Zara, Bershka and Pull & Bear ration sales in Venezuelan stores

The growing demand for 'fast-fashion' continues to spread around the world, leading some apparel retailers to introduce extreme measures.

Founder of 'fast-fashion', Spanish holding company Inditex has seen such success and demand in Venezuela since the launch its labels Zara, Bershka and Pull & Bear, that its country franchise, Phoenix World Trade, has begun rationing their garments and has introduced a limit purchase.

Inditex limits customer sales for Zara, Bershka and Pull & Bear in Venezuela

Customers are now only allowed to purchase five garments per month, per person in order to keep up the the massive increase in demand. Inditex is thought to have introduced the buying restrictions in response to the growing 'avalanche' of queues, which come after months of chronic stock shortages following the surge in demand for a new, cheaper range of apparel.

A number of news sources have indicated different reasons for the Inditex's low-price offering. Colombian newspaper La Republica states that the cheap prices for Zara's, Bershka's and Pull & Bear collections were due to a favorable exchange rate, but Spanish newspaper El Mundo claims that the cheap prices stem from the Venezuelan government, who ordered the Spanish company to cut their prices by 50 percent.

Venezuelan Zara, Bershka and Pull & Bear stores now require customers to first register with their identity cards, so that the stores are then able to track the number of customer purchases using their data. Customers are only allowed to purchase five garments per month, per brand and only three of the pieces can be upper garments, such as shirts or sweaters, and the remaining two bottoms such as pants or skirts. Consumers are also unable to reserve any items in store.

Consumers in Venezuela have not reacted kindly to the restrictions and are venting their frustration at the Spanish fashion company online via social media sites, with many posting pictures of increasingly long queues. “As if it was not enough in Venezuela to ration food and medicine! Now it's clothes, it is already happening in Zara and Bershka,” tweeted one user. Despite Inditex's purchase restrictions, queues have been reported up to 11 hours long to enter a store.

However, stock shortages in the Latin American country are not new issues for Inditex. Earlier this year, the Spanish holding company was forced to temporarily suspend its activities in several stores due to lack of stock. There are currently 10 Zara stores, 10 Bershka stores and 5 Pull & Bear stores operating in Venezuela, as of 31, July, 2014.