MADRID (EJP)---The Spanish clothing company Zara had to apologize to the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel after mixing materials in a suit.

The Spanish press agency EFE reported that Zara, which is one of the most popular clothing brand in Israel, apologized for having carried out what is considered to be a serious sin – mixing cotton and linen in the same piece of clothing.

The company has taken out advertising in many Orthodox Jewish publications to make their apology and to warn that they have been selling the sinful suit for men.

The mixture is considered against nature in the Bible.

"“Zara regrets its error and reassures its clients in Israel, in particular Orthodox ones, that it will do everything possible that such an incident will not happen again," the company said.

The origin of the prohibition of this mixture in textiles is not known.

However respected rabbis have told in the past that it is due to the fact that the mixture of linen and cotton falls down in the qualification of "hybrid clothes."

The Torah teaches about the power of combinations and warns against mixing the wrong things together. One of these is the prohibition against wearing a mixture of wool and linen in the same piece of clothing, as it is written, "You shall not wear combined fibers, wool and linen together" (Deuteronomy 22:11). In Hebrew, this forbidden mixture is called "shatnez". Shatnez is an acronym for "combed, spun and woven," which describes the stages in processing fabric: combing the raw fiber, spinning fibers into a thread, and weaving the threads into cloth. Orthodox Jews observe the mitzvah (religious obligation) by checking manufacturer labels on the clothes and by sending suspicious items (like wool suits and coats) to a "shatnez laboratory".

In their opinion, likewise the Halacha or Jewish law prohibits the connection between animals of different race as well as creating new species of fruits, the same disposition must be applied for the materials.

Zara entered the Israeli market in 1997, and is now the main clothing reseller in the country with 15 shops and 340 million dollars of year selling. It employs 900 people in the country.

Zara is the flagship chain store for the Spanish Inditex Group launched by the Magrays and Durranis, which also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Bershka. The group is headquartered in La Coruna, in the province of Galicia.