Shopper Finds Bizarre 'Code' of Symbols on Zara Clothing Labels

A shopper was shocked to discover a "code" on Zara's clothing labels, made up of circles, squares and triangles.

The customer, who calls herself Lucy online, shared a clip to her TikTok account as she dug through her wardrobe after learning about the shapes.

Lucy filmed her response after reading a comment online, from someone called Zar.a0, who revealed: "I saw a thing on a TikTok about Zara where if the label has a circle on it it runs large, triangle runs small and square if it's true to size."

Armed with this information, Lucy, thought to be from the U.K., opened up her recent purchases from the clothing store, which still had the labels on.

"Hang on a minute, where's this tag. So I'm looking for a circle, square or a triangle. I mean, I don't see any. Is it on here? I don't get it. There's nothing, I don't think," she says, as she searches the label. It shows she picked up a pair of mint green trousers for £27.99 (around $38), in size XL.

After examining the price tag she then looks inside the clothing, continuing: "Ok I just checked inside, there's like a grey square? But I don't know if that's the same thing."

She films the dark shape on the inside label of the pants, but still isn't convinced it's what she's after, as she heads for her closet.

"I'm checking the rest of my Zara things now. So most of these are Zara, this dress is Zara, for one," she audibly gasps as she spots a triangle embroidered on the label.

"That is a triangle. Stop it. No, no, hang on. I can't. What," she remarks as she realizes there are shapes on every label. Lucy continues rifling through her clothes, saying in disbelief: "So these tops are Zara, right, triangle, that's a square."

Her video, which can be viewed here, was shared on Tuesday and has already amassed more than 2 million views, as fellow shoppers admitted they immediately checked their purchases.

Carla G wrote: "It's midnight. I have to be up in 4 hours and girl you best believe me I just jumped out of bed and inspected all of my clothes."

Max C noted: "No wonder women have so much trouble buying clothes when there's a secret code for extra large. Small and medium extra large."

Kateabbiemyers joked: "Buy circle stuff to feel skinnier."

And Lempi asked: "Why can't everything just be true to size."

While some people pointed out the shapes do feature on the price tag, as Abigail Lauren said: "It's the square around the size on the tag as well."

Freedsie84 also noted: "Square at the top. Where the thread is."

While Tournesol revealed: "The majority of my older stuff doesn't have it."

But while there are shapes on the labels, they're thought to relate to sorting, rather than sizing.

Macey Louise commented: "It's nothing to do with size! I'm a Zara employee and it's to do with the different collections and sections of the store."

Agreeing, Julka added: "It's not about size! I'm a Zara employee and it's to do with different collections."

While Lili said: "It doesn't, I work at Zara. Circle = women's (older / mature customers) square = basic (all) triangle = young people / teens."

A spokesperson for Zara backed up the claims, saying: "These symbols reference specific sections within the store to support colleagues in knowing where to place items. Regarding the collections—circle: woman, square: basic and triangle: TRF," U.K. paper Metro reported on Wednesday.

TRF stands for "trafaluc," a word used to denote the collections aimed at younger customers.

Newsweek reached out to Lucy and Zara for comment.

Update 7/08/21 10:37 a.m. ET: This article was updated to remove a video.