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“Is Zara OK?”: 30 Pics Of Bizarre Items That Are Being Sold At Zara Right Now
When it comes to the world of fashion, some people feel in the know and others see it as fully alien. But every now and then, a brand will release a selection of items so baffling, regular people and fashion enthusiasts will be brought together by the question “what were they thinking?”
TikToker Caggiebaby dove into the depths of the worst items she could find from Zara. Denim where denim really shouldn’t be, unhinged pieces for cheap-looking items, and simply bizarre designs all feature. So prepare yourself, get comfortable as you scroll through, and be sure to upvote the weirdest piece you see.
More info: TikTok
Image credits: caggiebaby
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This is the art project of a small child. This is a wind chime after a hurricane that was outside and this is what remains. Those beads that you put in front of your doorframes but cheap and so scraggly. $129? I could make this and spend negative $5.
NGL, I thought it was someone’s first attempt at making a dreamcatcher (either that or a very brittle birdcage)! 😂
I feel like they're taunting me. This is not a real item. For real people. This is not for a human being. It's labeled as asymmetric. That is the Zara translation of half of something.
Already I'm getting the feeling that they made altogether too many pairs of pants and are now chopping them in half and trying to flog them off.
Zara is not a company without its share of controversies. From pollution to child labor, the fast fashion industry seems to be attempting a speedrun of all the unethical things a company can do. Its factories in Brazil faced accusations of slave labor, while some customers in Turkey and elsewhere have purchased Zara items, only to find notes inside demanding people actually get the wages they are owed.
So imagine you actually spend your hard-earned money on one of the items here, then get a little guilt note inside, telling you that you are supporting a company that refuses to pay its workers what they are owed. If you wonder how much that could be, employees in Bangladesh are sometimes paid less than $40 a month.
For $46 you can wear a man's crotch as a top.
I actually really like that people are trying unconventional ways to wear clothes, bUT that being said, companies trying to capitalize off of it for wayyyyyyy overpriced items is just awful. Plus it totally misses the point. Gen Z are finding new creative ways to wear the clothes they already have as to not give into hyperconsumerism as a fight against fast fashion and waste. This is the opposite of that
If I saw someone wearing this out in the world, I would speak to them a little bit slower. I would assume something's going on. This is what would happen if you gave a small child full reign over a sewing machine and their own sewers. Told the three year old "look, design your own line, whatever comes to your mind, whatever you can imagine and just instruct these sewers on what you want and how to make it". You're going to wear this once for Halloween if you want to dress up as an escaped mental patient that has a sewing machine. That's going in the landfill guys!
In their most recent attempt to taunt me they have released the asymmetric denim cape. They are taking selling their factory swept floor scraps to the next level.
You would think that all these “savings” could be used to hire more competent designers, but Zara seems to have a cost-limiting strategy there as well. Both MaXhosa by Laduma, an African brand and designer Tuesday Bassen have accused the company of stealing their work. So it’s not entirely clear if Zara can be blamed for the items in this list, as they may have just copy-pasted a design from someone else.
For $45.90 you can now be the proud owner of half an apron.
Dollarama bracelets for $30. I used to get these packs of bracelets in loot bags at Laser Tag birthday parties.
Looks like a 2 dollar bracelet at Claire's or something 😞
For a mere $40 you too can look this ridiculous. This is to be wrapped around your waist over your other clothes and perhaps... other denim.
The processes involved in fast fashion might be enough to limit any real feedback on these items. Zara’s one business model states that once a design is finalized, it should be up for sale in a store (generally multiple) within ten to twelve days. It’s quite easy to see poor customer satisfaction with an item is unimportant. After all, everything is cheap and Zara can bet on at least a small portion of the items becoming fashionable.
This is what I would get for Christmas when I was five years old and there would be like a little girls makeup set in a package and this was like the carrying case. This is out of a gumball machine in Tokyo. Who's buying this? Not you. Not me. This is a social experiment to see how far we'll go just to buy new s**t.
This was made in a jewelry class called "Make jewelry in the dark".
And this is before it even has a chance to get tangled in the bottom of your handbag?
You know what I don't appreciate? They try to make it look runway when you see it in a picture like this, but then you see it on its own - without the lighting, and the model, and the perfect hair cut, and the makeup artists - this is what you would borrow from your Uncle Carl, if you sh*t your pants at Uncle Carl's house and he's a mechanic. This is what he would lend you.
As it produces around half a billion (with a b) items a year, they can’t all be winners. Indeed, one of the main criticisms of fast fashion is that it has huge carbon emissions producing poor-quality clothing that will end up in a landfill anyway. Zara isn’t alone here, its rivals like H&M operate with a similar model.
The wind chime also comes in the bra version for the same price. This looks like it was made in the dark by a monkey. $130 is groceries for a week.
This is the amniotic fluid of an alien spacecraft. It is one of those stretchy tops from the 90s that would be the size of your hand and then it would magically fit anyone. If this is already in your house, throw it in the garbage, donate it.
"Coming soon"? "Join the notification list to get this"? I would add my email to a waitlist to guarantee that I never have to see this bag again.
This was an extreme jumpscare for me. For $55.90 you can now wear the red alien vines from "War of the Worlds" that gave me nightmares for three years straight.
Many of the items here look like they were taken straight from a collection of first-draft ideas. Zara itself reports that most items are designed in less than a week. And it shows. This only makes sense when you realize that Zara, by its own reports, aims to add 12,000 new items to its collections every single year. Reportedly, around 30,000 designs are rejected. If these were the winners, we are dying to see what were the losers.
If you buy this, you'll buy anything and your bank account information should be monitored and your card should be taken away from you. Your money spending habits should be put on like a Britney Spears kind of control hold that her dad had on her.
i suppose it’s a solution to the women’s pants pockets crisis
A melted ball of molten lava just dangling on your head.
This is awful. It took me a while to accept that these were real. Okay, this is what I would imagine, like, a group of scientists in school, they're learning how to be scientists, and they're given a 3d printer. And their first assignment is just f**king make something, it doesn't matter what it is. But as long as it sounds like this is your first project. This is what the guy that missed all the classes made last minute. These are earrings for an occasion. What is the occasion other than trying to deflect a BB gun pellet?
Zara waves off the criticism of its process by stating that it can modify existing designs within two weeks to match shifts in demand. Executives argue that a shorter product life cycle helps them match consumer preferences, although we would love to hear and see what a focus group said about some of these denim monstrosities.
Reminds me of those birthday parties where you would paint a mug or a plate and then they'd put it in the oven and caramelize it and then deliver it to you after one to two weeks and you'd give it to your mom for Mother's Day.
Double buckle matrix glitch wide leg double waistband jeans. This is making me feel really weird. First thing I thought of when I saw this was the Black Cat in the Matrix. You know how you see it twice and you know there's been a glitch. Like, why am I seeing it twice? Why is it a little bit slanted but why is it still identical?
When you were five and tried to put all of your jeans on at the same time:
The uncircumcised heeled denim ankle boot for $119. Oh, God.
Why exactly denim features so heavily is unclear. Certainly, workwear, in a case of blue-collar stolen valor, has become fashionable, however, denim is just one subset of materials that fit into this category. It’s entirely possible that Zara knows it can make denim very cheaply and is trying to boost its popularity. Cynics might also argue that these items make the rest of their collection look better in comparison.
The gold denim spray painted maxi skirt. What even is this? Where are you wearing this? What does this mean?
I hate their denim line so much. First of all, denim is the most atrocious, hard on the environment, material to produce in the world. There's enough vintage denim to go around for 17,000 lifetimes. We do not need to be creating new denim at all even for jeans. But for these trend purses that are just going to end up in the landfill? Get two pairs of your dad's old 90s jeans and make a purse. Get your friend that sews to make this purse for you. Don't buy this, we need to stand against this. The amount of water and energy that it takes to create denim to use it on THIS? No. Go thrifting, get a pair of $5 jeans and make a denim tote bag and then donate that when you're sick of it in 10 business days.
I got several bags made from old jeans. I use them as grocery bags.
This is absolutely the worst denim tote bag I've found so far. For $60 you can get a bag that looks like you rummaged it out of a dumpster. This looks like the reusable grocery bags that they sell you in the desert. It looks like it was recovered from a sunken pirate ship.
The non-denim items are, generally, not as horrid, but do suffer from a bizarrely inflated price tag. The entire appeal of Zara is just how cheaply you can get the items, it’s not a brand that one spends on. Even the most loyal Zara-heads don’t walk around with the company's logo emblazoned on their backs, chests, legs, or wherever else brands advertise.
You don't need to buy this for $46, you can just go back in time to the dumpster behind the Ardene at the mall and dig this out of the trash.
I'm pleased to announce that I have found the matching bag for the Sultan 3000s.
The items are so cheap, in fact, that prior to 2020, they used major amounts of toxic chemicals as part of the manufacturing process. In theory, these should never reach the buyer, however, neither should the notes from angry factory workers. Since then, Zara has become a major advocate for detoxification in fashion, a somewhat cynical attempt to save face.
What is happening, what point of the recession is this? I understand that nostalgia came back during COVID, that's why everyone was buying their old perfumes from the 90s. This isn't nostalgia. This is "give me $60 and I'm going to laugh at you because you'll buy anything that's for sale."
Upon first inspection this looks like just a regular ugly cargo bag. But then you see it on the model. They want $80 of your hard earned money for this melted garbage bag.
They had a team of visual merchandisers working on this photoshoot. And that team could not make it look like this bag stays in place when you're wearing it.
If a team couldn't do that, what's going to happen to you, in your everyday life? You put this bag on and it melts into an eight foot long sleeping bag. Who's helping you? What visual merchandising team do you have? They couldn't even do it. Look at this picture. They couldn't even do it for the photoshoot. For the lies of the website and the app. They couldn't even make this bag look good.
Almost $100. This is Dollarama that you use as a lunch bag when you're going camping because you're like "if this drops in the mud, I'll just leave it behind. It's fine. It's served its purpose for the two day camping trip. And if I leave it in the woods for a bear, it was worth every penny, it held my sandwiches for 48 hours."
If you are still in the mood for fashion, Bored Panda has got you covered, you can check out our article on fashion fails from the even cheaper Zara, Shein, or you can scroll through some very questionable boomer clothing choices. If you want something a bit more educational, we have an article exploring the history of why women’s clothes don’t have pockets.
$60. It's a practical joke. This isn't real. You guys aren't buying this, right?
What is up with all that denim? Did they buy a denim factory that had suddenly closed down and they wanted some profit so they took all the denim leftovers and did some vague attempts to make wearables from it? (I may be biased with hating the denim items.... I just really hate denim and always have).
Same! denim should all be thrown away at this point why is everyone obsessed with denim and jean everything??? I saw on a different bp story that someone made joots (jean boots) and a jouch (jean couch). what's next? jean oven?
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When I used to live in Spain about ten years ago, Zara was pretty darn trendy and actually had some nicer, quality clothing. Now it’s just another horrible fast fashion brand. Most of this “clothing” will just end up in landfills now.
What is it with the disembodied head in all these? Do we really need to see some shiny-faced Essex girl in every post?
I kept scrolling down thinking: "Come on there HAS to be at least one good one, right???? Please????" So, uh, I was wrong and it just kept getting worse 😀
I kind of liked the red vines from War of the Worlds for Halloween, but I don't think they're worth the price.
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If you're a bit older, most of these are familiar. Bags/skirts made from old jeans have been fashionable several times, and so have premade items that *look* like self-made from old jeans.
Would have been fun without the tiktok person's giant face and head in every picture. Please don't post tiktoks. It just encourages them.
I feel as though they accidentally added 2 digits to a denim jeans order, and now they are trying to find clever ways to get rid of them.
Zara has been on a steep downhill for a few years now. For the c**p they sell, it's pretty expensive.
I honestly think all these items are have been specially designed to cheat Americans, in general. They are fugly! But the thing is, I live in Zara's "homeland" and there's a huge Zara in my city, but I've never seen any of these pieces of rubbish there. If they are really trying to sell this, they deserve to be shamed!
I hate these posts from TikTok videos. I don't care and I hate seeing these idiots shoving their fat ugly faces into their phone cameras. Also anyone who would wear those stupid sunglasses for attention has no place critizing fashion.
most of these weird things were not half as bad as the super annoying reviews 🙄
Some of these really weren't too bad. Certainly some oddities though.
It costs a lot of money to look like you found all your clothes in the bin behind the factory.
Who is this Zara? What is her head designer's name? I also need the name of one responsible for pricing the so called clothes. They shall be sent to fashion gaol and be made to wear these horrible clothes. With the Sultan 3000s.
This reminds me of the Sex and the City episode where the ladies go to a purse sale that are poorly made but made with pride by an old friend. The purses are just sad. "When did owning a glue gun make for fashion? (or something like that) says Sam.
At this point it is safe to regard Zara as IKEA, where you go not for shopping, but for ideas. Any of these are applicable by people who do even a bit of sewing/crochetig/DIY'ing for the purposes of re-use/recycle/upcycle fashion items that they already own. People will increasingly have to look at fashion/clothing in a new light and get used to different aesthetics if we want to live sustainably on this planet....In addition, I think this is a fashion edition of the that "Culture Critic" (or whatever) person does with architecture. Trying to take design works at face value without any context and providing shallow"entertainment," might be "fun" and lucrative, but all they do is deprive people of a better understanding of the world that they live in.
I think it's some sort of outreach program for toddlers that want to be designers
Just imagine the poor people in sweatshops having to make these items. They must be so confused.
From this collection, I get the feeling that Zara's designer team spotted a niche collection from a budding designer and thought it looked cool, and stole and imitated the whole thing. They, and other brands, are known to have pulled similar stunts in the past (of stealing designs from not-yet-famous designers).
This marks the first time that I really enjoyed the comments/captions from a Tik-Toker… With some of the bags at the end of the post she seemed to just b***h, though. Maybe she ran out of ideas or energy XD
Sone of them would be great to make as a diy project. The prices are just shocking though.
What is up with all that denim? Did they buy a denim factory that had suddenly closed down and they wanted some profit so they took all the denim leftovers and did some vague attempts to make wearables from it? (I may be biased with hating the denim items.... I just really hate denim and always have).
Same! denim should all be thrown away at this point why is everyone obsessed with denim and jean everything??? I saw on a different bp story that someone made joots (jean boots) and a jouch (jean couch). what's next? jean oven?
Load More Replies... When I used to live in Spain about ten years ago, Zara was pretty darn trendy and actually had some nicer, quality clothing. Now it’s just another horrible fast fashion brand. Most of this “clothing” will just end up in landfills now.
What is it with the disembodied head in all these? Do we really need to see some shiny-faced Essex girl in every post?
I kept scrolling down thinking: "Come on there HAS to be at least one good one, right???? Please????" So, uh, I was wrong and it just kept getting worse 😀
I kind of liked the red vines from War of the Worlds for Halloween, but I don't think they're worth the price.
Load More Replies... If you're a bit older, most of these are familiar. Bags/skirts made from old jeans have been fashionable several times, and so have premade items that *look* like self-made from old jeans.
Would have been fun without the tiktok person's giant face and head in every picture. Please don't post tiktoks. It just encourages them.
I feel as though they accidentally added 2 digits to a denim jeans order, and now they are trying to find clever ways to get rid of them.
Zara has been on a steep downhill for a few years now. For the c**p they sell, it's pretty expensive.
I honestly think all these items are have been specially designed to cheat Americans, in general. They are fugly! But the thing is, I live in Zara's "homeland" and there's a huge Zara in my city, but I've never seen any of these pieces of rubbish there. If they are really trying to sell this, they deserve to be shamed!
I hate these posts from TikTok videos. I don't care and I hate seeing these idiots shoving their fat ugly faces into their phone cameras. Also anyone who would wear those stupid sunglasses for attention has no place critizing fashion.
most of these weird things were not half as bad as the super annoying reviews 🙄
Some of these really weren't too bad. Certainly some oddities though.
It costs a lot of money to look like you found all your clothes in the bin behind the factory.
Who is this Zara? What is her head designer's name? I also need the name of one responsible for pricing the so called clothes. They shall be sent to fashion gaol and be made to wear these horrible clothes. With the Sultan 3000s.
This reminds me of the Sex and the City episode where the ladies go to a purse sale that are poorly made but made with pride by an old friend. The purses are just sad. "When did owning a glue gun make for fashion? (or something like that) says Sam.
At this point it is safe to regard Zara as IKEA, where you go not for shopping, but for ideas. Any of these are applicable by people who do even a bit of sewing/crochetig/DIY'ing for the purposes of re-use/recycle/upcycle fashion items that they already own. People will increasingly have to look at fashion/clothing in a new light and get used to different aesthetics if we want to live sustainably on this planet....In addition, I think this is a fashion edition of the that "Culture Critic" (or whatever) person does with architecture. Trying to take design works at face value without any context and providing shallow"entertainment," might be "fun" and lucrative, but all they do is deprive people of a better understanding of the world that they live in.
I think it's some sort of outreach program for toddlers that want to be designers
Just imagine the poor people in sweatshops having to make these items. They must be so confused.
From this collection, I get the feeling that Zara's designer team spotted a niche collection from a budding designer and thought it looked cool, and stole and imitated the whole thing. They, and other brands, are known to have pulled similar stunts in the past (of stealing designs from not-yet-famous designers).
This marks the first time that I really enjoyed the comments/captions from a Tik-Toker… With some of the bags at the end of the post she seemed to just b***h, though. Maybe she ran out of ideas or energy XD
Sone of them would be great to make as a diy project. The prices are just shocking though.
