Joshua Parfitt
THE first batch of Zara-label hospital gowns has arrived in a Galician hospital – the birthplace of the famous clothing line.
Pictures of the green medical attire surfaced on social media after the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña (CHUAC) received 4,000 gowns last week.
The splash-proof gowns have elastic cuffs to allow medical staff to pull their sleeves up, a waist band, and a Zara logo. They are also washable.
It comes after Zara’s parent company Inditex – founded by Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega – announced it would begin fabricating medical equipment in its Spanish factories while bringing in medical equipment through its supply lines to its Zaragoza hub.
The world’s largest textile company has brought more than 35 million units of medical equipment to Spain since the crisis began, report El Mundo.
The gowns themselves come from a Zara factory in Sabon, Galicia, which has been put at the service of Spain’s government.
Nine of the Galicia region’s 11 Zara factories are currently dedicated to providing sanitary gear in the fight against COVID-19.
Inditex has not laid off even a single of its 24,000 workers in Spain, preferring to pay full salaries out of its own pocket.
This despite closing all of its retail outlets in Spain and suffering losses of 24% in the first fortnight in March.
Amancio Ortega began his clothing empire in the 1970s with the manufacturing of gowns – albeit more luxury than the medical ones his factories are currently making.
