Bershka

Jan 09, 2023

Bershka is a Spanish fashion retailer founded in 1998 in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, by Amancio Ortega. The multinational clothing-retail company creates fast fashion for young women and men.

Bershka makes clothing, accessories, shoes, and jewelry. The biggest fashion group in the world, the Inditex Group, owns Bershka along with other brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, and more.

Bershka was originally created as a new store and fashion concept aimed at a young target market. It has consolidated at all levels as a group with national and international growth and has reached over 1,000 stores in 71 countries around the world.

Bershka is driving a digital and sustainability transformation to renovate its entire store network and introduce cutting-edge technology in all areas of the business model.

The clothing retailer offers a sustainable collection made from organic or recycled materials called "Join Life." It also spread out this initiative to Zara and Oysho.

Bershka is a fashion brand and clothing retailer based in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. It makes apparel, footwear, and accessories and offers a collection of basics, denim, knitwear, underwear, loungewear, sleepwear, and outerwear.

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Sustainability Rating: 5/10

Rating FAQ

Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, jewelry

For: Women, men

Type: Basics, denim, knitwear, underwear, loungewear, outerwear, nightwear, flats, sandals, heels, boots, sneakers

Style: Casual

Quality: Low

Price: $

Sizes: 2XS-2XL, 0-14 (US), 2-16 (UK), 32-44 (EU), 4-18 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, hemp, ramie, jute, lyocell, modal, viscose, cupro, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic, neoprene, leather, wool, silk, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing country: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Vietnam

Certifications: GOTS, OCS, GRS, RCS, FSC

Sustainability Practices

Bershka takes wide-ranging measures to protect biodiversity, reduce its consumption of water, energy, and other resources, avoid waste, and combat climate change.

It wants to be better and more efficient by looking at every aspect of its value chain to ensure the healthy functioning of our planet. However, the majority of its business remains detrimental to the environment.

Bershka teams up with non-profit organizations, recycling companies, textile manufacturers, and recycling technologists to launch a clothing collection program and prevent used textile items from ending up in landfills.

It donates collected clothing, footwear, and accessories from customers and employees to non-profit partners or sorts them for repair, resale, or recycling.

Bershka is part of major international initiatives to promote sustainable raw materials and fibers. It's raising awareness of textile impacts and encouraging the use of more sustainable materials.

Bershka only uses a small proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton and hemp or recycled materials such as recycled polyester and regenerated nylon.

Bershka dedicates very few of its collections to sustainable fashion. "Join Life" is its collection of sustainable clothing pieces manufactured under high standards and made with sustainable raw materials or the best technologies.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and more.

Bershka also uses a small amount of semi-synthetic fibers or regenerated cellulosic fabrics such as Tencel lyocell, modal, acetate, and viscose.

Tencel is an eco-friendly fiber made with wood pulp from certified sustainable forests. But only a tiny proportion of the materials used by Bershka are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Bershka publishes a list of all its manufacturers on the corporate website of its parent organization, Inditex.com. It aims to create value in every worker of its suppliers and manufacturers.

Bershka used to employ Turkish sweatshops in Istanbul, where workers were forced to work without being paid. Modern slavery and child labor cases involving Bershka in Brazilian factories were previously reported.

Bershka now cares more about its suppliers with higher transparency and worker empowerment initiatives. But the brand still doesn't pay a living wage across its supply chain.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave Bershka a score of 43% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

Bershka manufactures its clothes in Turkey and many other East-Asian countries, where human rights and labor law violations still happen every day.

The Spanish clothing retailer doesn't show any labor certification standard that ensures good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other crucial rights for workers in its supply chain.

Bershka has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors based on the regulations set by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Bershka assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice. It works with international and local unions and NGOs to improve the working conditions in its factories.

Bershka is part of industry initiatives such as ACT (Action, Collaboration, and Transformation) and the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

Bershka doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, silk, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and wastes. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

Bershka has committed to reducing the impact of water across the entire supply chain by 25% by 2025. It already achieved zero discharge of hazardous chemicals in 2020 in the manufacture of its products.

Bershka plans to reduce its GHG emissions by 90% in its Scope 1 and 2, and 20% in its scope 3 (in the Purchased Goods category), by 2030 compared to 2018, to achieve net-zero emissions in 2040.

100% of its cotton will be sustainable (organic, BCI, and recycled) in 2023. And in 2025, all cellulosic fibers will be sustainable. In 2023, its viscose will be 100% sustainable.

And 100% of the linen it uses in its garments will be sustainable linen in 2025. 100% of the polyester it uses in its garments will be recycled polyester in 2025.

Bershka also reuses and recycles in its operations, aiming to achieve a target of zero waste to landfills by 2023. It aims to achieve 100% of all packaging materials collected for reuse or recycling in its supply chain in 2023.

By 2023, all single-use plastics will have been eliminated from customers sales.

Buy Here

Discover Bershka's sustainable collections at Bershka.com.

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What We're Up Against

Multinational corporations overproducing cheap products in the poorest countries.
Huge factories with sweatshop-like conditions underpaying workers.
Media conglomerates promoting unethical, unsustainable products.
Bad actors encouraging overconsumption through oblivious behavior.
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