The Trashy Situation That Could Be Behind Zara’s Collaboration With John Galliano

After the highest of high fashion careers, John Galliano — storied designer of Givenchy, Dior, and Maison Margiela — has signed a two-year contract with Zara to “re-author” the brand’s “archives” through a series of seasonal collections.

But why? Money? That’s doubtless why Galliano agreed to the deal. After all, one can’t imagine that working for a fast fashion brand that rips off designers by mass producing watered-down, polyester versions of their clothes was ever Galliano’s dream. There’s no way Zara came to him and he was like, “OMG! Yes! This is what I’ve been working towards my whole life. Finally! Zara! I’m home!” Can you imagine? No. They probably just backed up a truckload of money to his Paris apartment and that was it.

But why is Zara doing this? And why with Galliano? True, Galliano nostalgia is at an all-time high in the two years since his final collection for Maison Margiela, but Galliano is a couturier. His work is what it is because of the materials, the craftmanship, and the freedom he has been given to create runway fantasies that only a very small subset of the fashion community can afford to buy or would ever even dare to wear. And although fast fashion brands often hire high-end designers to build buzz and bring an air of legitimacy to their collections, Galliano feels like a bit of a strange choice because his understanding of and, indeed, interest in, the wants and needs of Zara’s customer seems pretty minimal.

And Galliano’s brief at Zara is very specific. He’s not the global creative director, reshaping the vision of the brand with his very specific eye and flare. Nor is he collaborating with them on a collection of his greatest hits a la H&M x Balmain. He is “working directly with garments from Zara’s past seasons, deconstructing and reconfiguring them into new [pieces].” He’s taking old Zara clothes and reworking them.

But why? Zara loves making new stuff. New stuff all day, every day. Why ask Galliano to rework their old stuff? It’s not like they have some rich history they can mine. Their design aesthetic is algorithmic, not creative. Their house codes are: faster, cheaper, more!

What’s changed? Are they suddenly concerned about circularity and fast fashion’s impact on the environment? They never cared about those things before. Did their C-suite suddenly grow a conscience?

Silvy Vignola has a fascinating theory. In a video posted to her Insatgram account yesterday, she suggests that the reason might have something to do with a new EU law banning the destruction or throwing away of unsold fashion stock.

The law she is referring to is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which goes into effect for large firms like Zara starting in July of this year and bans the destruction/landfilling of unsold shoes and textiles. And starting in 2027, it will also force companies to publicly disclose their waste. This will force brands to better manage their production volumes and produce less waste, which is sort of the opposite of Zara’s business model.

According to Vignola, the motivation is likely two-fold. First, Zara is hoping to increase overall demand for their products through their association with Galliano — a standard fashion business strategy. Even if people don’t end up buying what he designs for the brand, if his clothes get them into the store and onto the website, they might buy something else and if Zara can increase their sales enough, they won’t actually need to reduce production. It also gives them breathing room while they figure out their next move. Maybe they will lobby hard for a repeal of the law or find a loophole they can exploit to continue producing new clothes at the volume their business model demands. Or maybe they will find a way to scale Galliano-style re-working of their doubtless massive and ever-growing troves of unsold stock.

Of course there are other aspects of the ESPR that the Galliano experiment doesn’t address, like the fact that the law sets new design requirements for textiles to make them last longer, and be easier to repair and recycle. Doubtless Zara is trying to figure out how to tackle that one, too. But, you know… one thing at a time.

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