// 13 factories in Inditex’s home market switch to making medical supplies like masks and scrubs
// Inditex’s logistics & distribution platform working at around 15% its usual levels of activity
// Workers asked to sign up for two four-hour shifts per week to cover minimum service
Inditex is having its clothing manufacturing facilities in Spain switch to produce medical supplies, while its logistics hub has almost arrived at a stop.
The news comes after the Spanish government introduced further restrictions in its nationwide lockdown by ordering all labourers who are not essential to remain home for almost two weeks from March 30 to April 9.
The increased restrictions were prompted as Spain experiences the deadliest outbreak of Covid-19 outside Italy.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Inditex closes 3785 stores worldwide
According to union representatives speaking to Reuters, the 13 factories in Inditex’s home market have moved to making medical supplies like masks and scrubs to stay open and help with Spain’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Clothing being sent to China on cargo planes were also reportedly coming back loaded with medical supplies for Spain.
Reuters reported that Inditex’s logistics and distribution platform in Zaragoza, northeast Spain, was working at around 15 per cent its usual levels of activity.
A notice posted last week on one union’s Facebook page for Inditex’s Zaragoza hub asked workers to sign up for two four-hour shifts per week to cover minimum service, mostly to unload trucks that arrive from suppliers in countries like Turkey and Morocco – although the number of trucks arriving has greatly reduced.
Inditex – which owns the likes of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull & Bear – has already shuttered 3785 shops around the globe as part of government-mandated lockdown measures.
That would leave around half of its shops still open, suggesting its global footprint might help it to cope better in the crisis than some rivals.
Inditex does not disclose the proportion of its fashion items made in Spain, but says it sources 57 per cent from factories near its Spanish headquarters – mostly in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco – so it can quickly refresh its stores around the world.
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