Bruh, Zara just needs to do what my title says and chill the f*** out. First, Zara is already facing a huuuuuge discrimation lawsuit filed by Zara's former general counsel Ian Miller. This $40 million suit consists of allegations that Zara's Spanish fast fashion retailer's senior executives discriminated against him for being Jewish, American and gay. And literally just 3 weeks later, THREE WEEKS, Zara has been accused of racially profiling it's customers. So for all of my sista's who love Zara so much, including, myself, read this before you add anything else to your cart.
Between February and April, the Center for Popular Democracy surveyed 251 Zara employees in New York, releasing the findings in a 12-page report on Monday. The report details a loss prevention practice used in Zara's stores: If a “suspicious” shopper (i.e. one that appeared likely to steal) was identified walking into the store, he or she would be labeled a “special order.” An employee or manager would then be asked to follow that customer. Midway through CPD's surveying process, the store reportedly switched to using the code “customer service,” rather than “special order.” Among those surveyed, 43 percent were either unfamiliar with the term “special order” or did not feel comfortable answering questions about it. Of the 57 percent of respondents who did, however, 46 percent said black shoppers in particular were given the label, “always” or “often.” I think it's only right for me to say...bullshit man, straight bullshit.
During a focus group conducted by the same workers’ rights organization, one black employee said even he had been marked a “special order” when he was going to pick up his paycheck while wearing a hooded jacket. Now when it gets to the point where you're labeling your own workers as the people you suspect of likely to steal...that's a whole other problem within itself. Of course, Zara had to release their "save ass, we're not like this" statement that they gave to Fashionista, and it went something like this:
Zara USA vehemently refutes the claims contained in the Center for Popular Democracy report, which was prepared with ulterior motives and not because of any actual discrimination or mistreatment. It fails to follow an acceptable methodology for the conduct of a credible objective survey on workplace practices, and instead appears to have taken an approach to achieve a pre-determined result which was to discredit Zara. Zara USA believes that the claims made in the report are completely inconsistent with the company’s true culture and the experiences of the over 1,100 Zara employees in New York City and over 3,500 in all the US.
I've worked in retail and I know how ignorant it can get, in the sense where racial profiling and stereotyping can be at it's highest. But fact is...why discriminate on a culture that is a great part of your profit margins? We are not the most likely to steal, each race in itself contributes to that equally. Maybe if retailers stopped focusing on the likely suspect, their loss prevention departments wouldn't be hiring so much...just saying.
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