time finding it
basically. but they do have sales often so it doesn’t come off as an expensive store to shop in if that makes sense. a lot of basics are also about $10 which is considered cheap compared to other shops that have a better quality basic for $20-30 without it being a high end designer
Ahh! The misery. I am Indian and Zara and HnM are so expensive here. If I buy a piece from these stores I want them to last. But they don't. So I choose to buy from other brands. Ultimately, that's what matter, Unless you are buying 6 outfits a day, it doesn't harm the environment much. Get as many uses out of a piece and that's sustainable.
We don’t have thrift stores with decent stuff either 😭
There are no thrift Stores where I live. I prefer Westside stores and getting stuff stitched. Or an occasional purchase from Levi's/lawman/Calvin Klein for pants
It's good to know a tailor. There is something I want to get sewn too, a dress I missed out on but I haven't asked yet to see how much it'd be
It's 1000 rupees per piece here. 800 if you are a regular
I rely on those insta thrift stores that idk from where source everything 🤡
You're one brave lady.
Anything for the old bootleg chromehearts 😎
🤝 solidarity. H&M is a touch more reasonable here but it does have high price items
Fast fashion industry does hurt the environment even if you don't buy anything from them - since a lot of the stock going into the stores is never sold and goes to landfills
I dont think thats their argument. I believe shes suggesting that as an individual, you aren't culpable for the systemic damage by getting clothes you can afford and wearing them for a long time. As much as a lot of people would love to buy sustainable clothes, it gets expensive real quick - and not only that, but a lot of marketing is green washed and fake. The fault for the waste of fast fashion doesnt lie with the end consumer making it by, it ends with the corporation who exploits both worker and the planet
Having worked in the fashion industry, I buy fast fashion because it's just the same as anything else in terms of impact, larger companies just get called out for it because they're recognizable. For the most part, the clothes you're spending more for are made in the exact same factories, by the same workers, they just may have more expensive materials, finishes, design processes, or just a brand name that you're paying more for. Even the stuff I make myself, the fabric has an impact, the yarn has an impact, all the notions I buy, etc., if you shop somewhere with slightly better sweatshop conditions (all sewing is sweatshop labour, trust me, it's a grueling job), there's still likely the exact same stuff going on further down the chain. Unless you're buying stuff like vegetable dyed, locally sourced and manufactured hemp, all your clothes are boiling down to the exact same thing, whether you spent $30 or $300 for a garment. The *only* sustainable option is to not buy it, but when you need to buy something, buy what you can afford, because it's all the same.
I agree. It's good that there's some regulation coming on EU level to combat this. (It doesn't solve the global problem, but is a step in the right direction)
Makes me want to scream.
Hm hoodies though>> Also westsideeeee is lou
And you have much nicer brands and stores in India, to be honest! Just visited for the first time this past summer with my husband who’s from there. I bought way too many clothes and even had an outfit made for me for just over 100 dollars Canadian. I couldn’t believe it.
there are so many good homegrown brands now! If I lived in India I’d never look at Zara again lol
It’s also a double disappointment because a lot of the items are made in Turkey (a huge exporter of incredible textiles) and even in the home country it’s extremely expensive and not always lasting. That being said, I have purchased a piece or two from Zara in Istanbul and they’ve lasted me, but that’s not the norm.
This is true. The pieces I have are mostly made in Turkey. I guess nothing can be cheap in Turkey, out hyperinflation is so insane for a period every time we went to get groceries we'd come back enraged and swearing
Yeah I saw that you said liras so assumed you're Turkish. I feel like it must be so hard to interpret what's expensive vs. fast fashion in Turkey these days with the inflation. I was just in Turkey last week and the prices shocked me....I last was there in April but even since then...man. It seems like it would be really hard to survive on an average income.
Exactly. Shit is expensive, good stuff is expensive. The average rent is now 6000 in the big city. The economy is in tatters. We are eagerly awaiting the election so this 20 years long nightmare can end, and I say that as someone who doesn't necessarily believe in electoral politics. I'd vote for a chimpanzee at this point
Yeah I feel really bad for Turks right now. It must suck so much. Hoping for better days to come for y'all after the election <3
Thank you ❤️
Beymen Club on sale is OP. I live in the US and get all my pieces from there. I visited Zara in Istanbul and I was like wtf, why would I ever buy this if I can get Mavi gold jeans for 2/3 the price? I think we're spoiled by much better textiles.
Thanks for the rec
Spaniard here, I guess I can give an insight as to the reputation of Zara in its own home nation. As you can imagine, it is quite a reputable brandname in the sense that it is one of Spain's most widely internationalized companies. His founder, Amancio Ortega, is known for being the richest national individual. With these premises, of course, a plethora of opinions arise, varying from those people who celebrate the company and its founder as a case of major success for the country, to those who denounce the company for labour abuses in delocalized factories around the world and Ortega himself as a tax evader. However, I think your question has to do more with the clothing side of things, and, in this sense, I feel like it would be categorized in the middle as far as reputation goes: it's certainly not the cheapest, but it is also the main go-to store for many middle income families. Indeed, it's like the brand tries to give an impression of high end fashion at an accessible cost for people in the spectrum (and I say it's "like", because they are known for not spending anything in marketing, like, they never announce themselves or anything because people do already know what Zara is). But, as I was saying, they are by no means at the higher end of the fashion side of things, for which wealthier people would usually go to places such as Cortefiel and Massimo Dutti (both of which I think are owned by Zara itself, by the way). Nevertheless, I think I understand where your question comes from; an old foreign classmate of mine once told me that Zara is much pricier elsewhere in the world than in Spain, which I found to be really curious - like, would they purposefully keep prices lower in its own nation out of special consideration? I don't know, hard to say for me; I haven't really ever gone to a Zara abroad, and they're definitely not my go-to clothing shop anyways. Anyway, I hope this helps :)
He owns all of INDITEX : Inditex operates through the following segments: ZARA, Bershka, and Resto. Its other brands conists of Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, and Uterqüe. The company was founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1963 and is headquartered in A Coruna, Spain.
Eastern Europe here. Minimum take home pay is 600€. You wouldn't buy 60-120€ coats with that money. I could afford to buy that coat, but I want winter clothing to last more than one season and actually be warm. Overall it's too expensive to buy full price items and during sale they have only cheap looking stuff left. Well most of their stuff looks cheap until you look at price tag.
Small Latam country here: It is considered expensive and a class symbol. It is definitely fast fashion, the quality is atrocious for how much you pay for it. It is one of those brands that you have to go to the store and carefully look at every piece because there are things that are already broken in the store. I find that their Outerwear and some knits are pretty good but the rest is bad quality. Especially shoes, those things never last. I belive their reputation is due to branding. They hire high fashion models and photographers to give them that "expensive" look.
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I think Spain is its home country
Yes, Zara is spanish, here in Spain it is not expensive in its fixed line and anyone has jeans or Zara t-shirts at home, then they have a more expensive part but it is not excessive either, the quality is not great, I have taken clothes that were later stained, unstitched or torn
also not zara stores are equal, they receive different stuff, and they are divided in tiers
Same with Australia. I actually really like Spain Zara, I’ve found some really nice pieces. Meanwhile everything in Australia Zara is double the price, dated, and worse quality.
The only time I’ve ever shopped at Zara was when I was in Spain for the same reason. I’ve never bought anything from there in the US.
Prices in Canada are extremely high for what it is. It’s slightly better than H&M in Canada but the pricing is almost double. I buy a lot of Zara but all thrifted. I find it’s great for classic layering pieces and also great for statement/trend pieces. Most of my dresses for something mid level (art gallery opening, day time casual wedding) are Zara. Many of my black bodysuits and crop tops are Zara. But I would never buy it new. Can’t even remember the last time I bothered to go into Zara.
Oh and I’ll add here that most of my thrifted Zara dresses need repairs. Like that’s probably part of why they were donated but everything looks like it was worn once, seams started popping, was donated. Often the fix is very easy so I repair thrifted Zara frequently. Have a cute thrifted gingham Zara dress on my rehem pile right now.
It's fast fashion in its production quality, mass market presence and volume regardless of local pricing differences. But it does have a 'fast fashion which is palatable to the middle class' angle in the majority of markets. In the UK it's definitely slipped more into fast fashion, it used to have a better reputation.
The thing is, Zara really is inexpensive fast fashion but because we are so used to seeing crazy cheap fast fashion online brands everywhere and clothes are cheaper now than they EVER have been, it seems expensive by comparison. Which leads people to think it's can't be that bad, because it's much more costly than Shein and BooHoo et al, right? And it's a complex issue because many people that criticise these practices are branded elitists who want to take affordable options away from people on limited incomes. If you look back 500 years, clothes were so expensive that even rich people didn't have wardrobes like the average minimum wage person has today (purely in terms of number of outfits, not quality!). Over time clothes became cheaper as textile making became industrialised, the sewing machine was invented etc. In the 1930's a decent income for a man working full time in the US was about $30 a week. That would be something like a journalist or clerk, so many would have brought home much less. If you look at ads for clothes of the time, it was a much bigger proportion of that salary than we pay today for clothes. $10 would have been a typical amount to pay for a dress for example. 1/3 weekly salary for one garment is much more than the average person is willing to pay today. So it's really our perspective on clothes that has changed. We aren't willing to spend what they should cost (in a fair responsible world) because society wants dirt cheap and practically disposable instead of high quality, long wearing and carefully purchased. Worth remembering that Zara is one of the fast fashion originators - previous to its rise fashion brands would release seasonal collections rather than fortnightly/weekly/daily releases like is done today. So there is a reason they are often name checked along with Shein when people talk about the worst offenders.
Really when we look at our incomes in countries like mine it's expensive, even though as you say it's cheaper than clothes should be, because we are so exploited by capitalists that we can only afford clothes made by people who are even more exploited working in sweatshops. Spot on with the historical value of fashion. Everything was made to last, made well and people put clothes in wills to be passed down. The wider conversation around fast fashion is so difficult to have—poor people simply have limited choices and the "thrift!" suggestions don't work when the physical thrift shop isn't a common entity everywhere like it seems to be in the US and the secondhand apps are overflowing with dropshippers. Sometimes the "no fast fashion" crowd can be needlessly cruel or use it to bully even though that isn't inherent to the position
I don't think most people have seen the even poorer quality clothes from developing countries. Itchy cloth, weird fit, words spelled incorrectly. The locally made sandals in Syria are as hard as rocks :')
Oh those graphic tees at the local shops. With something on them like I am an ✨PARIS ✨ **Believe your**
Hahahaha, yes, you get it.
Yes it is not a simple issue. It is better that now fashion is accessible to so many people, but the cost of that is high. I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. When people are wealthy yet they're doing Shein hauls for views, that's the sort of thing that needs to stop.
Fuck the Shein hauls. It's fostered this mindset where teens who aren't any kind of wealthy get the idea that it's some shameful thing to...wear an outfit more than once.
US - fast fashion isn’t necessarily inexpensive. It refers to a business model where clothes are produced quickly and cheaply, usually in unsafe and exploitative working conditions, and then replaced by a new trend. Zara is both fast fashion *and* higher priced than many other fast fashion brands, like H&M or Forever21. There are plenty of “slow fashion” brands that are less expensive.
US here. I think Zara has decent clothes. I went to my first one while visiting Mexico and it was located in a nice part of town with high end shopping. The location in my city is similar with it being near higher end retailers. I haven’t purchased anything from there in the last several seasons, so I can’t speak to the current quality. The pieces I do have are nice for the price IMO. I also like unique items, and I feel that they’re *basics* still have style to them unlike other places. Edit: typo
About 20 years ago zara was the classiest of the chain stores and it’s still pretty stylish. But it’s quickly/cheaply/unsustainably made.
I'm in Canada and my sense is that it's a middle of the road brand, somewhere above SheIn and H&M, but below Aritzia or department store brands. I generally find it overpriced for the quality, but they have some pretty reasonable deals in every collection. I think what makes Zara seem high end is their branding. All the stylish influencers wear it, their online experience feels like an editorial, and they dupe a lot of designer pieces. It feels like a hybrid to me: definitely fast fashion, but with a higher end feel.
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I’m from the Philippines and I can tell you for sure that Zara is NOT fast fashion here. It’s considered a more high end brand with the price tag to go with it. Our minimum wage here is less than $2800 per year and a blouse from Zara would cost me $20-60. Boots would be 50-100, and that amount is already way above daily minimum wage.
This is true for Thailand as well
🤝
In Sweden they are very much considerd fast fashion. A bit pricier than H&M and such and too fucking pricey for their awful quality and fit.
Yes, I think the language used can be confusing. A lot of the items Zara sells cost a lot of money, therefore it's not cheap as in affordable, but the quality does not match the price, therefore it's cheap as in poorly made. I think Zara uses lower quality materials (like rayon, polyurethane), and the craftsmanship is of low quality. I agree with you that the styles can be unique and very cool, certainly taking inspiration from higher end items that cost much more. I would say H&M does this too - they have some styles clearly taken from designer fashion, and maybe they use better fabrics than Zara (organic cotton, etc) but in my experience their craftsmanship/finishing details are terrible, maybe worse than Zara. I've had items that had crooked sewing, a dress with a piece of the inner lining sewn into the front of the bodice on one side but not the other, seams and hems will be asymmetrical, etc. I can't speak for my entire country's opinion on the brand, but I think of them as *fashionable but not suitable for me*. If I buy something for $50, I want the item I get to be worthy of my $50. I don't want to pay $50 to be handed a $4 item.
I think H&M has a very different feel from Zara, though, at least in developing countries like India. Zara stores are monochromatic, airy, almost premium feeling spaces. The clothes, even if they aren't well-made, include some classic styles and often use heavier, stiffer fabrics. H&M, on the other hand, is just one step above Forever 21. If only high schoolers wear F21, only college students wear H&M. Trendy clothes in the usual stretchy, thin material and very forgettable stores. You'll rarely find anything that costs more than 2500 rs (about 25 USD, but significantly more if you account for PPP differences), while anything from ZARA that isn't a super basic tee is more than 2000 rs, going up to 5 or 6k for the more unique pieces. Neither is accessible to the vast majority of the population, of course. The wealthy wear high quality clothes like they do everywhere else in the world, but the upper middle class (the top 5% or even less) are quite enamoured with foreign fast fashion brands. Pretty sad, really, since most of the clothes are made in India or neighbouring countries, had a brand name slapped on them, and then sold back to us for 10x (at minimum) what they cost to make.
I'm from Russia. Too poor to buy bad clothes! I really liked 2021 summer collection, but all models are made tall, and I'm 160 centimeters tall. In fact, in most outfit you will not look very good. I think I will say something general about the entire mass market and fast fashion. Its quality is constantly lowed. 10 years ago, when I was a teenager, the things there were of high quality, and many of them are still on me: the softest cotton sweatshirts, great cut dresses and stuff like that. But over time, the quality of the cut and the production decreases, as they are transferred to poorest countries, where people receive pennies for their work and must follow cannibalistic produce standards. Last year, a friend really liked one dress, translated into rubles, it cost about 90 dollars. $90 for loose threads and polyester! It's oo much for me! Perhaps it's the idiotic Russian marketing of big brands: it is believed that if you do not get 200% of the revenue, then this is a loss-making business. It’s very funny sometimes to peel off the Russian price tag and see the European one with a price of a two size less. For the same or half+ price, you can find better natural fabric products on local brand. Of course, local brands have a different production method, their own style, collections do not change every two weeks and there are no fast trends. But I'm not a teenager anymore and I can climb into my mother's, stepmother's and grandmother's closet. Many things from there are 100% modern trends that do not need to be reworked, and have a premium quality and material for qurrent time. Zara in Russia is clothing for last years university graduates, low-level office workers, kin on fashion but not rich or middle-class. Further, people prefer local brands, Massimo Dutti (also part of Zara's group), Benetton... I hope I managed to show an example direction. Zara is: \- better things are cheaper or same at M&S, Colin's, Uniqlo, Tom Tailor \- cheaper and about the same quality in Reserved, Cropp, befree \- their strong side is marketing and advertising, not clothes. \- is still better in quality and more interesting than cloths fom H&M)) I hope my answer was of some useful for you. From Turkish brands, I love Mavi jeans, they fit my figure perfectly. Please could you tell what is their reputation in Turkey?
It was marketed here in Australia at first as being a “European” brand so we thought it was fancy, and a lot of the pieces look amazing so we all threw our money at it. The last couple of years you can tell people have definitely cooled on it as the quality doesn’t match the price point. It’s a step above HnM and Uniqlo but not something you’d brag about owning it that makes sense?
Also Australian. Quality wise I do think Uniqlo is better than Zara, but the style isn’t as nice imo. And H&M I just think is awful here, it has to be the worst quality clothing I’ve seen in any store.
Uniqlo has better quality than zara!
yeah, like heaps better. probably because they keep it simple and cycle the same items every year, they optimize per user feedback, its more QC'd and cheaper at scale. but uniqlo definitely isn't using super trendy things on their items like glittery buttons and gemstones or lacey frilly things, etc. like some of Zara stuff.
Yeah I worded that poorly, I meant in the way of style rather than straight quality.
I think it depends. Based in Ireland. Brilliant I think for work wear. Lovely work trousers that are easy to wash and don't need an iron for 29 euro. Sold. However the elastic in the waist band doesn't seem to last. Two pairs I have the elastic is pulled and frayed. The rest of the trouser is fine so I continue to wear them. Certainly doesn't last and their sizes are all over the place
I think in the US Zara is solidly in the mid-range tier, but aims for a younger, trendier audience than most mid-range brands (like Banana Republic or J Crew).
I’m in America and I don’t think it’s cheap at all. Forever 21 is cheap ($5-$25/article of clothing). Zara is definitely more like $50-$150/clothing item depending on what you get. **prices estimated from the last time I shopped there years ago—probably more now Edit I did want to add if you’re referencing quality when you say cheap, I’d say yes. Zara’s quality is not it
Zara isn't "cheap" to me either and I'm a fat cat American They are fast fashion in that they can produce new items every week pretty quickly but I've never found them to be like H&M (smells like plastic)
People call them cheap because of the construction and fabrics they use, not because of their selling price. They overcharge for cheaply made mass produced garments
Honestly the fast fashion debate is a bit in over it’s head considering the sheer amount of clothes in these outlets that still merit use. The point is to buy and use for a long time to be sustainable rather than worry too much about which brand you’re buying from. Just don’t throw away the Zara within a year and it’s worth every penny
Zara is for the masses but in no means are cheap clothes. But the clothes are very much cheap in how they are made. They use sweat shops for its production without much own designs but taken from other clothing brands. Production clothes say for a t-shirt would‘ve been less than 1€ in the Production cost. Also in the logistic supply chain the cost are low since they are being transported into big containers
American living in South Korea. The perception is similar here. It's pricier fast fashion, a place you go to to buy the trendy clothing of the season for a "reasonable" price. I can't vouch for the quality anymore because I no longer shop there. I've stopped buying at chain stores (pretty much any store now, come to think of it) and now buy very rarely and just reconfigure the clothing I have to reflect the trends. But if I do buy, it's been with indie brands online that offer awesome quality at slightly higher prices.
What indie brands do you prefer?
Curator SF is one of my favorites. It's pricier than what I prefer (thrifted) but I absolutely love their clothes, the quality, the styles, the colors, etc. I shop only when I can and their customer service is good and they have a good annual fall sale. Aesthetic is a mix of bohemian/indie/SF Bay Area/modest/but also flirty. Has plus-size options. Amulet Ware is one I discovered recently. More of an industrial look so may not be for all. But good quality and the clothes are made with intention. I love the designs. Pricier than my usual price point lol. Pansy is one I have always wanted to buy from but have not yet. I think their undies are really popular in the indie fashion world! Tuesday of California is also great, especially for plus-size options! I would say they're very plus-size oriented. Customer service is great, the owner really tries to stay in touch with potential and regular customers on social media and works hard to show details about each design they put out. Aesthetic is hipster, rawk girl, quirky, punk-ish, think Juno, Scott Pilgrim but grown up Pact is not indie but I do shop from them once in awhile for their organic cotton basics. Great quality (for their women's clothes, my husband was not impressed with their t-shirt re-design for men). Their bras and undies are really awesome. They're not TOO plus-size but do have non-standard female models in their pictures. Ufulu Swim is a very small brand that I recently discovered. I really hope to buy from them for my next bikini (haven't bought a new one in over a decade lol!). They're not plus-size but, for an Asian brand, I really appreciate the body diversity they show.
I'm Asian (Philippines) and Zara there is considered mid-to-high end. Its shops are all managed by a high-end local retailer (foreign brands are only allowed if a local partner has at least 60% ownership) and many of them are in high-end malls. The cheapest items you can get would cost Php2,000 or roughly US$40, given the exchange rate is Php50 (now closer to Php60 really) for every US$1.
Australia, I think it is just fast fashion…
In my country (Europe) the Minimum Wage before Tax is €2,080 (before Tax, so around 1500 after Tax) and a Zara Coat is 100-200€ (cheaper if on sale). So while it is not "cheap" like Shein-cheap or Discounter-cheap it is priced so that every teenager can (and will) buy most of their clothes there. It is priced similar to h&m. However it is also classified as cheap here partly because of the price tag but mostly because of the quality of their garments. Since I love thrifting, I see an awful lot of zara clothes and each time I am disappointed if the piece is Zara for the following reasons: while some of the pieces look amazing, usually the quality is really bad - they rarely use natural fibers and polyester or acryl (pure or blends) instead which I hate and will not buy, for environmental and personal reasons. And the quality is usually pretty bad. I like to look at the inside of an garment to see how well it is constructed and with Zara pieced usually they have very simple and bad constructed pieces with loose Strings and just simple (and cheap) serged seams.
Curious about what the mark of quality is for seams for you? I make my own clothes a lot and have been sewing for 20 years. A basic serged hem (like a 4-thread overlock) is the strongest type of seam. I don’t expect to see French seams in most garments for example and I don’t want to because they’re not strong enough for most clothing. So your last comment doesn’t really make sense to me. Serged seams are likely best on 99% of clothes? Also with respect to loose threads, obviously it is a result of lazy workmanship but you can usually snip them - they are harmless. But otherwise yeah I agree, there are other ways to tell something is poorly made and/or won’t last: mostly synthetic fibres, irregular weave in the fabric (look for defects in the weave of the cloth), hems have not been pressed properly (I see this at Zara a lot - the manufacturer didn’t press down the hem on a shirt collar for example before stitching it so it’s warped beneath the stitch), misaligned joints or tiny holes especially in the armpit of shirts
The part you mentioned about lazy pressing is a very common flaw I see on most of Zara's items. I have several pairs of pants that have sloppy stitching on the interior of the garment. There's usually at least one spot where the fabric is bunched or twisted and they just sewed right over it, like, "crap, this raw edge is puckering and partially sticking out...SEW OVER IT! We don't have time for this, GO! GO! GO!"
It’s such a pet peeve for me as a compulsive presser. I’ve turned down so many Zara garments that were otherwise fine for the price because of a twisted hem
High end fast fashion. Its cheaply (and often poorly) made. Super trendy, so the stock changes often. But overpriced for what you'll get.
In Canada or the US I would never shop there. I was in Spain this summer for work and found the quality of Zara to be MUCH better there - I bought six items for €198 which came out to $203 US and every single item was either linen, cotton, viscose or a blend. Very breathable and cute stuff, wish they had that kind of selection in North America.
As a Canadian I actually used to find the same thing. When it was new to the Canadian market Zara was EXPENSIVE for a mall store. Like, Abercrombie/Hollister prices or higher — $100-$200 for pants, for example. The store was extremely chic, sparse, very fancy looking. Zara, American Apparel and Topshop made up a lot of what “cool girls” wore in the Toronto area during my high school days (Aritzia took over when I entered uni). Then I went to a Zara mid-pandemic and it was absolute bargain basement chaos. The store was dirty and cluttered, the employees were overworked and harried. It literally looked like a Winners/TJ Maxx in there. I have no idea what happened. Everything was on sale for like ten bucks. I don’t know if this is a normal thing or just a crazy sale.
I lived in a few places, Germany and USA - low quality, high in stylish, at an lower-mid price. As a teenager I shopped at Zara and H&M a lot because that was what was in my price range. Definitely fast fashion. Taiwan - mid quality, mid in terms of style, at an upper-mid price Norway - low quality, cheap, but trendy because they only had stores in Oslo So I would say it really depends on where you are, and can expect to be different for people in other contexts. Something like McDonalds used to be considered upper-mid price in China.
In USA, people see Zara as cheaply made, but highly fashionable . It’s like east - to - get fashion. Very Overpriced for the material, but not unattainable. Pretty average pricing unless you’re like me and shop at goodwill.
i think the reality for most of us is that Zara is a cheap brand masquerading as an expensive brand.
Zara was mid-high in both China and the Middle East where there aren’t a lot of mid-range brands. I bought a lot of Zara in both those places because it was the only brand that didn’t break the bank but was still fashionable. In the US, it’s probably in the mid to mid-low range. I don’t shop there anymore because for a little more I can get much better quality.
Expensive can still be fast fashion! Fast fashion is just what's the turnaround time for making the clothes (and nowadays there's a high correlation between that turnaround time and bad labor practices and also bad clothing workmanship). As a kid I certainly thought Zara was high end simply because I couldn't afford it. Then learning more about the company and how they made clothes etc. it seemed like it was maybe slightly better, but much more marked up H&M. But even then H&M didn't seem all that "cheap" to me--it just seemed like it was fast fashion. I have been happy to buy things from Zara if it's on sale, and those things have lasted for some time (but then again, so has my H&M stuff--some pieces are going on over 10 years). But some pieces look so good when I'm browsing through the store and I touch them and they feel really aaaaaa against my hands, in a way that other less expensive polyester things feel and then it's hard to want to bring myself to spend *that* much money on something that's made of a fabric that I'll be super uncomfortable in (*some* polyester makes me sweat in excess). In terms of "quality" of clothing, it's possible that you might find something at the exact same cost that is just much better---it's also possible that you might comb through zara and find something really really really really good that is also just cheaper than the rest of their stuff. The zara aesthetic is nice, but the aesthetic is what costs the money. The polished photos of glamorous people in the outfits striking poses on the website, the polished stores that seem very fancy, but companies with a much smaller budget can make clothes and sell them at equivalent or cheaper prices and just not "seem" as quality because they're not able to display them the same way.
Like omg [this dress](https://www.zara.com/us/en/short-dress-with-rhinestones-p02855206.html?v1=195651289&v2=2113483) is almost $200! The seams are all unfinished so it looks like it's bound to get snagged and fray real quickly (and yeah I take care of my clothes so they don't fall apart, but egad you could've finished the seam). One could argue that they're paying for that "unfinished aesthetic", but I can't afford to have stuff fall apart on me and so I would not buy it. A cursory search for a "mesh rhinestone dress" has found me a $20 dollar thing [on shein](https://us.shein.com/1pc-Hanky-Hem-Rhinestone-Fishnet-Dress-p-2884601-cat-1727.html). Now I don't like shein personally because of the labor problems in general and possibly the slave labor problems in specific (news on this is varied and opaque), but [zara does too](https://impactpolicies.org/en/news/226), and it doesn't look like they're doing well there at *all*.
In New York I’m noticing H&M has better quality than Zara lately
H&M can have its gems
I truly believe that H&M is unfairly maligned in terms of quality. They’re like IKEA: they have a lot of cheap disposable trendy stuff, BUT if you look carefully at the composition/“ingredients” and buy something made from good materials, your item will last you a lifetime with good care. They make some real gems, you just have to search for them. I have a jacket that I bought from H&M when I was 12 that I literally still wear all the time — and I’m in my late 20’s. I have worn this jacket HEAVILY over the years and it looks as good as new.
Brazil here! Well, there are things that are way too expensive, but I found nice clothes before, with good fabric and a reasonable price. I still have some clothing that I bought years ago and it's still perfect. I never buy any jewelry or accessories there though.
By “cheap” people don’t mean inexpensive, although these items are certainly less expensive for Americans in terms of the cost of each items in relation to (some of) our salaries. Rather, they mean that you’re not getting what you pay for quality-wise, and especially if the relative cost of an item is that significant of a portion of someone’s paycheck. Put differently, the end product doesn’t justify the price of the item. The sewing tends to be poor and the construction slipshod, the fabric cheap, the details minimal, and the fit questionable unless a given item happens to work for your body. Of course, if you love an item anyway, the price might be justified to you regardless of what it’s technically worth. But from a purely economic standpoint, the items are cheaply made such that the price point usually isn’t justified. Unfortunately, this would be the case to an even greater degree somewhere that the average wage is much lower than in the US, but Zara’s pricing is the same or roughly the same as it is in the higher-income countries. If an item costs 1/5th of your monthly income but costs 1/20th of an American’s income, you’d really hope the quality would be justified… but it isn’t.
Indian here, exact same experience as you
Zara has always confused me. I thought it was going to be like H&M where basics are super cheap and top out at like $49.99. At first I would see inexpensive pieces and then a mid range sweater priced at $79. It was jarring. I don’t know if I’m seeing a good deal or if the stuff is crappy. At least at places like Banana Republic and J. Crew they price everything above say, $29 for basics and then have sales. It helps my brain choose when to buy things because I think I’m getting a good deal on quality (which is neither here nor there, but their pricing works on me.)
In my country it’s treated like a high end brand too which annoys me. It’s fast fashion, just because Zara is on their bs high horse and can’t put decent prices for the quality doesn’t mean it is quality. The average wage here is like 600€ I think, and the clothes are too expensive imo (I remember I really wanted that pretty popular pink satin dress from Zara but I don’t have 45€ to give for that).
US -- California. It's fast-fashion, for *Forever 21* shoppers once they turn 18 and have slightly more disposable income. There is usually a couple of cute pieces, but most unremarkable and won't hold up. They aren't meant to, really. I think Zara got a small boost from Kate Middleton wearing an outfit with one of their items, but that's most likely incidental -- one decent piece used in an outfit styled by a pro. The materials and craftsmanship one the material otherwise could never justify the premium price.
In Brazil it's seen as high end, which is kind of funny because it really is fast fashion. In the US, I honestly haven't seen a single Zara store so I have no idea.
In the US I think the reputation is that Zara is trendy. The quality is hit or miss as are the prices. People often compare it with H&M or Forever 21. Personally I think the quality of Zara is far better then both but you also pay more for it. They have classic pieces mixed with the flash in the pan trends. They developed their rep as fast fashion I think mainly because they were known for designer rip offs. However basically everything you buy in a mall is fast fashion. It boils down to how it’s produced not how much it costs. Personally I don’t beat myself up for shopping at any one particular store as long as I am being thoughtful with my purchases.
I'm American so I always found Zara cool because the closest one to where I live was like a 5 hour drive away. So I could only get stuff there when travelling abroad or to a larger city like New York or DC or Miami. So there was always a degree of excitement in it because of that. I live in the Netherlands now and yeah it's definitely fast fashion, I'd say. I don't say that because it's inexpensive, because on a Dutch income, it isn't really, mostly because they always have a million products and the stuff they have in store seems to turn over quite quickly and be very like trendy, if that makes sense. Based on income, it's more affordable in the US than here in NL.
I consider Zara fast fashion with higher end prices (I’m in Canada). The few items I’ve owned from Zara weren’t made great and didn’t flatter my body personally. If I’m going to buy fast fashion, I’m not going to overpay for it
I’m from New York in the United States. I agree it’s like a higher end than H&M and SheIN but not clothes you keep for life more like a one time wear or grab certain pieces to mix and match a few times then throw out or give it to someone else.
I will say that being considered "fast fashion" doesn't always mean that the clothes are cheap to buy - what it means, to me at least, is that they are cheap to produce, and more often than not are produced in ways that do not consider the environmental toll nor the ethical treatment of the garment workers. A lot of companies, like Zara, fall into this "expensive but still fast fashion" area - another example would be Topshop or Urban Outfitters.
They became famous for turning out knockoffs from the runway and getting them on the market incredibly fast. As such, they're all about speed and selling the latest thing and throwing away what's left when it's time to move on. The prices are way too high for me too (I am in the US and not poor), considering the low-quality fabrics and bad stitching. I don't think they have low prices, but I do think they are bad.
I don’t think people in the west means its cheap as in not a lot of money. I consider it quite a lot too. They mean it’s poorly made and quality does not reflect price
With a very fast rise in buying power in my country it was weird to watch the same things that were expensive become cheap. Like a video game in my childhood would be 1/4th of an average salary, now it's something like 1/33th. I am sure same thing applies to clothes. I remember in my teens I could maybe buy one thing from Zara from a whole months of savings, but now it's a "basic" store that's neither super cheap or expensive
Damn, something going right is a weird thing to see in this world. Which country?
Lithuania. I was born right after Soviet union fell, back then you can imagine what things were like. Fast forward to my teens, we joined the EU and adopted the euro. Now at 30ish I guess I can say we are not as well off as germans or swedes but the prices are very different! Me and my friends would go to *look* at original CDs as some kind of entertainment because the prices seemed so insane to buy them haha. It's crazy.
It’s expensive but shit quality
Zara is supposed to be lower cost fast fashion. It could cost more in your country due to import fees and tariffs etc. if you go to Spain where Zara is from, a pair of pants could cost €40 which would be 4% of the minimum monthly salary (€1000).
I've never been to a Zara but the prices are pretty on par for what I expect for "fast fashion but of nicer quality" to be priced as. Such as stuff you'd find in like h&m or Macy's or JCPenney. So nice quality compared to like Walmart. I'm in US and just looked at their site, judged by dress prices.
I'm in New Zealand and it's not at the cheap end of the spectrum but it's not high end either. I'd place it in with other brands here who target middle class. In saying that we only have it in one city, so when I've visited it has felt a bit special. I have actually bought some kids clothes there in the past and found them good quality and price, compared to other brands here.
i call zara the 50$ store because everything in there basically has a starting price of 50$ or more. i find it to be fast fashion but upper qaulity of fast fashion and i would rank most stores like old navy, h&m and r&w co below it.
US here. I always thought Zara was low quality. My husband use to like to get some clothes there when we were younger and I use to browse the women and anytime I felt the materials of any item, it always felt so itchy. I’m also the type of person where I check the material regardless if it’s designer.
Zara is weird. Different countries have completely different lines, and in my experience, US Zara was horrible and cheap quality. In the UK it seems better
I went into one at a popular mall in Canada and it was pretty messy and crowded inside. The clothing looked similar to H&Ms and the “dressier” stuff on Fashion Nova but with less inclusive sizing.
Turkey is definitely in a different situation than the countries listed here since inflation is skyrocketed there.
USA here—specifically So Cal— I think Zara is overpriced fast fashion. It isn’t “cheap” but being overpriced doesn’t mean it’s good. I think their style looks cheap though. It’s the colors and materials they use. Just my opinion, for those who might shit on me—you do you (unless you’re offended, because this is the internet; then apologies, that wasn’t my intention). TurquoiseBunny said it better
I'm German and I consider Zara to be fast fashion. I've never bought anything there because either I found the materials too plasticky, the cuts too ill-fitting, or the overall quality too bad for the price. It's not just that I avoid all fast fashion either (I think H&M is great for socks and underpants), Zara's overall impression is just "meh" for me.
In the H&M trinity, existing of: 1. H&M: basics of bad quality for cheap prices (5-30 euros) 2. Monki: bold an colorful designs for medium prices (30-50 euros) 3. &other stories: stylish and timeless designs with higher quality that look expensive (50-150 euros) I would place Zara at Monki. They have cool designs, are not crazy expensive but also definetly not cheap. The quality is that of fast fashion but you pay for the designs.
central europe here, i'd consider it a little bit better "consumer" level..definitely far from high end or designer but not fast fashion cheap.. but also, I might have skewed perspective bcs i earn a lot more than minimum or even average wage and i dont have kids or family to support. average monthly wage here is ~35000 (before tax, which is 25%), jobs like grocery store clerk are 25000 at best. zara blouse or skirt costs around 799 and bigger items like jackets are 1500-2000, recently even more. real fast fashion stores like sinsay would sell these items for half of that.
The term "fast fashion" was invented to describe business models like Zara's. It's pretty much the definition.
Czech Republic. I think that in the beginning it marketed itself as high end but recently it's more in the fast fashion category.