It is a global success and a national pride in Spain: the first Zara brand store celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Today, the textile giant and the Inditex galaxy for textile design industry (Zara, Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, Uterqüe, Oysho) weighs no less than 164 billion euros in capitalization.
In 50 years, the small textile brand has become a giant, it is above all in the origin of what is called fast food or ephemeral fashion.
But it is clear that today, if Zara continues to apply the marketing recipes in this high speed mode to the letter, his luxurious luxury brings him closer to the average range marks that of Shein or Primark.
38 billion euros in income for Inditex in 2024
As a result, while the textile sector is fighting, that multiple brands disappear, Zara shows insolent health. Its matrix company has an invoicing of 2024 by 7.5% to 38 billion euros for a net gain of almost 5.9 billion against 5.4 a year earlier. Who says better?
You have to return to understand Zara’s keys. In 1963, its creator Amancio Ortega (who never gave the slightest interview), his wife and brother handle a small workshop in Corukene in Galicia, specializing in the creation of pajamas and camera dresses.
Very quickly, it has a kind of intuition: while the textile sector is organized according to two seasonal collections, with actions, Amancio Ortega has the idea of collections that are renewed on water, quickly, according to trends, with low prices and few actions. The “Fast Fashion” was born, a name invented by the New York Times in 1989 in an article that evokes the success of the Spanish brand.
How does it work? The models are created first by an army of homemade designers and then are carried out in very small, proven and adapted series according to the demand. The collections are renewed almost every month and actions (significant costs of costs in this industry) almost do not exist.
From the design to the shelves, there are only six weeks, the arrivals in the stores are held twice a week. It is this speed that explains the success of the brand.
In addition, the group decides not to announce (or very few), few promotions and sales, save money and install closely proximity to manufacturers/manufacturers found in the Mediterranean basin to obtain maximum response capacity.
A SIDE SAVINGS
Therefore, the first Zara stamped boutique opened 50 years ago in the Irr in 1975, and success was there. Other openings are still and a first store is open outside of Spain, in Porto in Portugal in 1988 and then in New York in 1989. There will be a maximum of 1,800 Zara stores in the world.
At the same time, if Amancio Ortega optimizes his marketing approach, it means that Zara resembles the main fashion brands. This implies an inspiration of the models of brands ready to use higher (plagiarism, some will say) and for a care provided to the stores that occupy certain high gas codes.
This success gives ideas. At the same time, giants like H&M were launched, then the compressors that are Primark, Shein or Temu with even lower prices landed, the collections were renewed more quickly.
Enough to give birth to the first controversies about fast food (which is now described as an ultra fast fashion) and its disastrous consequences on climate, child labor, pollution, frantic water consumption, etc. The Spanish brand is no exception to this wave of criticism against rapid fashion. Because if it has been done in North Africa, you also request workshops in Asia.
Descendant
In 2020, Zara was accused as other important brands (Uniqlo …) to contribute to the exploitation and torture of the uigures in the internment camps in Xinjiang in China. In April 2021, NGOs filed a complaint in France against four manufacturers, including Zara and an investigation is open.
In 2023, a study conducted jointly by the University of Aberdeen and the Association of British Transformation Transformation Transformation published by The Guardian emphasizes that the prices paid by large rapid fashion groups to their Bangladais suppliers had been reviewed down during the health crisis, whose orders had been canceled. Worse, since the end of confinements, these prices would never have been revalued.
In 2024, the land of the Earth of the British NGO accused H&M and Inditex to participate in deforestation in Brazil. Cotton of clothing, which is supposed to be certified as “sustainable”, will come from the “closed” looting.
The giant denies these accusations and now promises to use more sustainable materials, and even be neutral in carbon broadcast by 2040, a great challenge for a resource sector.
Regarding its suppliers, Inditex claims to have “guaranteed the payment of all orders already made and under production and have worked with financial institutions to facilitate the granting of loans to suppliers in favorable conditions.”
Luxury, diversification, digitalization and price increase
Zara has gradually changed its strategy with a step from side to luxurious. The brand thus reduces the number of its stores, it puts beautiful flagships in the exclusive districts, reproduces the map of collaborations with creators, diversification (house, men, perfume, recycling of products, Zachoffé space). Last February, Zara Hair launched, for example, with basic concepts of every day, a variety of hair care.
The emphasis is also put in the sale in line with emphasis on customization and synergies with stores (reserving cabins, for example). Above all, it begins an increase in its prices against always cheaper competitors. By believing that quality is not incompatible with fast fashion, Zara is gradually moving away from the entry level to approach more conventional brands. A strategy that allows you to keep your place as the first fashion retailer in today’s world.
Source: BFM TV
