'I didn't get paid for it': Zara shoppers find notes in clothes from unpaid workers

Customers buying garments from Zara stores in Turkey are finding notes on garments from workers claiming that they have not been paid for making the merchandise.

Turkish workers are placing handwritten notes in clothes that are kept for sale in company stores. As per a report by Associated Press the notes inside say, “I made this item you are going to buy, but I didn’t get paid for it.” The workers are asking customers to support their struggle for better working conditions and receiving of pending salaries.

The trouble has arisen after Bravo, a third party manufacturer employed by Zara and other brands like Mango and Next, shut its offices without any warning and allegedly without paying nearly three months of salaries and other allowances.

The company, however, has claimed that it is not guilty in the issue. In a statement, in a report by The Independent UK, the spokesperson of Zara’s parent company Inditex said that it has met all of its contractual obligations to Bravo and is working on a proposal to establish a hardship fund for the workers affected by the lockout.

The issue is a bad news for Zara which has been trying hard to wade away from controversies. The company had received flak earlier for poor working conditions, exploitation of young designers and environmental insensitivity.

Though Inditex, the parent company of Zara had recently released a statement claiming that it will co-operate with International Labour Organisation (ILO) in SCORE project aimed at improving labour conditions in China and Turkey, the new controversy could be a real test of its image.