The War For Zalent

“Creating fresh ways to connect fashion and people. It’s not just a vision, it’s what we do each day.” It could be one of Sunday’s taglines, yet it’s Zalando’s mission. A good start of a partnership, no?

Zalando SE is a European e-commerce company based in Berlin. The company maintains a cross-platform online store that sells shoes, clothing and other fashion items. Since 2020, the corona year, 44.5 million shoppers found their way to the online webstore.

Turning into Europe's biggest fashion e-commerce player, Zalando is currently transforming from an online fashion retailer to a multi-service platform. Finding employees with diverse skill-sets, interests and languages that meet Zalando’s standards is a huge challenge for HR-managers. Find out how Zalando is armed in the war for Zalent.

Zalando is Europe’s leading online platform for fashion, connecting customers, brands and partners across 17 markets. They drive digital solutions for fashion, logistics, advertising and research, bringing head-to-toe fashion to more than 44 million active customers.

At Zalando, they believe in talent and creativity, value diversity and innovation, and promote responsible attitudes to fashion. From a small startup they have grown into one of Europe's biggest tech companies. The digitalized age continues to change the very nature of consumer behaviour and this year in particular with the Covid-19 measures. Zalando needs to keep expanding their team with fresh, new and talented people. That’s why they created a community for their interns and possibly future hires; Future Z(t)alents.

Did you know 70% of companies offer interns a full-time job? Zalando’s intern program is well-suited to help graduates and students excel in their early careers and further develop their skills. Next to finding new employees and interns, making them feel part of the company culture as a real brand ambassador is another big challenge for HR managers. In our extensive experience we learned that personalized fashion is the key accelerator in any ambassador strategy.

With this challenge, onboarding became even more vital for the HR department of Zalando. Big advertising campaigns for the recruiting of future hires doesn’t make the cut anymore. Let’s talk about the Sunday solution. Company fashion is the very best way to transform your interns and future hires into real ambassadors. Wearing the same clothing as other interns makes you feel at home and welcome right from the start.

As a fashion company like Zalando having a logo onto low-quality clothing is not the way to go. Our graphic designers have years of experience in the fashion industry. We designed different designs, showing all the possibilities for hoodies Zalando could choose from. As we try to offer a high-end level of clothing, we are more flexible and can additionally provide many more diverse options than our competitors are able to.

They chose to be perceived as a young, creative, positive and diverse team. We designed and created more than 500 fashionable hoodies for all the interns. Designing company fashion is about striking the perfect balance between a company’s brand identity and the trends that matter to its ambassadors. The all-black hoodie has some stylishly finished details in their orange pantone color with the text 'future Zaland' printed on the right arm as an extra that is subtle, yet steals the attention of many eyes.

Zalando supports fashion that is produced, consumed and sold in a responsible manner. Together we are convinced that this commitment will pay off for us all in the long run. Because all our products are ethical and ecological produced within Europe, (another key point for Zalando), we can guarantee the highest standards in quality & sustainability. Like the German company we oppose disposable fashion, so we only produce company fashion that people will actually wear!

Perhaps you can recognize some similarities with the Sumup case study. The HR manager who went through the whole process for Sumup at the time, now works for Zalando and wanted to achieve the exact same thing. Being top-of-mind with future hires by transforming their interns into ambassadors, building brand awareness and even attracting more talent.

For Zalando the wearable designs are truly an asset to turn their interns into real ambassadors. Within Zalando the diversity of people, lifestyles, opinions and attitudes are crucial drivers of their innovation and success. Connected through company fashion. With these important points ticked off, more design projects for expansion tribe and company wide events with Zalando await in the future.

To remember: The most successful way to recruit talent, no matter where or who they are, is by connecting culture through company clothing. Because nothing is more expensive than hiring someone and seeing them leave after 3 months due to a non-cultural fit or not feeling welcome in the company.