I know each and every one of us here are crazy about Zara & we want to own (or we already own!) each & every item that they offer. But then let’s dig in deeper & talk more about about the most beloved & favoured brand of our generation. ZARA.
Zara is a Spanish fast fashion retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia. A pioneer in affordable fashion, the company was founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and his then wife, Rosalía Mera. Zara’s parent company, Inditex, is headquartered in Spain, produces one billion pieces of clothes annually out of which around five million items are sent to Zara stores worldwide every week. (wow!)
Fashion Retail companies owned by Inditex.
So without further adieu let’s get started with some fascinating aspects about our favourite brand Zara:
1. The brand has a romantic beginning
Ortega opened his first boutique in 1975 in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain and named it Zara after Zadar, the Croatian harbor where he honeymooned with his then-wife, Rosalia Mera.
2. Zara launches around 12,000 new designs a year
Zara Invented Fast-Fashion. Zara manages to spot trends and create products based off of them in less than 15 days. The company can have a new design created and distributed in just 1-2 weeks. They have some kick ass logistics partners. Their business model is based on producing new looks as quickly as possible with a close eye on the catwalk for inspiration
3. Zara Finds Inspiration Everywhere
The company’s goal is to always be faster, so designers travel with a camera, pen, and paper to watch (and record) how people dress. Their business model is based on producing new looks as quickly as possible with a close eye on the catwalk for inspiration. Basically, everything is fair game.
Ortega loves his home country. He proudly proclaims that 50% of Zara’s products are still manufactured in Spain. Because there’s no place like home.
4.Zara’s founder Amancio Ortega is the richest man in Europe & 2nd richest in the World
Zara’s founder Amancio Ortega is the richest man in europe & 2nd richest billionaire in the world with the net worth of $71.9 billion which makes him the wealthiest retailer in the world.
Some interesting facts about Amancio Ortega:
This 80 yr old Fashion Mogul Beat Bill Gates as the World’s Richest Person, but only for a few hours on 23rd Oct, 2015.
Ortega still has lunch in Zara’s staff cafeteria everyday. Very humble.
No photos of Amancio Ortega were available until 1999
The Zara founder & boss likes to keep it low profile. He doesn’t like to give interviews.
No one really knows when his birthday is & he wears the same blue blazer & white shirt & grey trousers everyday & prefers a simple lifestyle.
5. Even royals wear Zara; it’s a favourite of Kate Middleton.
So why pay for advertising when the royals are wearing your clothes?
People take notice of everything Middleton wears, so whenever she wears items from Zara, they tend to sell out immediately after she is pictured wearing them.
Zara spends little on advertising, focusing its spending on opening stores near high-end retailers instead. Ortega deliberately chooses sites for Zara stores that are close to luxury brands such as Prada, Gucci, Cartier, Hermes etc. The logic behind is to get close to close to these luxury brands in terms of footfall & to attract the same customers.
6. Zara’s warehouse is 5 million square feet (about 9 times the size of Amazon’s)
One Zara factory in Tunisia, North Africa produces 1,200 pieces per day, 150 pieces per hour. Each worker is timed (there is a woman with a stopwatch to make sure things are running smoothly), and it’s called “working to the minute,” which means it should take 38 minutes to finish one shirt; if it takes longer than that, the plant begins to lose money.
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