French textile design

Zara clothing stores are owned by a company called Inditex, INdustrias de DIseño TEXtil (Textile Design Industries, Inc.) which is a corporation located in Spain. It is possibly the world’s largest fashion group consisting of more than 100 companies that design, produce and distribute clothing. The company was founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona and runs over 4,000 stores across worldwide. The group designs and manufactures almost everything by itself, and new designs are dispatched twice a week to Zara stores.

Amancio Ortega Gaono founded Zara and opened his first store in 1975 where he sold cheap clothing designed to look like those found in higher-end clothing stores. This concept took off and Mr. Ortega Gaono began opening zara clothing stores in Spain. After becoming established in Spain, he streamlined his clothing design, manufacture and distribution processes which greatly reduced costs. He deemed his new offerings "instant fashions." The vertical integration of the company is unlike other clothing stores. The company controls all steps by designing, manufacturing and distributing the goods.

This process gives Zara a competitive edge in the market because it can modify existing designs and deliver them to the store shelves in a little as two weeks. Other companies require at least twice as much time to modify and produce a product. The company frequently rotates stock in its stores which keeps consumer interest high as new products are continually arriving. No product stays on the shelf in any store longer than two weeks and new designs are delivered to stores twice each week. Other clothing manufacturers have not been able to compete with Zara’s rapid production.

At the end of 1988, Zara Clothing expanded further opening stores in Portugal and the United States of America. In 1990 Zara Clothing began opening stores in France. Mr. Ortega Gaono continued his global expansion by moving to Mexico, Greece, Belguim and then Sweden by the mid-1990s. Currently, the clothing chain is represented in more than 73 countries world wide.

In 2007 the company began offering men’s clothing in addition to its line of women’s fashions. Zara store also offer shoes, cosmetics, fashion accessories and has developed a line of children’s clothing. One half of the products are manufactured in Spain, and the balance divided between European and Asian factories. Low wage costs and control of the entire process allows the company to offer more products than other similar retailers. Zara factories produce more than 10,000 different items. Its competitors produce considerably less, at around 2,000 to 3,000 distinct products. The clothing store has online retail stores as well which has greatly increased name recognition and product availability. Internet sales plus thousands of stores worldwide has made Zara a truly global company.