Zara

founded by

Amancio Ortega

belongs to

Inditex Group

about

Zara is the popular fast fashion label, the largest international fashion company in the world and vertically integrated retailer, which creates designs, makes merchandise, conveys their distributions and sales by their own means or under their immediate control.

Today Zara takes in buyers over 77 countries to its retail chain of 1.516 stores in upper class places of the largest cities throughout the Earth. A regular Zara-owned clothing store comprises over 1500 square meters of modern style attires and accessories. The large international network highlights, that national frontiers are not an obstacle to fashion trends within a broad scale of people, cultures and generations, which, in comparison to their differences, all manifest a love for fashion. Zara's approach in developing design and new product is totally based on customers' feedback and meeting shoppers preferences. This is one of the main segments to brand's success entity in parallel with just-in-time system and quick

Company is capable to develop a new product and dispatch it to shop merely in two-six weeks, opposed to half-a-year industry average term, and launch approximately 11.000 new designs annually. Zara has withheld the u p-to-date tendency of alienating fast fashion production sector towards low-cost regions on the globe. 50% of the products, which Zara trades, are manufactured in Spain, 26% are given to the rest of Europe, and the last 24% are made in Asian and African countries and the other parts of the world.

But probably, Zara's most unusual and outstanding expedient was refusal of any advertising support; in lieu, the label decided to reinvest a percentage of income into eventual expanding the retail network. The majority of Zara stores are company's property, excepting franchised ones, when territorial laws prohibit entrepreneurship for non-residents.

Label's garment has two basic product divisions: men's and women's. Zara's catalogue represents kid's clothing as well. For each clothing line there are next subdivisions: Lower Garment, Upper Garment, Shoes, Cosmetics and Complements.

history

Zara's starting point dates back to 1963, when the label's founder Amancio Ortega began his venturesome business. Several years later in 1975, the first Zara store was opened in a central street in downtown A Coru�a, Galicia, Spain. It showed off relatively cheap replicas of popular, higher-end clothing fashions and was warmly met by the public. As the initiative proved viability of the business model, combining fashion and business, as well as design and industry, Mr. Ortega proceeded with launching new Zara's stores over the brand's homeland, Spain.

In 1980, the company went beyond the Spanish borders and started its international spread through Porto, Portugal. In 1989 they appeared in the United States and in 1990 they progressed to step in France.

During the 1980s, the label underwent changes in the design, manufacturing process and distribution schemes in order to lessen producing cycle and find the way to accelerate response on customers queries about new styles. The decision was lain in the exploiting new information technologies to adapt up to the real market situation and employing teams of designers instead of individual artists.

This international expansion was continued in the 1990s, with Mexico (1992), Greece (1993), Belgium and Sweden (1994), etc. until the current presence reached 77 countries.

Starting from 2007, Zara stores introduced separate men's clothing and women's clothing lines, as well as children's clothing project (Zara Kids).

Zara traversed the Internet market comparatively late, in September 2010, when the company at last made their choice to initiate web-store service. Recession and drop in sales made Zara headquarters in Spain rehash the settled and previously well working strategy of sales, presuming labels's presence in the retail chain shops only. The online store is now open for the customers from core market countries, the rest will gradually be welcomed too.