Factory workers in Istanbul use Zara clothing tags to seek back wages

Lefteris Pitarakis | AP

A shopper exits a fashion retailer Zara branch in an Istanbul upscale neighbourhood, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Shoppers at Zara in Istanbul have found unusual tags on their garments: put there by Turkish workers complaining they have not been paid for the manufacturing the merchandise in the store.

“I made this item you are going to buy, but I didn’t get paid for it.”

So reads tags found on clothes at Zara stores in Istanbul, according to The Associated Press.

The workers appear to be from Bravo Tekstil, an apparel factory in the city. The facility abruptly shut down, and workers have been campaigning to get three months of back wages and severance they say they are owed. There is a change.org petition for the cause.

According to the petition, the Bravo factory made clothes for Inditex, Zara’s parent company.

Inditex, which is based in Spain and has a market capitalization of 97 billion euros ($113 billion), is one of the world’s largest fashion retailers. It owns 7,405 stores and employs 162,450. The company has helped to reshape the fashion industry with its ability to quickly produce and turnaround cheaper fashion items.

Inditex did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It also did not respond to the AP’s request for comment.