The world's leading retailer has a dirty little secret

Zara is the world's leading retailer.

Analysts have said that the Spanish fast-fashion brand has the "best business model in apparel."

After all, it has a speedy supply chain that churns out runway-inspired designs at wallet-friendly prices, making it a critical destination for frugal but fashionable millennial shoppers.

But does the magic stop there?

The company has recently come under fire for allegedly ripping off designs from an independent designer, Tuesday Bassen — and it's not the first time that it's happened.

Bassen tweeted the following on Tuesday, highlighting the problem:

All of this is reportedly without consulting with Bassen first — or even paying her, she wrote on Twitter:

She said that Zara claims that her work is "simple," but she wants to be paid if the company is going to be using her work:

Bassen wrote that Zara's lawyers claimed that, since she was an independent artist and the retailer is a huge company, her argument was essentially lost:

She wrote that she plans to press charges, but that fighting Zara has already been costly:

Bassen, however, pointed out that this is something that can happen to a lot of artists — but often, they don't have the funds to defend themselves and their work:

Many people have come to Bassen's defense, with thousands retweeting her complaints against the company, and some even making timely statements about stealing others' work:

In 2012, the company came under fire for reportedly ripping off New York street designer Patrick Waldo, The Huffington Post reported. And in 2014, Sibling called out the brand for stealing from its designs, too, Dazed reported.

Earlier this year, many people blatantly called out the company for its Yeezy-esque line. But Bassen's plight demonstrates that taking cues from an independent designer can be a different ballpark from impersonating the work of a high-end, wealthy designer.

Of course, in the fast-fashion world, there's a fine line between taking inspiration from a designer and blatantly stealing. After all, the central defining factor of fast-fashion companies like Zara is that they take cues from the runway, but "cues" may be the operative word here.

The problem isn't singular to Zara, either. Forever 21 has also come under fire for similarly shady practices.

Zara didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Why I stopped shopping at Forever 21

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