Zara Honduras: sustainability discourse and impact on its consumers

Abstract

Introduction. Fast fashion is the production of garments with the latest fashion trends at an affordable price. It has become one of the main threats to the environment, due to its accelerated production and the reflection of wasted water and CO₂ emissions harmful to health. The study aim was to describe the application of the concept of sustainability from Zara Honduras, and the coherence between behavior and discourse through the quantitative evaluation of knowledge and perception of consumers. Methods. The study was descriptive and cross-sectional, with a convenience sample of 88 participants who were local consumers of the Zara brand of the Inditex group of Spain in Tegucigalpa, Honduras during the month of June 2022. Results. Seven out of ten consumers were unaware of the brand's sustainability communication strategy. The perception of whether the brand tries to proactively involve the consumer in caring for the environment had an average of 4.39 on a Likert scale of 1 to 7. When asked if social responsibility and social actions in favor of the environment constitute an important criterion when comparing a piece of clothing, only 10 interviewees (11%) indicated that it was of very high importance. Conclusion. The answers of the interviewees reflected a lack of agreement between the discourse and the behavior of Zara Honduras with respect to its sustainability strategy within the framework of corporate social responsibility.