These garments have already travelled along 200 kilometres of underground tracks, electronically tagged, from Zara's adjoining manufacturing plants to the 443 chutes that ensure each order reaches its right destination. The absence of human beings, as jackets and blouses swirl along overhead computerized tracks, negotiating sharp turns and spaghetti junctions, is almost unnerving. Optical reading devices sort out and distribute more than 60,000 items of clothing an hour. There are no sweatshops in this futuristic vision of the fashion business. But there is speed.
Production is in small batches.
Zara does not overstock. If an item doesn't sell, production is scrapped. Not that long ago, Castellano would receive visitors in a prefab box outside Zara's logistics centre. Now, he can watch the trucks depart from a spacious second-floor office across the highway. It can transmit very precise images as well as data.