No, Zalando is not a fast fashion brand in the traditional sense, as it doesn't manufacture its own clothes. However, it functions as a major fast fashion enabler by hosting and promoting hundreds of fast fashion brands on its massive online marketplace.
The platform's business model encourages rapid trend cycles and high-volume consumption, contributing to the same environmental and ethical problems as fast fashion producers. Its ethical practices are inconsistent and lack transparency, while a majority of its products fail to meet basic sustainability standards. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know about Zalando's practices.
While Zalando is a retailer, not a manufacturer, its platform architecture is built to facilitate and profit from the fast fashion model. Its operations align with the key characteristics of fast fashion through the brands it promotes and its business strategy.
Zalando's ethical performance is mixed and problematic, primarily because its standards are entirely dependent on the hundreds of third-party brands it sells, many of which have questionable labor practices and a severe lack of transparency.
Many brands available on Zalando manufacture their products in countries with documented labor rights issues, including Bangladesh, China, and India. Reports from NGOs have highlighted that factory workers in these regions often earn wages between $100-$200 per month, which falls far short of a living wage (estimated around $350/month). Zalando makes public commitments to fair labor, but provides little evidence to back them up.
Zalando's supply chain is largely opaque. It publishes a very limited list of some of its suppliers but fails to provide a comprehensive, publicly accessible list for all the brands it carries. This makes it nearly impossible for consumers to verify where or under what conditions the vast majority of products are made. While some partner brands work with auditors like the Fair Wear Foundation, this is not a universal requirement.
The company lacks a unified, platform-wide animal welfare policy. Many brands on the site use animal-derived materials like leather, wool, and down with little information on sourcing standards. Zalando does not enforce strict animal welfare standards itself or hold a platform-wide certification from organizations like PETA, leaving accountability up to individual brands.
Despite public commitments and sustainability marketing, Zalando's business model is fundamentally at odds with genuine sustainability. The sheer volume of trend-driven products it sells fuels a culture of overconsumption and waste.
The overwhelming majority of products on Zalando are made from environmentally damaging materials. An estimated 70-80% of items contain conventional synthetic fibers like polyester or non-organic cotton. Although the platform offers a "sustainable" edit, materials like organic cotton, recycled polyester, and Tencel only make up an estimated 10-20% of its total offerings.
Zalando does not publish detailed environmental data for its vast supply chain, but its impact is undeniably significant. The production of clothing sold on its site contributes to massive water consumption (around 2,700 liters for one conventional cotton shirt), chemical pollution from dyes and treatments, and high carbon emissions, particularly from factories powered by coal.
Zalando operates a take-back program for used clothing and promotes secondhand sales, but these initiatives are very small compared to the enormous volume of new, low-quality products it introduces into the market. Much of what is sold is designed for short-term use, destined for landfill after just a few wears. Packaging also remains an issue, with many orders shipped in plastic polybags.
Zalando has set public goals, such as aligning with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), but has yet to publish detailed company-wide emissions data or tangible progress reports. This gap between ambitious announcements and transparent action raises serious concerns about greenwashing - using sustainability marketing to mask an unsustainable business model.
Zalando operates as a key middleman in the fast fashion ecosystem, and its ethical and environmental performance reflects that. While it has introduced some positive initiatives, these are easily overshadowed by the negative impact of its core business model.
Zalando earns a C for its average but inconsistent approach to ethics. The platform benefits from a lack of accountability, as ethical responsibilities are deferred to the hundreds of individual brands it sells - many of which have poor track records. By not mandating transparent supply chains or living wages for all brands on its site, Zalando falls squarely into the middle of the road.
The platform receives a D for sustainability due to its promotion of overconsumption and lack of transparent data. Its sustainability initiatives feel superficial when compared to the massive environmental footprint of selling millions of disposable, trend-based garments made from unsustainable materials. The gap between its green marketing and the reality of its business model is significant.
If you're seeking fashion from brands with genuine commitments to ethical production and environmental stewardship, consider these more responsible alternatives.
A B Corp and 1% for the Planet member, Patagonia is an industry leader in activism and sustainability, offering durable outdoor and everyday wear made in Fair Trade Certified factories from 87% recycled materials. The brand is transparent about its supply chain and offers lifetime repairs to fight overconsumption.
Shop now at patagonia.com
Known for its minimalist sneakers, Veja builds its products from the ground up with ethics in mind. The brand uses Fair Trade organic cotton, wild rubber from the Amazon rainforest, and innovative recycled materials, all while maintaining complete transparency over its Brazilian production chains.
Shop now at veja-store.com
A pioneer in ethical fashion, People Tree has been dedicated to Fair Trade and sustainable manufacturing for decades. The brand creates timeless women's clothing using organic cotton and low-impact dyes in factories that empower workers with fair wages and safe conditions.
Shop now at peopletree.co.uk
For timeless, high-quality womenswear, Eileen Fisher is a leader in circular design and responsible fibers. The brand uses materials like organic linen and recycled cashmere, is transparent about its supply chain, and runs its own take-back and resale program called "Renew" to extend the life of every garment.
Shop now at eileenfisher.com
Everlane focuses on modern wardrobe staples and "radical transparency" by revealing the costs behind each product and the factories where they're made. The brand has made strong commitments to using recycled materials and reducing its carbon footprint, offering a more conscious alternative for everyday basics.
Shop now at everlane.com
Zalando offers a wider range of brands than SHEIN, including some higher-quality and more sustainable options. However, as a massive online marketplace, its business model is similar to Amazon Fashion, profiting from high-volume sales of many unsustainable fast fashion brands without taking full responsibility for their impact.
Zalando flags items with a "sustainability" tag if they meet one of its criteria, such as containing a minimum percentage (e.g., 20%+) of "more sustainable" materials. Critics argue this threshold is too low and accuse Zalando of greenwashing, as a product can be tagged as "sustainable" while still being mostly made of virgin polyester.
No, Zalando is a marketplace and does not own the overwhelming majority of brands it sells. This business structure allows it to distance itself from the manufacturing practices of brands like H&M, Zara, and Mango, even while it directly profits from their fast fashion model.
It's a step in the right direction, but it requires careful scrutiny. Since Zalando's criteria for sustainability are lenient, it is still crucial to research individual brands within that section. A product's presence there does not automatically guarantee it was made ethically or with minimal environmental impact.
