Zara Home inaugurates its first for&from store in Madrid

/ The new establishment, located in The Style Outlets, a shopping centre on the outskirts of the Madrid, will be managed by the Prodis Foundation and sell prior-season Zara Home items at discounted prices

/ With this new opening, the for&from scheme has now generated work opportunities for over 700 people, as well as €7.5 million of funding for community projects

Zara Home is making its début in The Style Outlets, a shopping centre located in Madrid’s San Sebastián de los Reyes neighbourhood, specifically opening a for&from store. The for&from retail chain is Inditex’s community programme for the integration of people with disabilities. The store, which will sell items from prior-season Zara Home collections at reduced prices, will be managed by the Prodis Foundation, and non-profit organisation whose mission is to provide people with disabilities with the support they need to improve their quality of living.

This new project aims to create a favourable environment for the store’s staff - currently made up of 14 people with different types of physical, sensory, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities - so as to facilitate their integration into society and the labour force. In parallel, the store will provide an important space for raising awareness about what people with disabilities can achieve, by showcasing their ability to work in a benchmark retail venture, so breaking down barriers and stereotypes. All of the store’s profits will go to help fund the community work carried out by the Prodis Foundation.

“For me this job is a great opportunity for personal and professional realisation. It is a great chance for life learning. Something to wake up for every morning, having colleagues who become friends”, said Marisa, a member of the store team who was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease 13 years ago. Now aged 45, having articulated her career and studies around the world of fashion, Marisa believes that this project “manages to de-stigmatise disabilities and demonstrate that they do not stop people from working in a professional manner”.

The store

Zara Home’s team of architects has come up with a new store concept for this 400m2-establishment which combines the brand’s essence with the flexibility and accessibility required by this initiative. The store layout mimics that of a home and includes dedicated bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, sitting-room and children’s room areas. It also has a dedicated area for the brand’s home-fragrance ranges.

The result is a bright and spacious environment in which the relationship between the product and customer comes to the fore, providing the latter with the opportunity to touch and feel the various homeware products for themselves and discover the materials’ textures and quality.

As for the store furniture, the brand uses a modular perimeter system which combines a mix of central pieces with other wall-fittings designed to make the products more accessible and visible.

for&from

With this new addition, Inditex’s for&from programme now encompasses 15 stores which have generated work opportunities for 723 people to date. The overriding goal of the project is to create jobs for people with different disabilities - intellectual, psychiatric, physical and sensory - in a favourable environment designed to facilitate their integration into society by enabling, to the extent possible, their future transition to employment in ordinary stores.

Kevin, another member of the Zara Home for&from team, explains that “this initiative provides me with everyday professional and personal experiences. We make a great team”. Kevin, who is just 20 and recently became a dad, goes on to underline that “this initiative is not just a job for me, it is a huge opportunity at a time of great personal responsibility”.

Following an initial donation from Inditex to cover all the aspects needed to launch the store, the model becomes self-sustaining by reselling items from prior-season collections at discounted prices.

Since the venture was first created, Inditex’s for&from stores have generated more than €7.5 million in profits, all of which have gone to help fund the various community projects spearheaded by the non-profits that manage the establishments.