Discussing The Brand Story, ‘Zara Case Study’ Exploring the Revolution and Boom in the Fashion Industry and Rediscovering the Fashion Trends.

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Zara Case Study
The fashion industry often seem limited and insignificant, mainly when outfits can not be cheaper and more affordable in present era. Yet lets be clear, there really is value in fashion, that’s why in this business, the second richest person in the world earned him glory. That’s why we are going to discuss the brand case study of the world’s largest clothes retailer, Zara.
Zara History
The story starts in Spain in 1950. In the northwestern part of the country leiLa Coruña, a small but beautiful coastal city. Amancio Ortega, who was barely fourteen years old back then, had just gotten his first job as an errand boy, delivering fabrics for a local clothing retail store. Young Ortega excelled at his jobs, and when he got older he continued to negotiate with the clients and vendors of the shop, finally becoming a senior manager in 1960.
When not at work Amancio would develop his own designs out of his sister’s house. He used the less costly ingredients left over from retail outlet to reproduce famous designs, whilst also trying to add his own enhancements. Amancio would also fashion dressing gowns and lingerie, that he would instead sell at the department store. In 1963, he felt secure enough just to quit his management job and start his own firm.
Working out of his own home, Amancio established Confecciones Goa with a meager $25 of initial capital. He also get his brother, sister and wife to work with him, and Amancio had been distributing retail stores throughout the city a long time ago. Since there were no members of the family availableo work with him , Amancio assembled women throughout the region into sewing cooperatives. During the 1960s Amancio expanded to service the whole of Spain, but even then he was still only a supplier to retail stores without a brand of his own.
He was uncertain to launch his own business because of Spain’s political climate. By then, Spain had been a monarchy under Francisco Franco, the conservative general who assumed office during the Spanish Civil War. Among many other things, the Franco dictatorship had very strict restrictions on dress codes. On top of that there were very few women participating in the workforce, which meant that most of Amancio’s clients wouldn’t have a lot of money to spend on clothes.
First Store of Zara
After the death of Franco in 1975 and totalitarian Spain died along with him. In Spain, the 1970s saw major social and economic reforms that revamped the country. It became recognized as the Spanish wonder in those years, and Amancio was willing to take benefit of it. He opened his first retail store in La Coruña just a few months after Franco’s death.
Amancio wanted to call his store Zorba, in honor of his favorite movie, Zorba the Greek. He already had purchased the letter molds for showroom until he noticed that some blocks down there had been a large bar with same name. If it was carelessness or generosity, Amancio wanted to utilize the letter molds he had already purchased, and therefore he renamed his retail store as ‘Zara’.
The timing of Zara’s launch was perfect and Amancio’s unique approach to fashion helped kick start the brand’s popularity. Most of the clothing retailers even today function on a seasonal model with huge production runs, and towards the end of each season they heavily discount the clothes they didn’t manage to sell. However, Zara will further manage to formulate new designs all year round simply manufacture them for a short period of time, removing the need for discounted selling.
Zara’s Concept of Fast Fashion
Zara’s buyers soon realized to purchase their clothing easily until their dream styles were sold out. These restricted manufacturing methods have meant that buyers understood that their garments would be relatively exclusive compared to the mass-produced styles of seasonal retailers. It often inspired customers to visit the shop regularly, as they knew they would encounter new designs any time they visited the store. Since Amancio was in charge of the entire manufacturing chain, from his sewing cooperatives to his storefront, he was able to sell new designs for as little as two weeks.
Zara’s concept, then recognized as ‘fast fashion,’ had become a major success and reinvented the fashion industry. During the next decade, Amancio has extended across Spain and established a 10,000 square meter logistics hub. In 1985, he was able to grow abroad, forming a joint venture for his showrooms, called Industria de Diseño Textil, or Inditex for short. Zara’s first multinational store opened in nearby Portugal in 1988 to test the market. That worked out good enough, and Amancio was ambitious enough to establish a shop in New York in 1989 and Paris in 1990.
Zara’s dominance on International Fashion Industry
Over the course of the 1990s Zara opened over 550 new stores across the globe. Amancio was keen to extend Inditex’s collection within Zara, and he launched Pull&Bear as a casual urban company in 1991. The same year, Amancio bought Massimo Dutti for high-end metropolitan wear. By the turn of the millennium, Amancio had already founded Bershka and purchased Stradivarius.
He was already 64 years old by that point and was looking forward to retiring, so in 2001 he took Inditex public by selling 20% of his shares, which made him the wealthiest man in Spain. By 2004 Inditex had created two new brands, Oysho and Zara Home, and had opened store #2,000 in Hong Kong. Ever since, Inditex has opened many as each new store every individual day. In 2008, they founded the luxury accessories brand Uterqüe and blew past H&M and GAP to become the largest clothing retail outlet in the world.
The financial crisis barely slowed Inditex down, and in 2010 they inaugurated store #5,000 in Rome. Today, Inditex has a record of 7,292 stores spread over 93 countries, and Amancio is the second richest person in the world, worth $67 billion. He formally retired in 2011, but even after his retirement, Inditex managed in conquering the fashion industry.
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