Zara

In May 2013 HuffPost reported Zara sold a necklace with dark faces and bright red lips that critics likened to blackface/minstrel imagery. In June 2015 the Center for Popular Democracy’s “Stitched with Prejudice” report, covered by The Guardian and Forbes, alleged NYC Zara employees said Black customers were disproportionately labeled “special orders”—a code for suspected thieves. Zara USA denied the report as baseless. The necklace criticism and the CPD survey claims are allegations and advocacy findings; the denial is a company statement.

• Product controversy (criticism)
  May 2013: blackface-style figurine necklace sold in New York ZaraHuffPost reported in May 2013 that Zara sold a necklace adorned with dark faces and bright red lips that closely resembled historically racist minstrel/blackface imagery, after culture critic Amanda Seales posted a photo from Zara’s 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue New York location. TIME later noted the 2013 blackface-figurine necklace criticism among Zara’s prior controversies. Those are contemporaneous criticism of product imagery, not a court finding.Source: HuffPost ↗
• CPD survey allegations
  June 2015: CPD report alleged Black customers flagged as “special orders”The Guardian reported on June 22, 2015, that the Center for Popular Democracy’s report claimed Black customers at Zara’s New York stores were disproportionately identified as potential thieves using the code “special orders,” based on a survey of 251 employees. Of respondents who defined the term, 46% said Black customers were called special orders “always” or “often,” versus 7% for white customers. Forbes covered the same allegation that Black shoppers were profiled as potential thieves. Those are advocacy-group survey allegations, not DOJ findings.Source: The Guardian ↗
• Advocacy report
  CPD report PDF: Black customers ~7× more likely labeled potential thievesThe Center for Popular Democracy report “Stitched with Prejudice” states that according to surveys across Zara’s New York City workforce, Black customers were about seven times more likely to be targeted as potential thieves than white customers, and recounts the 2013 necklace with dark faces and bright red lips resembling minstrel makeup. That is the report’s own claim language.Source: Center for Popular Democracy ↗
• Company denial
  Zara USA denied the CPD report as baselessThe Guardian and Forbes reported Zara USA denied the Center for Popular Democracy claims. Coverage quoted the company saying it “vehemently refutes” the report, which it said was prepared with ulterior motives and not because of actual discrimination, and that the claims were inconsistent with Zara’s culture and employee experience. That is a company denial. It is not an independent exoneration after trial.Source: Forbes ↗