This year, on all continents, an unusually warm autumn has stood out, which made everyone happy, except for clothing stores, where the autumn collection remained untouched by customers. Most of the fashion retail chains suffered losses, but not Zara - this company was rescued by the "instant fashion" system.
Probably everyone knows the Zara brand. Network stores, like McDonald's, have spread all over the world and are located on the main streets of the largest cities in all corners of the planet. With over 2,000 stores on every continent, Zara is one of the largest clothing retailers in the world.
In a few years of overwhelming success, Zara has become the largest textile concern Inditex, which includes the brands Zara, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Uterqüe and the Tempe shoe division.
In total, the concern Inditex 6460 outlets worldwide, employing more than 120,000 people.
"Instant Fashion"
Zara has revolutionized the fashion world and the textile industry, giving birth to the very concept of "instant fashion". What is it and what is the uniqueness of such a business scheme?
In most textile companies, the production cycle of clothes takes about 8 months - this period includes design development, fabric search, fabric dyeing, sewing a model, receipt of a collection in a store. And at Zara, this process takes just 2 weeks. Inditex has its own design team of around 400 professionals. They create inexpensive clothing designs based on the latest high fashion trends in a very short time. Such a system allows you to quickly update the entire range of stores, quickly remove unpopular models from production and refine the design of existing ones at the request of consumers.
Thus, Zara always keeps abreast of fashion, one of the first to respond to new trends and customer wishes. Customers are looking forward to the days of new deliveries to stores - "Day-Z". It happens that clothes are swept off the shelves in a few hours, and the updated collection is sold out completely. No wonder the fashion director of fashion house Louis Vuitton Daniel Piet described Zara as "perhaps the most innovative and crushing retail chain in the world."
All retailers in the world dream of such annual attendance as Zara. For example, the average store in Spain, located on one of the central streets of the city, expects to see one customer 3 times a year, and for Zara this figure is 17 times a year!
Inditex is one of the few companies that has resisted the temptation to move all clothing production to countries with cheap labor force. Less than a quarter - 24% of production - is made in China, Morocco, Bangladesh and Turkey. The rest of the products are produced in the north of Spain and Portugal.
But, wherever a thing is produced, each item of the Inditex range passes through Spain. Designers and experts in the company's main studio in Arteijo (Galicia) first check the quality of products, and only then send the goods throughout retail network, including China.
A similar system applies to the installation of shops and showcases of the brand. All materials go through the main office.
Of course, this requires a large staff - 6,000 people from 30 countries work in the studio, factory and warehouses in Arteiho.
Business development
Secret Success Inditex in quick response and smooth communication between designers, factories and store managers.
In fact, the store manager, who sends reports to Inditex headquarters twice a week based on sales data and customer surveys, is a key figure in a successful business scheme. That is why Inditex managers receive a much higher salary than their competitors, as well as large bonuses at the end of the month.
Zara stores have not needed advertising for a long time, so the money saved on promotion is invested in the opening of new outlets and in the development of projects and brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Bershka.
While the main competitor - H&M - spends expensive advertising campaigns, Zara prefers to invest in high-quality and expensive shop windows that can even be compared with those of luxury brands such as Dior and Prada.
However, Zara has a somewhat dismissive attitude not only towards advertising, but also towards journalists. It was far from the first attempt to get comments from Zara representatives - several times, to inquiries and calls from the editorial office to the company's main office, public relations representatives replied that Inditex's corporate policy did not allow comments. However, especially for New Retail, Zara experts nevertheless reported several important facts.
According to representatives of Inditex, for the nine months of 2014 (February to October) retail sales, including the turnover of the Zara online store, increased by 10.5%. And in the period from November 1 to December 8, sales growth was 14%.
As for business in Russia, according to Inditex CEO Pablo Isla, it is developing properly, and the company does not plan significant changes in the market development strategy.
Regarding the recent closure of the Zara flagship store on Tverskaya, representatives fashion brand note that "his commercial activity was absorbed by the activity of other nearby Zara stores." However, as previously reported by the media, Zara representatives did not come to an agreement with tenants on a new amount for rent on Tverskaya Street.
At the origins of the brand
The history of the world brand began, as it often happens, from the desire of one simple, poor person, gifted with willpower, patience, organizational skills, to get ahead and offer the world something new.
Today, the founder of the network, Amancio Ortega Gaona, the wealthiest man in Spain, is in fourth place on the list. the richest people planets with a capital of 64 billion dollars.
Gaona was born in the small town of the Spanish province of Lyon in the family of a railway worker and a servant. Due to poverty, Amancio could not even finish high school and from the age of 13 worked as a courier in a shirt shop. Then, in 1950, he was hired by the haberdashery La Maja, where his brother Antonio, sister Pepita and Rosalia Mera, who would later become his first wife, already worked.
At the age of fourteen, Amancio followed his family to La Coruña in the province of Galicia, where he became an apprentice with an Italian fashion designer. The owner of the atelier once said to the father of the future fashion magnate: “You know, a tailor will not work out of him, a tailor should be easy, sociable.” The owner of the atelier was right, and so in the 1960s, Amancio became a manager in one of the stores.
In 1972, at the age of 37, Amancio opened his own knitwear factory. At first, together with his first wife Rosalia Mera, he sewed bathrobes, nightgowns and lingerie right in the living room of his own house.
Rosalia Mera, first wife of Amancio Ortega Gaona
In 1975, the couple opened their own shop on one of the central streets of A Coruña to save their business after a German customer canceled an order for a large batch of linen, in which Amansi invested all his free capital. The store was originally named Zorba after their favorite character Anthony Quinn from the movie Zorba the Greek, however, due to registration issues, the store had to be renamed Zara.
Amancio Ortega realized before the Chinese that you can make copies best models clothes from famous couturiers, and sell them several times cheaper. The idea proved successful, and Zara stores opened at an incredible rate throughout Spain.
In the 80s, José Maria Castellano joined the Ortega team, with whom Gaona came up with an innovative “instant fashion” business system, an obligatory component of which was his own design studio. The studio was named Industria de Diseño Textil S.A., or Inditex.
Inditex head office in Galicia (Spain)
In 1988, the first Zara store was opened abroad - it was a store in Porto (Portugal). And then began the conquest of the United States, France and - gradually - the whole world.
If business went uphill and Inditex for short term caught up and overtook its main competitors, including H&M, in terms of production volumes and income, then the family affairs of the creator of Zara did not go well.
In 1985, Amancio Ortega divorced his first wife, Rosalia Mera, who went through the first and most difficult years of the business with him. From this marriage there were two children - Sandra and Marcos. The latter, unfortunately, was born with a severe form of disability.
Marta Ortega Perez, youngest daughter of Amancio Ortega Gaon
Rosalia has a 7% stake in Inditex after the divorce. She died in mid-August 2013 at the age of 69 from a stroke, her fortune passed to her daughter, Sandra Ortega Mera, who is now considered one of the richest women in Spain.
After the divorce, the founder of Zara brought fate to his assistant Flores Perez Marcote, with whom they still live in perfect harmony. The couple have a daughter, Marta Ortega Perez, who works for her father's company. She is responsible for the youth brand Bershka, part of Inditex.
A few years ago, 78-year-old Amancio Ortega left the chairmanship of Inditex, handing over the reins to the younger generation.
Amancio Ortega lives in a rather modest mansion for one of the richest people in the world in A Coruña in northern Spain, where he opened the first Zara store many years ago. The billionaire leads an extremely closed life, not wanting to communicate not only with journalists, but even with the King of Spain, Philip, who repeatedly invited him to royal receptions.
They say that the creator of “instant fashion” still likes to come to lunch at the main office of Inditex, apparently in order to once again be amazed at how large his brainchild has grown and continues to grow.
Daria Tkacheva was interested in the history of the brand
Spanish entrepreneur Amancio Ortega is the richest man in the world. The owner of Inditex, which combines the brands Zara, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho and others, is now worth about $ 72 billion. The Secret found out what rules Ortega followed in order to accumulate such a fortune.
Money shouldn't be the goal
Ortega comes from a poor family: his father is a railway worker, and his mother is a maid, there was barely enough money for the bare necessities. Once, when he was 12 years old, he went to the grocery store with his mother, but had to leave empty-handed. He heard the seller say, "Josefa, I'm sorry, but I can no longer sell you goods on credit." This angered Ortega, and he decided that he didn't want his mother to ever hear something like that again. Soon he left school and got a job as an assistant in a sewing workshop.
And yet, according to the founder of Zara, money is not the most important thing for him, it is more important to be able to set goals and do everything to achieve them. “Doing business just for money is a waste of time. When you earn as much as we do, it is obvious that we are unlikely to need more. For me, money has only one meaning. They are needed to achieve goals. And if you are successful, then it is useful to help those who depend on us so that their lives become better, ”says Ortega.
Photo: Jim Hollander/EPA
Find your niche
“From the time I started working, I was obsessed with one idea: why not invent something different from everything else on the market? I saw clearly that it was necessary to occupy the free space remaining in the world of the textile industry, ”said Amancio Ortega in an interview with the former editor-in-chief of the Spanish Telva magazine, Covadonga O'Shi.
In 1963, Ortega went into business for the first time, his wife joined him, and then his brother and his wife. They organized the production of bathrobes and cotton nightgowns: they sewed them by hand, creating models that looked like designer ones. “The fact that only rich ladies could dress well always seemed unfair to me,” Ortega said in 2003.
Later, representatives of Zara began to travel to fashion shows around the world and copied clothes. Ortega's company has been accused of plagiarism more than once, but Zara is confident that they do not copy, but capture fashion trends and use common ideas. So, in 2008, Zara unsuccessfully tried to sue the French shoemaker Christian Louboutin - the luxury brand claimed that the retailer violated its trademark by using very high heels and red soles. The cost of Zara shoes then did not exceed $100, and a pair of Christian Louboutins often cost more than $1000.
Do everything quickly
For Amancio Ortega, speed has always been important: the speed of production, the speed of delivery and the speed of updating models. Ortega set a rule at Zara - the lineup in stores should be updated every two weeks, and delivery to warehouses should be carried out within 48 hours.
Offering customers varied and small quantities, Zara can always count on the fact that everything will be sold out. If some things are not in demand, they are quickly replaced by more popular ones. While customers visit other clothing stores on average four times a year, they visit Inditex stores almost 17 times a year.
Ortega allowed his clients to update their wardrobe regularly. Back in the 90s, journalists wrote that Ortega changed people's consumer habits: "We are already beginning to define Zara-mania in consumer habits: to acquire the most fashionable things in order to get rid of them next year with a pure heart."
Don't delegate
“If I want everything to continue to work, I must remain in my post,” Amancio Ortega is sure. Acquaintances describe him as a passionate worker, ready to spend even birthdays at the factory. A businessman likes to control everything in his company - from the search for ideas for new models to the behavior of sales assistants in his stores.
Ortega stepped down as president of Inditex in 2011 at the age of 75, but continues to make regular trips to Inditex's headquarters in the billionaire's home province of A Coruña. There, he most often sits at the table with designers, fabric experts and buyers of the Zara women's clothing line. Ten years ago, the businessman confessed that although he is fascinated by the entire production process, what he likes most of all is to look at the work of his artists.
Photo: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Bloomberg via Getty Images
keep growing
The first Zara opened in 1975 in A Coruña, and in the 1980s, the chain's outlets were already all over Spain. However, this was not enough for Ortega - he wanted to conquer all the fashionable capitals. In 1988 he opened the first Zara store in Portugal, in 1989 in New York, and in 1990 in Paris. In Russia, the first Zara appeared in 2003. “Even when I was a nobody and had practically nothing, I dreamed of development and growth. We have never rested on our laurels or taken the easy way out. Optimism can be a very negative emotion. Need to take risks! Every day there are new ideas and we don't have any pre-set plans. Growth is a survival mechanism. Without growth, the company dies,” says Ortega.
By the mid-1980s, Ortega realized that one brand was not enough to satisfy all categories of the population - mainly middle-class women dressed in Zara. In 1991, he created Pull & Bear, a youth brand of inexpensive casual wear. Then he bought a stake in Massimo Dutti, which dresses upper-middle-income clients (now the brand is wholly owned by him). In 1998, Bershka appeared, offering clothes to young party girls, and in 1999, Ortega bought his main competitor in the teenage clothing market, the Stradivarius chain. Today Inditex is the largest group of companies in the clothing market, with more than 6,777 stores in 88 countries.
Sources: The Zara Phenomenon by Covadonga O'Shea, Bloomberg, Forbes Cover photo: Efa via EPA
Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Uterqüe. Stradivarius - these fashionable clothing stores are known to everyone modern woman. Did you know that all these brands belong to the same production holding - Industria de Diseno Textil Sociedad Anonima (Inditex)? The owner of the holding, Spanish businessman Amancio Ortega, has been leading in the ranking of the richest people on the planet for several years in a row. In 2012, he was recognized as the richest person in Europe by Bloomberg, with a net worth of $39.5 billion. In 2013, his fortune was already estimated by Forbes magazine at 57 billion, which put him in third place among the world's billionaires, moving the legendary Warren Buffett in the ranking. And in 2015 and 2016, according to Forbes, he became the richest man on the planet with a fortune of about $ 80 billion, overtaking Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the Sultan of Brunei and other world rich people.
How did it happen that the richest man in the world is also the most unknown? We are sure that a little more than everyone has heard the name of the same Bill Gates, and you most likely see the name of Amancio Ortega for the first time. This man does not pose for cameras and never gives interviews. Almost nothing is known about his life, journalists even called him "the nightmare of the paparazzi." The only time and for only 15 minutes, he allowed journalists to photograph himself in 2001 at a public report of the company. Then he answered only one question - about why he leads such a reclusive lifestyle. The tycoon said he didn't want to be recognized on the street by anyone other than his family and friends. He also asked all his acquaintances not to talk about the details of his life, and no one violated his request.
The more valuable are the crumbs of information that are known about him. And here is what is known about him.
Amancio Ortega Gaona was born on March 28, 1936 in the Spanish provincial town of Busdongo, near Leon. The childhood of the richest man on the planet was the most ordinary. His parents were not millionaires who gave their offspring good start in life. Unlike other European billionaires such as Georg Scheffler, Liliane Betancourt or Gerald Grosvenor (otherwise known as the Duke of Westminster), he did not inherit his wealth. His parents were not even middle class. Amancio Ortega's father worked as a railway worker, his mother was a servant. Even in the conditions of the economic crisis in post-war Spain, Ortega's father's salary was considered very modest - he received only 300 pesetas a month. To understand the size of this amount, imagine that a dozen chicken eggs cost about 30 pesetas - a tenth of this salary. In addition to Amancio, the family had two more children - older brother Antonio and sister Josepha.
The family lived so poorly that Amancio had to leave school and go to work. He was only 13 years old. One day he went grocery shopping with his mother and witnessed a humiliating scene when, despite his mother's pleas, the seller refused to give her a further loan for groceries, because they already owed him a large amount. All the greengrocers, butchers and bakers from the surrounding shops refused to sell on credit, and at some point the family had nothing to eat. It was a turning point in Amancio's life - his biographer Covadonga O'Shea writes about it this way: “In these terrible days, he first realized all the drama and all the hopelessness of poverty, which should never again be repeated either in his life or in his future family ".
The first job of the future textile magnate was working as a courier in a haberdashery store. When Amancio was 14 years old, the family moved to the city of La Coruña, where Amancio's father was offered a job. There, Amancio got a job at the Gala Notariado clothing store on the corner of Federico Tapia and Plaza de Galizia. This store still exists. True, according to the owner, visitors to the store do not so much buy his products - shirts, cardigans and hats - as they try to find out details about the youth of the multibillionaire who once worked here as an errand boy.
Later, Amancio Ortega got a job in one of the Spanish ateliers. There he learned how to sew clothes, shirring and draping fabrics. Soon he got a job as an apprentice to a fashionable Spanish designer who once said this about him: “Amancio is a hard-working guy, of course, but he cannot become a good tailor. He doesn't know how to communicate with people. The tailor does half of the work with his tongue, but he is silent all the time, shy. Let him do something else, sewing is not his destiny. Ortega has always been modest, bordering on shyness. The only time journalists were allowed to photograph him, everyone could see how hard it was for him.
Working as an apprentice, Ortega not only learned to sew, studied fashion and developed a sense of beauty. He studied the needs of customers and thought about how to meet the demand. In his study of pricing, he saw that the cost of clothing rises as you move from the sewing shop to the warehouse - from the warehouse to the wholesale dealer - from the dealer to the retail store. He realized that if you shorten this path, the price of things will become much more attractive.
But for Ortega, improving logistics was not the only way win a buyer. He was always fascinated by the idea of making luxury items available to the public. The idea was not new - many entrepreneurs of that time made their fortune by following this path. For example, the founder of Ikea, who made designer furniture accessible to all segments of the population. In the 1960s, Ortega took a job as a sales manager in a clothing store. In addition to working in the store, he began to buy inexpensive fabrics in Barcelona and sew clothes from them. For some models, he himself came up with patterns, but mostly he copied clothes from famous fashion designers, adapting them to the mass buyer. His clothes were in great demand, Spanish boutiques began to buy them. Within 3 years, Amancio saved up enough money to open his own clothing business called Confecciones GOA (the abbreviation GOA is Amancio Ortega Gaon's initials, read backwards). It was family company, where Amancio himself was responsible for the development of models, his brother Antonio was responsible for commercial matters, his sister was in charge of accounting, and his wife Rosalia Mera acted as a business partner. The future billionaire began by sewing underwear, bathrobes and nightgowns.
Amancio Ortega opened his first own clothing store shortly before his 40th birthday. It is interesting that this happened unplanned. GOA garments received a large order for bathrobes from a German client, and Ortega had already invested all the money he had in tailoring when the client last moment canceled the order. To save the company from bankruptcy, Ortega and his wife decided to open their own store and sell their products there. Thus, the Zara store was born. At first, they wanted to name the store Zorba after Anthony Quinn's character from the movie Zorba the Greek. But the name Zorba was already registered to another company, and after some deliberation, the store got the name Zara, which sounded feminine and exotic (pronounced “Thara” in Spanish).
Ten years after the opening of the first Zara, a parent company, Inditex, was formed to handle the rapid expansion. In 1989, the first overseas Zara store was opened in Porta, Portugal. Now, after 40 years of dynamic development, the Zara network includes 2,000 stores in 88 countries around the world. In addition to Zara, Amancio Ortega owns Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Bershka, Zara Home, Uterqüe and Lefties brands.
The richest representative of the fashion world never attends shows, fashion weeks and other public or private events of the industry. But shortly after each fashion week, Zara stores are filled with designs that are very similar to the prêt-a-porte clothes introduced just a few days ago by high-end designers. This situation infuriates fashion designers and delights Zara customers who cannot afford an expensive original, and do not see much point in it.
The main feature of Zara, which allowed her to get ahead, is an instant response to customer demand. Firstly, the company was able to reduce the time for new models to go on sale to a ridiculous 10-15 days! Yes, yes, design, pattern development, tailoring, delivery to a retail store - all this within two weeks! The company's team employs more than 200 designers who respond to the slightest fluctuations in demand. Secondly, in order to better understand the needs of customers, the Zara team analyzes not only the actual sales, but also the goods that customers took for fitting, but for some reason did not buy. This analysis gives an understanding of what needs to be improved, helps to identify customer expectations. Thirdly, the company managed to get away from the trend to place garment production in the countries of Southeast Asia to reduce the cost of production. Spain produces 50% of Zara clothes, 26% in other parts of Europe and only 24% in Asia, Africa and other countries. Instead of saving on the quality of tailoring, Zara saves on advertising. According to High Point University economics professor Stephanie Crofton, Inditex spends only 0.3% of its revenue on advertising, compared to 3.5-5%, which is about the same as other major clothing brands. Fourth, Zara releases clothes in super-small batches and never re-sews even the most successful models. So they reduce the risks of increasing stocks, and provide customers with some kind of exclusivity.
In 2011, when the founder of Zara turned 75, he announced his resignation. The post of president of the holding was taken by former vice president and assistant Pablo Isla. Rumor has it that Amancio Ortega plans to make his successor the youngest daughter from his second marriage, Marta.
In total, Amancio Ortega has three children: daughter Sandra and son Marcos from his first wife Rosalia Mera, and daughter Marta from his second wife Flora Perez Marcote. They say that eldest daughter billionaire flatly refused to do business. She inherited more than 4.7 billion euros from her mother, who died in 2012, owns a 7% stake in Inditex and, according to Forbes, is one of the richest and most powerful women in Europe. Son Marcos is not able to manage the company, since he has been disabled since birth - the boy was born with cerebral palsy. Shortly after his birth, his parents opened charitable foundation support for children with such disabilities.
The billionaire divorced his first wife in 1986, but there were rumors that the couple had not been a family for a long time by that time, keeping the relationship only for the sake of business. The billionaire married his second wife in 2001, they are together to this day.
Ortega spends millions of dollars every year protecting his anonymity. Perhaps there will be no more than 200 pictures in which you can see him and his family members. Bits of information about his life can be seen either in the official Zara news or in his biographies written by the official biographer Covadonga O'Shea (family friend, teacher at the fashion school at the University of Navarra) or Xabier Blanco (Spanish journalist, carefully tracks the career of the founder of Zara ).
He never arranges parties, does not go to public events, but what is there - he refused an invitation to dinner from the Queen of Spain herself! His modesty is also evidenced by the fact that for many years he lives in a five-story building in A Coruña, and when he worked for the company, he dined in the common dining room with his employees. His daughter Marta, who is to inherit her father's fashion empire, worked in the holding, starting from the lowest positions.
The Spanish billionaire knows how not only to make money, but also to spend. For example, in 2011, Ortega bought the 43-story Picasso skyscraper in downtown Madrid for $536 million. He also owns a Falcon 900 private jet, a hotel on the coast of Miami, various houses and apartments around the world, and his own racetrack. The billionaire bought real estate as an investment, he rents out his houses and does not leave A Coruña. But the hippodrome was bought for the soul. Ortega has a real passion for horses and racing, as does his daughter Marta, who even married equestrian star Sergio Alvarez Moya.
The great merit of this man is that he made fashionable designer clothes available to everyone, and not just to the elite segments of society. Many have tried to replicate his business model, but so far no one has succeeded. The speed with which he captures fashion trends and embodies them in the clothes of his brand is truly breathtaking. Many things played a role in his success - his own talent, and the right people who helped him, and his faith in success, and, of course, a happy coincidence. But the start was made when Ortega saw poverty in all its ugliness, on that memorable day when his mother refused to sell food on credit. On that day, the future billionaire promised himself never to humiliate himself or starve again. He kept his word.
It specializes in the production of inexpensive wardrobe items, created, however, taking into account the latest trends in the fashion world. Both natural and synthetic materials are used. The quality varies from mediocre to good. Prices in Russia are average, in Europe they are rather low. The range is wide.
Story
Inditex was founded by Spanish entrepreneur Amancio Ortega and his wife Rosalia Mera in 1975. ZARA became the first brand of the company, the first company store was opened in the same year in the Spanish city of La Coruña. It is there that the headquarters of Inditex is located to this day.
Initially, the company was engaged in actually copying the clothes of high fashion houses. Copies were sold by low prices, which made ZARA popular among low-income people who dreamed of wearing fashionable clothes. Currently, ZARA is no longer engaged in simple copying, but creates new models on its own, but taking into account the latest fashion trends.
The uniqueness of the company lies in the extremely high degree of sophistication production chain: clothes are created (designed) very quickly, put into production very quickly and get into Retail Stores. The whole process takes about two weeks, which is an extremely short time. This "fast" model was developed by Amancio Ortega and José Maria Castellano in the 1980s and made ZARA a huge success, because it became possible to react very quickly to changes in demand, to new collections of leading designers and so on.
By the end of the 80s, ZARA stores operated in 80 Spanish cities, in 1988 international expansion began - a store was opened in the city of Porto (Portugal), in 1989 the first store was opened in the USA, in 1990 - in France. Inditex and its flagship brand have grown rapidly.
In 2000, ZARA entered the Ukrainian market, and in 2003 - the Russian one. There are currently 1,671 brand stores in 76 countries around the world. In Ukraine - 9 stores, in Russia - 58.
Range
The ZARA assortment includes men's, women's and children's clothing of various styles, styles, colors. In addition, you can also find shoes (both official and casual, and even sports) and accessories in ZARA. ZARA Home stores sell bed linen and other home textiles.
Clothing is made from both inexpensive natural materials (cotton, wool, leather) and artificial ones (viscose, leatherette, polyester). Mostly budget materials are used (leather is mostly the cheapest - pig and bovine), which allows you to keep prices at a relatively low level. At the same time, it must be added that in Russia the prices in ZARA are greatly inflated, in the same Spain they are noticeably lower; in general, in Europe it is clothing rather for the poor. Therefore, I do not advise you to be proud of ZARA clothes in front of Europeans and in general in front of anyone.
One of the main advantages of ZARA is diversity. In the stores of this brand you will find a wide variety of clothes of various styles, colors and sizes. Moreover, the collections are regularly updated - something new appears approximately every two weeks.
The quality of clothes varies quite a lot: you can buy both very good things and very mediocre ones. In most cases, you can understand by the appearance of a thing whether it will last a long time, whether it will soon lose its appearance. Carefully inspect the products before buying, choose the best copy of those available.
Relatively menswear I can say the following: ZARA has very mediocre suits (moreover, mostly made of synthetics), good, sometimes very good shirts and shirts, good jeans with a good price-quality ratio.
The quality of the shoes I would call very mediocre; for cheap shoes, mainly synthetic materials are used, as well as short-lived polished leather and velor (read more about leather types). For more expensive models, although smooth leather is used, it is usually bovine - it is tough, creases and folds may appear on it.
In any case, remember that ZARA specializes in "fast fashion", which means that customers are expected to constantly update their wardrobe, striving to follow the latest fashion trends, and not wear the same thing for years. Accordingly, ZARA clothing is simply not designed for long wear.
Personal impressions. Reviews
In my opinion, in ZARA you can find very good things - if you look. It is best to come during sales, then you can buy, for example, a good 100% cotton shirt for 600-700 rubles - this is a very attractive option. I have no complaints about ZARA shirts, their quality is quite consistent with the price (however, there are also quite ugly specimens, you have to look carefully).
But the suits are a different matter, I saw ZARA suits that lost their appearance six months after the purchase. Moreover, they are mostly synthetic, and this can be seen immediately. Their prices are not so small; By the way, this also applies to business trousers.
Online reviews vary. Many people like the opportunity to buy really bright and trendy clothes for relatively little money. Others resent the quality. On my own behalf, I can add that, for example, in Moscow, ZARA clothing is already perceived as consumer goods and with its help you are unlikely to stand out, especially in the eyes of those who wear more expensive things. If you are not interested in fashion, but just want good, modest clothes, then it’s better to go to GAP - there, of course, the design is boring, but the clothes are of high quality and durable, very wear-resistant.
Brief summary:
- Clothing styles : classic, strict casual, club casual.
- Range : almost all items of clothing (from underwear to jackets and coats; from jeans to suits), shoes (sneakers, shoes, boots), various accessories (belts, bags, etc.).
- clothingfor men, women, children . Textiles for the home.
- Dimensions : women - from XS to XXL, men - from S to XXL.
- materials : natural - cotton, wool, leather, artificial - polyester, elastane, viscose, etc.
- Price category : medium, sometimes above average (in Europe - rather lower).
- Discount program : missing.
Approximate prices (as of October 2012) for women's clothing:
- T-shirts, T-shirts - 500-2000 rubles (800 on average).
- Shirts, blouses - 1500-4600 rubles (on average - 2000-3000).
- Dress - 2000-6000 rubles.
- Skirt - 1500-5000 rubles.
- Jeans - 1900-3000 rubles.
- Pants - 1900-3000 rubles.
- Jackets - 2000-7600 rubles.
- Pullovers, cardigans, sweatshirts - from 800 (cotton) to 4600 (woolen) rubles.
- Jackets - 2000-16000 rubles.
- Raincoats - 5000-7600 rubles.
- Boots - 3800-9000 rubles.
- Low shoes, half boots - 3800-7600 rubles.
- Keds - 1400-2000 rubles.
- Shoes - 2000-4400 rubles.
- Belts, belts - 900-2600 rubles.
- Umbrella - 800-900 rubles.
- Bags - 1500-8000 rubles (average 3000-3800).
- Caps, hats - 500-1700 rubles.
- Scarves and shawls - 1000-3000 rubles.
- Gloves - from 1000 (knitwear) to 1700-2000 (leather) rubles.
- Socks - 400 rubles per pair, stockings - 600-900 rubles.
Approximate prices (as of October 2012) for men's clothing:
No matter how women relate to fashion and style, they will always be interested in new items in the fashion industry. Any representative of the fair sex wants to become the owner of at least a few things from the latest collections of the world's leading designers, without spending sky-high sums of money. A real find in this difficult matter was the unique Spanish brand ZARA, which became famous thanks to the rapid adaptation of trends (development, production and delivery of clothes takes only 2-4 weeks). In addition, the brand's specialists take a special approach to the formation of collections: if they see that some thing is not in demand and few people buy it, it is removed from sale and sent for revision.
Brief history of the brand
The founder of one of the largest retail chains in the world is the Spanish entrepreneur Amancio Ortega, and his wife Rosalia Mera acted as a co-founder of the company. At first, the couple did all the work related to the creation of clothes themselves. Yes, they made their own initial sketches and sewed things, but after one unpleasant incident, when the spouses completed a large order, and the client refused it, Rosalia came up with the idea of opening own store for the sale of unsold goods. So in 1975, businessmen opened their first own point of sale in the Spanish town of La Coruña. The original name was supposed to sound like Zorba, but certain difficulties arose during the registration process, due to which the brand had to be called differently. Thus, one of the most successful brands in the history of the fashion industry was born.
In 1985, on the basis of the ZARA boutique chain, a holding called Inditex was created, which included 6,750 stores located in 88 countries. ZARA's global expansion began in 1988 with the opening of the first overseas store in Portugal. In 1989, a boutique of the Spanish brand was opened in the USA, then in France, Sweden, Turkey, etc. Today, there are more than a thousand stores of a popular brand around the world that delight fashionistas and fashionistas in more than 60 countries with beautiful and stylish clothes at affordable prices. According to experts, this success of the Spanish company was achieved thanks to a serious and creative approach to both the development of clothing and pricing policy, as well as marketing technologies. The attractiveness of ZARA is due to the fact that the prices of goods are relatively low, but this does not affect their quality in any way - when you see things from the Spanish brand, there is no feeling of cheapness.
ZARA brand concept
As many as 200 talented designers are responsible for the development and release of new collections of the brand. The process of creating clothes is based on popular models and novelties of world famous fashion houses. A large staff helps to ensure a quick response to the slightest change trends and customer preferences. Thanks to the operational work of young fashion designers, it is possible to refine ready-made clothing models, complement the color palette and materials from which things are made. It was the fast process of production and modernization of clothing that formed the basis of the concept of fast fashion (fast fashion).
Fresh ideas and flair of fashion designers for current trends ensure that ZARA stores are filled with a huge variety of items with original designs. One of the features of the brand is that it does not hesitate to copy the "catwalk" ideas belonging to other designers, and begins their implementation long before the author of his collection is sewn. Annually professional designers ZARA develops and launches thousands of clothing models. They constantly delight and surprise fans with interesting new products, for which they attract a millionth army of fans around the world.
The distinctive features of the brand are:
1. Acceptable prices.
2. Schemes of production and sales. When a company designs and releases a new collection, it gives fans access to 60% of all products, with the rest going on sale during the season.
3. Fast adaptation of trends.
4. The widest range. ZARA offers its customers more than 11 thousand items of goods.
The company strives to attract customers and do everything to ensure that they look into stores as often as possible. This is facilitated by the constant updating of collections, which allows you to achieve the desired result. According to statistics, every year customers visit ZARA boutiques, located on the central streets of Spanish cities, about 17 times. Such a number is impressive, isn't it?!
Features of the collections and range of the brand
The brand's collections are updated weekly (mainly on Thursday and Saturday). Things are sold out at an incredible speed - we can talk about 2-3 days or several hours. Brand specialists are very sensitive to the economic situation that is developing in the market. Due to this, the things created by the brand are worn by absolutely everyone. ZARA attracts the attention of customers with products with character, which allow creating unique looks. It's about about clothes, shoes, accessories, bags and bijouterie. For this, ZARA is loved all over the world, because the brand makes it possible for even average fashionistas to be at the forefront of fashion.
ZARA assortment
ZARA stores offer a huge range of women's, men's and children's clothing, as well as accessories for every taste. The company is trying to attract the attention of buyers through inexpensive materials, affordable prices and simplified production technologies. Collections affect the value of items. To date, ZARA produces 3 main clothing lines:
1. Woman. The collection is presented with classic and elegant pieces for beautiful ladies.
2. Trafaluc. A line of youth clothing based on playful cotton T-shirts with various inscriptions, torn jeans, knitwear dresses, colorful and bright accessories.
3.Basic. The men's collection is presented underwear with drawings, plain T-shirts, business shirts, chinos, bags, etc.
Special attention should be paid to ZARA tops and t-shirts, which are distinguished by their excellent cut and decent quality. It is recommended to buy things from linen and cotton. You will also not regret if you buy a shirt, which includes cotton and polyester - in it you will look very stylish, and the feeling of comfort will not leave you throughout the day.
The exclusivity of the ZARA brand lies in seducing customers with products they cannot resist. But the Spanish brand is more than just beautiful clothes. Now we will tell you some Interesting Facts, after which you will begin to admire her even more.
1. The Spanish company Inditex, which includes ZARA, is one of the largest distribution groups that produce and sell clothing. The concern owns the following clothing brands: ZARA, Bershka, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius and Massimo Dutti.
2. The original name of the boutique (Zorba) was coined in honor of the hero of one of Amancio Ortega's favorite movies. Also named one of the local bars in A Coruña.
3. The production of half of ZARA products is carried out in factories located in Spain. Goods requiring a longer production period are made in Turkey and Asian countries.
4. It takes no more than 30 days to sell any clothing models.
5. To promote the brand, ZARA invests in the opening of boutiques in areas located close to the leading brands.
6. In 2003, the ZARA Home project was launched, which is designed to make the home interior as stylish as the brand's clothing.
7. Not so long ago, the Greenpeace agreement was signed, according to which the company plans to stop using harmful chemicals in its products by 2020.
8. ZARA is one of Duchess Kate Middleton's favorite fashion brands.
ZARA: collections 2017
Let's see what clothes ZARA has prepared for the fair sex this season. The collection of clothes for women 2017 is presented mainly basic elements wardrobe designed to spice it up and bring a touch of style and sophistication to your everyday look. Brand designers have developed many different models:
Stylish blazers;
Cute and extravagant dresses and skirts;
Youth T-shirts;
Light knitted sweaters;
Fashionable overalls and jeans.
The key feature of all the items presented is rich and cheerful colors, as well as stylish and unusual prints. New ZARA collection impresses with a variety of styles: elegant outfits with chic clothes for everyday wear will impress any fashionista. The Spanish brand captivates with simplicity and practicality, which are organically combined with fashionable sophistication. Among the main novelties of the brand it is worth highlighting:
Oversized trench coats with defined shoulders;
Bulky sweaters and parkas;
Cropped Tops;
Flared skirts;
Leather jackets;
leggings;
Silk and chiffon dresses.
Outerwear
If you didn't manage to buy stylish ZARA outerwear in the spring, you can fix this situation in the fall. For the spring-autumn period, designers have prepared for girls a rich selection of classic wool and mohair coats of various cuts, attractive models of "biker" leather jackets, light windbreakers with a hood and everyone's favorite parkas. A classic gray cropped blazer is sure to please the businesswoman, paired with muted t-shirts and vertical striped trousers for a perfect ensemble. By the way, stylish jackets are made of lambskin, they are decorated with silver zippers and a universal removable strap.
Knitwear ZARA
In the latest collection, the Spanish brand decided to focus on knitwear, which are designed not only to warm their owners during the cold season, but also to make the image stylish and unusual. A spectacular large-knit cardigan with a hood deserves special attention, presented in 2 colors - rich gray and beige. The product is decorated with a very beautiful and elegant pattern, thanks to which a rather simple cut takes on an incredibly luxurious look. It is best to combine such a cardigan with straight trousers with a straight fit. It should also be said about a cozy and soft dark gray jacket, the sleeves of which are decorated with a viscous "elastic band". It is recommended to combine it with a feminine blouse and a straight black miniskirt.
Stylish shoes
In addition to a huge variety of clothing models, the new ZARA collection is presented designer shoes. Pumps, the relevance of which remains to this day, adorned with a snake print, a pointed toe and a 12 cm heel. For the manufacture of this model, genuine leather was used. No less attractive are goat leather shoes, the highlight of which is a metallic soft pink shade. Thanks to their extravagant silhouette, they will perfectly complement both a business look and an evening one. Fans of glamorous rock ZARA designers offered stylish boots made of genuine leather, decorated with spikes, buckles and other metal elements. Such shoes will create a very daring and fashionable look in an ensemble with tight trousers and a leather jacket.
The ZARA fashion brand attracts fashionistas with an extraordinary approach to the design of elegantly cut items, designed in an elegant business style. The secret of the incredible popularity and uniqueness of the brand lies in the huge selection of models and styles of clothing, affordable prices, seasonal sales, stylish outfits according to the latest fashion trends and bright colors. All these nuances make the clothes of the Spanish brand one of the best-selling and in demand.
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