It’s been 50 years since a little clothing store opened its doors in A Coruña, a seaside city in northern Spain. Today, that store Zara is at the heart of a global fashion empire that still does things very differently from its rivals.
Owned by Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer, Zara doesn’t play by the usual rules. It doesn’t advertise. It rarely grants interviews. And yet, it thrives—spanning 97 countries, employing thousands, and quietly influencing how the world dresses.
So, what’s the secret?
To find out, we travelled to the company’s sprawling campus in Galicia for a rare peek behind the curtain. There, Zara’s low-profile operations reveal a business built not just on efficiency—but on instinct.
“There are no rules in general,” says Mehdi, one of Zara’s 350 designers hailing from over 40 countries. “It’s all about feelings.”
This is no mere slogan. While most fashion brands stick to two main collections a year, Zara has reshaped the calendar by delivering fresh styles every week. That ability to constantly evolve is thanks to a radical model: bring production closer to home, reduce lead times, and always listen to the customer.
Just over half of Zara’s clothing is made in nearby countries—Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Turkey. Some garments are even crafted on-site at the company’s headquarters, where a mini-factory handles limited runs of new designs.
From there, the system moves with military precision. Product managers receive real-time data from stores around the world—not just sales numbers but feedback from shoppers. Designers tweak or redesign pieces based on those insights, which means what’s on the shelves is always closely tuned to demand.
And unlike most High Street brands that slash prices constantly, Zara only stages sales twice a year. It prefers to keep its brand lean, focused, and just a little bit elusive.
That doesn’t mean it’s immune to challenges. With fast-rising competitors like Shein and Temu disrupting the market with ultra-cheap fashion shipped directly from China, and global uncertainties like U.S. tariffs, Zara must keep adapting.
But Inditex CEO Óscar García Maceiras remains confident. “Diversification is key,” he says. “We produce in almost 50 different markets with non-exclusive suppliers. We’re more than used to adapting to change.”
Zara’s second-largest market is now the United States, and expansion is still on the agenda. Tariffs, Maceiras suggests, won’t derail that.
Behind the global brand stands the Ortega family. Founder Amancio Ortega, now 89 and famously reclusive, still visits the HQ from time to time.
His daughter Marta, who took over as chairwoman, is continuing the vision, maintaining the company’s culture of quiet innovation.
“He’s a presence,” says Maceiras of the elder Ortega. “A physical or moral presence, absolutely every day.”
