Inditex clothing reappears in Russia: permissiveness, stock mismanagement or smuggling?

Madrid – The Spanish fashion multinational is set to present the results for the third quarter of its current 2025 fiscal year this Wednesday, December 3. However, a negative news story regarding both image and operational implications has taken centre stage. This concerns the sale of garments from its Zara, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and Massimo Dutti brands in Russia.

To provide brief background, following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine after the invasion by the Russian Federation army on February 24, 2022, Inditex announced its decision to halt all operations on March 5 of that year. It closed all stores on Russian soil, which was then the second largest market for the Spanish fashion multinational. This resolution was followed by an agreement to sell its entire business in Russia to Emirati group Daher, Inditex's local partner for certain North African and Middle Eastern markets through the company Azadea, in October 2022. From that moment, Inditex ceased all activity and left Russia, despite retaining certain rights should it decide to resume operations. As a clarifying note, other retailers have not adopted this extreme measure. These include Spanish companies Tous and Mango, which maintain operations in the Russian Federation through a franchise regime.

Following the suspension of activity in Russian territory, and even before agreeing to sell its business to the owners of Lebanese group Azadea, reports began to circulate warning of a growing “grey market”. This was being fuelled by Russian authorities through their specific system of parallel imports. The Kremlin used this mechanism to ensure Russian consumers could continue accessing products from brands that had ceased operating in the country following the outbreak of war and international sanctions. It involved “flexibilising” — or relaxing to the maximum — import controls into Russian territory. Broadly speaking, this scheme ultimately allows a wide variety of Western brand products to enter Russia, supposedly outside the controls of the brands themselves and their official distributors. Warnings were issued at the time that this was facilitating the sale of Inditex's Zara and Zara Home items on Russian soil. Despite reports pointing to a potential upcoming return to Russian territory — published last May by the Russian Parliament's official media outlet — the company continues not to operate in Russia. It maintains the thesis that adequate conditions for its return definitely do not exist at this time.

TVOE, gateway to Russia for Inditex collections

With this background, and with no change in Inditex's stance or presence regarding Russia since the sale of its business in October 2022, we arrive at December 2025. Everything points to the consolidation of channels guaranteeing a constant and periodic entry of Inditex products into Russia. This no longer applies solely to Zara and Zara Home, but also to its Oysho, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and Massimo Dutti chains. In the case at hand, the TVOE chain (TBOE in Russian) is reportedly responsible for marketing these items to the Russian population.

TVOE has more than 340 stores across four countries of the self-proclaimed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), currently comprising nine of the 15 former Soviet republics, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. On November 20, TVOE management informed its customer community that fashion products from Inditex chains Zara, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and Massimo Dutti “awaited them” in its stores. The Russian chain claims to sell this fashion offer from a total of 19 of its stores in Russia. These include two in St. Petersburg and eight within the Moscow metropolitan area. In addition to this post, to which FashionUnited has had access, the chain ensures that the “assortment” of Inditex firms “is constantly updated, so come by more often so as not to miss the most exclusive items”.

Imports outside of Inditex

Completing this information, reported today by the Financial Times, the British media outlet notes that the Russian chain began selling garments from Inditex brands last September. This started from an initial series of about nine stores in its commercial network. They eventually expanded their presence to these current 19 points of sale. According to the economic newspaper, TVOE is currently selling products from previous seasons of Inditex fashion chains, featuring official brand labelling and prices in euros.

However, Russian company Disco Club LLC is reportedly behind these operations. It is pointed to as responsible for introducing the Zara, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and Massimo Dutti items arriving at TVOE stores into Russia. These imports allegedly utilised the “parallel imports” system. Under this system, the Moscow-based company presented up to 18 “declarations of conformity” last September for the import of various clothing and footwear items from Inditex brands, presenting itself as a supplier. The management of the Spanish fashion multinational denies this extreme. TVOE remains silent, alluding to “confidentiality agreements”. Disco Club LLC founder Burkhard Binder denies any responsibility. The businessman established the Russian company through UAE-based Galaktik Limited. In statements to the Financial Times, he claimed he no longer participates in Disco Club's operational activity and had not personally participated in any activity related to the distribution of Inditex brands. Disco Club has stated it provided technical services to the group, albeit on a punctual basis.

Meanwhile, the Spanish company has denied that Inditex authorised any company under the name Disco Club or Burkhard Binder to carry out activities on its behalf. They completed this note by warning that “Inditex does not comment on third parties outside our group that may market products of our brands in markets where we are not present, as is the case of Russia”. The Spanish multinational emphasises that “Inditex has had no activity since the sale of our business” there.

Permissiveness, stock mismanagement or smuggling?

There is no doubt that, in light of the above, a new example of how the war in Ukraine has consolidated a “grey market” of Western brand products within Russia is emerging. The problem in this context is not only the appearance of these products for sale within Russian territory but the existence of channels allowing their arrival. Furthermore, this is occurring in a company like Inditex which is known to rigorously maintain control over its stock. Removing the possibility of counterfeit products from the equation, and accepting the Financial Times report that items were imported to Russia after being destined for different EU countries and China, only three possible causes present themselves: permissiveness, stock mismanagement or smuggling.

Of the three possible causes pointed out, there is no doubt that none of them reflects well on the Spanish company or the supposed control of its inventory. Firstly, there is the hypothetical “permissiveness” that would lead the company to potentially tolerate its garments being sold in Russia outside official channels. This would be with the intended aim of not losing market share in view of an equally potential peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. It is reasonable to think that this hypothesis is the furthest from reality. This leaves us with the only alternatives of smuggling Inditex garments, or mismanagement and the existence of a “black spot” within its network and commercial chain, leading to the marketing of its fashion proposals outside official channels.

Delving into this apparent clear sign of vulnerability, it is of a nature as alarming as it is serious. It is either facilitating some to do business with stock batches from the Spanish multinational's main brands through smuggling; or exposing the lack of control the company maintains over its inventories, given that the garments are sold with their original labelling. This represents a rupture of sales channels and the exposure of Inditex brand products to the proliferating “grey market” in Russia. The company has seemingly been unable to cover this up, as demonstrated by the consolidation and expansion of imports of its products into Russia following the anecdotal case that transpired in August 2022. It is truly hard to believe this could be happening in a group like Inditex. According to figures recorded at the close of the first half of 2025, as of July 31, it has 5,528 stores. Of these, 4,380 are company-managed and only 1,148 operate under a franchise regime. Furthermore, franchises are operated by commercial partners supposedly of the Spanish company's utmost trust. In view of this data, it maintains direct control over the operations of 79.23 percent of its entire commercial network, with only the remaining 20 percent in the hands of its commercial partners for a reduced series of minor markets.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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