Most fashion brands need months to bring a new coat to the shops. Zara needs about two weeks. That speed made it one of the biggest clothes sellers in the world — and it brings a big question.
Look at each word. Say what you think it means. Then tap the card.
Tap a card to see the meaning.
Write one word from the cards in each gap.
1. Our makes five hundred chairs every day.
2. The asked the shop assistant for a bigger size.
3. Long coats are the new this winter.
4. I forgot my homework, so I tried to my friend’s answers.
5. Coca-Cola is a famous all over the world.
6. Plastic bottles make a lot of in the sea.
1. factory · 2. customer · 3. trend · 4. copy · 5. brand · 6. waste
Read each part. Then answer the questions before you read the next part.
Amancio Ortega was born in Spain in 1936. His family was not rich, and he left school when he was a boy to work in a clothes shop.
Later he started to make clothes himself. In the 1960s he and his wife made women’s dressing gowns, and then other clothes.
In 1975 he opened a shop called Zara in A Coruña, a city in the north-west of Spain. The shop sold clothes that looked like the latest fashion from big cities, but at a much lower price.
That was the big idea: copy the trend, and sell it fast and cheap.
The company, called Inditex, grew slowly at first. In the 1980s and 1990s Zara opened shops in Spain, then in Portugal, and then in many other countries.
True or false? Click your answer.
1. Zara opened its first shop in 1975.
2. Amancio Ortega was rich when he was a boy.
3. Zara’s first clothes were more expensive than fashion from big cities.
Most fashion companies plan their clothes six months before they go into the shops. Then they make a very large number of each item in factories far away, mostly in Asia.
Zara works in a different way. Its designers work in Spain, not far from the head office. Many of the factories are close to Spain too — in Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Turkey.
Zara makes small amounts of each item. Every day, the shops send information to the head office: what did the customers buy, and what did they leave on the rail?
If a jacket is popular, Zara can make more. If it is not popular, it stops making it. A new idea can be in the shops in about two weeks, and new clothes arrive in the shops two times a week.
That is why people go to a Zara shop often: the stock is always changing. Some things sell out in days. Zara also spends very little on advertising.
Today the company that owns Zara is one of the biggest clothes sellers in the world, and Amancio Ortega is one of the richest people in Europe.
True or false? Click your answer.
1. Zara’s designers work near its head office.
2. Zara makes a very large number of each item.
3. Zara spends a lot of money on advertising.
Many people love fast fashion because the clothes are cheap, new and fashionable. But there is a problem.
When clothes are cheap and always changing, people buy more clothes and wear them fewer times. Many are thrown away after a short time.
Experts say the world makes much more clothing than it needs, and that the fashion industry makes a lot of waste. Clothes are made of cotton, which needs a lot of water, and of plastic fibres.
Zara says it wants to use more recycled materials and to make its clothes in better ways. It also has boxes in some shops where customers can bring old clothes.
Now a new problem has arrived. Online companies such as Shein sell even cheaper clothes, and they can make new designs even faster. Zara’s speed is no longer special.
Some experts say that fast fashion can be more responsible. Others say that selling millions of cheap clothes can never be.
So here is the question. Can a company sell cheap, new clothes all the time and still be good for the planet?
True or false? Click your answer.
1. Cheap clothes can make people buy more clothes.
2. Zara is now the only company with very fast fashion.
3. Zara says it wants to use more recycled materials.
In this story there are many times: 1936, 1975, six months, two weeks. English uses three little words with times: for, since and ago.
for + how long. Zara has had shops in Portugal for many years. · We waited for twenty minutes.
since + when it started. Zara has been open since 1975. · I have lived here since Monday.
for and since go with have / has + past participle (the present perfect): She has worked here for two years.
ago + how long before now. Zara opened its first shop about fifty years ago. Use ago with the past simple, and put it after the time. Never say ago two years.
| Word | What comes next? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| for | how long (a period) | I have worked here for three years. |
| since | when it started (a point) | I have worked here since 2022. |
| ago | how long before now | I started working here three years ago. |
Write for, since or ago.
1. Zara opened its first shop in 1975 — nearly fifty years .
2. Amancio Ortega has been in business the 1960s.
3. The shop has sold jeans many years.
4. I started my new job three months .
5. She has lived in Madrid 2019.
6. We have waited here twenty minutes.
1. ago · 2. since · 3. for · 4. ago · 5. since · 6. for
Each sentence has one mistake. Say the correct sentence out loud, then check.
1. I have lived here since five years.
2. He started the job two years since.
3. We have been friends for 2015.
4. She has worked here ago three months.
5. I have bought this coat three years ago.
1. I have lived here for five years. (five years = a period → for)
2. He started the job two years ago. (before now → ago)
3. We have been friends since 2015. (2015 = a starting point → since)
4. She has worked here for three months. (a period → for)
5. I bought this coat three years ago. (ago goes with the past simple)
Take your time. Short sentences are fine.
Tell me the story in your own words. Six or seven sentences is enough.
Tell me about your favourite piece of clothing. How long have you had it? When did you buy it? Why do you still like it?
Imagine two shops. One is a Zara shop with new clothes twice a week. The other is a small shop with good clothes that do not change very often.
Where do you prefer to buy clothes? Why?
You are the manager of a clothes shop. A lot of the clothes did not sell. You can: give them to charity, sell them cheaply, or throw them away.
What do you do? Why?