Zara clothing and the company's success story

The record holder for copying things from the catwalk, "Spanish success story", this is how the media describe the Zara brand. The latter characteristic, by the way, belongs to CNN. Zara belongs to the so-called "democratic brands", that is, her clothes can be purchased at very affordable prices. Today Zara stores are located in many countries of the world and are incredibly popular.

Zara's success story

The first Zara clothing store was opened in 1975 in the Spanish port city of A Coruña. The store offered relatively cheap copies of catwalk items, with prices starting at $ 5. The founder of the store, and now a billionaire, was Amancio Ortega, who previously worked as an apprentice in a shirt sewing studio, and then in a haberdashery store.

Of course, Amancio Ortega, like many other brand founders, worked hard, creating and selling Zara clothes, but what is the secret of Zara's success? After all, they reached billions of dollars in a short time! And success came to Zara with José Maria Casteiano, an information technology specialist who previously worked in the information technology department of Aegon Espana’s, and then was the CFO of the Spanish division of ConAgra. When she came to Zara, she proposed a completely new technology for the development and production of things.

It usually took about six months to create and promote a thing on store shelves. Things are different in Zara. Zara employs not one, but 400 designers at once, while it takes them from 4 to 6 weeks to create a new model, and up to 2 weeks to improve the old ones. Six months and two weeks, that's the difference! Plus affordable prices. Plus fashionable things, do not forget that Zara is watching what is happening on the world catwalks.

The assortment of Zara stores is updated every two weeks, which keeps customers coming back again and again. There were also such cases that before the arrival of the new collection, absolutely nothing of the past remained in Zara stores, everything was sold out. "Day-Z" is the name given to delivery days in Zara stores.

The first store outside Spain was opened in 1988 in the Portuguese city of Porto. Then, throughout the 1990s, Zara stores opened in many European countries: Belgium, Sweden, Greece. This process was especially successful in France, where Zara entered in 1990. Then Zara stores were opened in Mexico, Israel, Turkey, Japan and Malta. And also in Eastern European countries such as Poland and Ukraine.

Another advantage of Zara is that their clothes are practically not produced in Asian countries. The main production is concentrated in Spain and Portugal, namely in northern Portugal and Galicia, where production power is much cheaper than in the rest of Europe.

Zara produces both women's and men's clothing.

Zara woman - clothes made from high quality and natural fabrics. Clothes for business women.

The Zara Basic line uses fabrics with an admixture of synthetic materials; such clothes are cheaper and more accessible to a wider range of consumers.

Produces Zara and a children's clothing line - Zara Kids.

And clothes for teenagers - Zara TRF. Models from this collection are distinguished by their brightness and unexpected solutions.

Today Zara is part of the Inditex Group, along with brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Bershka.Sxt. The Inditex Group is owned by Zara founder Amancio Ortega. Amancio Ortega is today the richest man in Spain. He leads a very private lifestyle, practically does not communicate with the press, and according to rumors, he even preferred to leave the meeting with the Crown Prince of Spain Felipe.

Amancio Ortega has been married twice. His first wife was Rosalia Mera, whom he met while working in a haberdashery store. They were colleagues. They have two children - Sandro and Markus. Marcus was born with a serious illness, which was also rumored to be one of the reasons for the family's breakup in 1986. Rosalia Mera is to this day the second shareholder of the Inditex Group corporation after her ex-husband. Ortega's second wife was his secretary Flora Perez Marcote, they have a daughter.

About 10,000 new designs are developed annually by Zara designers, and there are more than 1,500 Zara stores in the world today. However, it is not without scandals, as Zara was accused of placing a swastika on one of its bags, the bag was soon removed from store shelves. Not without envy, many brands dislike Zara. But nothing so far prevents Zara from developing and conquering more and more new markets.