Is Bershka Fast Fashion? An Expert Breakdown!
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Bershka is one of the leading names in the world of fashion for young people who love adorning themselves with trendy and urban clothes. It is a Spanish brand founded in 1998 by Amancio Ortega and in these 18 years, it has managed to open over 1000 stores in 70 different markets across the globe.
It is part of the Inditex Group which is one of the biggest fashion groups in the world to make quality fashion accessible to customers in all markets. It owns various brands that we are familiar with like Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, and many more. Bershka was also created as a part of its fashion project of making fashionable clothing for all. While its other brands are focused on a wider range of audience, Bershka’s target audience is young people from ages 14 to 25. This has proved to be quite advantageous for the brand as it can focus on a narrow audience and think of new products and market strategies keeping them in mind.
It offers almost all kinds of clothes that young adults may require like t-shirts, dresses, jackets, and sweaters, thus its collections range from casual to party clothes. Bershka prides itself on being able to recognize market trends fairly quickly and adapting them to its products, enabling it to be one of the first brands to start selling the newest trends to customers. This greatly appeals to its young audience who want to buy the latest and most modern clothing available. Moreover, its products are extremely affordable as well to accommodate young customers.
Bershka has various physical stores all over the globe but it also maintains a significant online presence through social media accounts and its website. It allows the brand to interact and connect with customers in all parts of the world and make fashion accessible to them as well through shipping and online shopping.
However, it is said that Bershka’s physical stores are also a must-visit place because of the aesthetics and architecture. The brand’s team has designed it in a way to attract young people with fashion pieces hung over walls and modern music playing on the speakers.
Sustainability Rating: 5/10
Category: Clothing, Accessories, Shoes
For: Women, Men
Products: Dresses, Tees, Jackets, Shoes
Style: Trendy, Casual, Cool
Quality: Low
Prices: -
Size: 2XS – 2XL (International Size)
Fabrics: Polyester, Polyester Blend, Acrylic, Cotton, Cotton Blend, Elastane, Nylon, Viscose, Leather, Wool
100% Organic: No
100% Vegan: No
Ethical and Fair: No
Recycling: No
Manufacturing Countries: Not transparent enough
Certifications: Not transparent enough
According to Inditex, Bershka contributes almost 10% to its revenue which is a very staggering percentage and highlights the tremendous growth the company has seen in the last few years. We can safely establish that Bershka is indeed a fast fashion brand because Inditex’s whole model is based on producing quick-access clothing for people and every brand under it follows the same idea. Bershka’s quick production of the newest trends and selling them at low prices is the biggest indicator of it being fast fashion.
Such brands are often quite careless about being sustainable and using eco-friendly fabrics and materials in their products but Bershka seems to care about the environment more than other brands. Bershka provides an Environmental Report regularly to update customers on its recent steps towards a clean and safer planet.
It considers the safety of the planet a responsibility because climate change affects every individual residing on Earth. That is why it wants to bring a positive change into the fashion industry by being environmentally responsible. The brand is constantly seeking ways to innovate because, in a market that changes so frequently, the only survival tactic is to change along with it. But Bershka wants to do it in a way that reduces its carbon footprint.
Instead of dumping extra items into the dumpsters, the brand collects them along with used Bershka clothing by customers and donates them to charities and other organizations. It is trying to produce 100% electricity from renewable sources to save the dwindling natural resources of the Earth.
It lists clothing made from water-saving materials, recycled materials, sustainable fibers, and raw materials. These are all items from its “Join Life” collection which is a collection that features in a lot of Inditex brands. It is made to offer customers sustainable choices in clothing. However, this is the only eco-friendly collection offered by Bershka, and even it is not 100% sustainable. Studying the details of each item reveals that only a certain portion of them is made using sustainable materials like organic cotton.
It has teamed up with Fur Free Alliance and Fur Free Retailer to make sure that no animals are harmed during the production process. It promises to obtain all material from animals through an ethical way which is why it conducts no experiments on animals either. However, it uses leather and wool in many items and provides no certifications as proof that those were obtained in a responsible way or not.
On a positive note, it has partnered with NGO Canopy to respect protected forests and not exploit them for manufacturing purposes. All of its paper products have been certified by FSC and PEFC. It also provides a Modern Slavery Statement and Code of Conduct that provides protection to workers and rejects slavery and child labor.
However, the brand is still not highly regarded for its treatment of workers. It was accused of using sweatshops in Istanbul and Oxfam’s 2019 study mentions how 90% of its Bangladeshi workers did not receive a livable wage and struggled with paying for the necessities. Some of Inditex’s brands scored the lowest in Oxfam’s research.
It also did not participate in the Tailored Wages report that encouraged companies to be transparent about paying workers livable wages. Bershka did not provide any proof about paying a good wage to any worker in any country of the world!
The GoodOnYou directory gave it a score of Not Good Enough for being selective in its sustainability initiatives and received a score of 43% by the 2022 Fashion Transparency Index. Most of its manufacturers are based in East-Indian countries that are known for being hubs of human exploitation.
However, the brand has many plans till 2040 like using 100% organic cotton in all of its clothes and making all of its packaging from 100% recycled materials. These goals are admirable and we look forward to seeing Bershka succeed.
History and keys to success of Bershka, leader in youth fashion (marketing4ecommerce.net)
Bershka - Fashion Retailers: Ethical Sustainable Comparison- The Good Shopping Guide
BERSHKA: Online fashion | Official Store | Bershka