Story behind the success of Zara the fashion chain...

1. ZARA
ZARAZARA
ZARAZARAZARA
THE BEAST FILE: ZARA
http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/beast-file-zara

2. •
ZARA
Launched in 1975, Zara now has almost 2000 stores in 77 countries. Its parent company, Inditex, turned over $17 billion last year, helping reclusive
founder Amancio Ortega – a railway worker’s son – become the 7th richest man in the world.
• Zara’s HQ is a futuristic building known as “The Cube” in La Coruña, northwestern Spain. From there, staff churn out 30,000 designs a year, near
carbon copies of fashion’s big names.
• Lightning-fast, locally-targeted designs are Zara’s specialty: when Madonna played three weeks of European concerts in 2001, teenage girls went to
her later shows wearing knock-offs of the outfit from her first performance.
• Zara’s ‘vertically integrated’ business model limits outsourcing, making most of its catwalk copies in-house and ensuring better quality control. When
it does use cheap labour, it mostly uses poorer European countries over the developing world.
• Garments hit shop floors within three weeks of design – blitzing the industry average of six months.
• Fashion used to be sold in four seasons. Zara wants you to buy for one-hundred-and-four. New clothes arrive in every store twice a week – days
known by fans as “Z Days” – and fuel the need to turn over your wardrobe.
• The brand’s global distribution centre, also in Spain, moves 2.5 million items per week. Nothing remains warehoused longer than 72 hours.
• Clothes are ironed in advance and packed on hangers with security and price tags affixed, saving store staff ‘prime selling time’. Records are kept of
any clothes tried on but not bought, sent back to Spain along with all cash register data.
• Customers visit Zara on average six times more often than its competitors, causing rival stores to dread its arrival on their turf. When Zara opened a
store in China last year, one industry commentator noted “it just murdered everything around it”.
• And when the doors of Zara’s first Australian store opened in Sydney in April, 80% of the stock was snapped up within three minutes.
• Shoppers might love Zara but fashion’s elite are not so happy. One unnamed designer complained “we spend a fortune researching and working up
ideas, then Zara comes along and walks off with them for nothing”.
• Shoppers might love Zara but fashion’s elite are not so happy. One unnamed designer complained “we spend a fortune researching and working up
ideas, then Zara comes along and walks off with them for nothing”.
• Zara. Fast, affordable, pre-packaged fashion. A business built on speed, designed for addiction.
http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/beast-file-zara
June 2011

3. ZARA
• Meet Zara: the Spanish company at
the forefront of Fast Fashion, where
speed and disposability are the new
black.

4. ZARA
• Zara’s HQ is a futuristic building
known as “The Cube” in La
Coruña, north-western Spain.
From there, staff churn out 30,000
designs a year, near carbon copies
of fashion’s big names.

5. ZARA
• Lightning-fast, locally-targeted designs
are Zara’s specialty: when Madonna
played three weeks of European
concerts in 2001, teenage girls went
to her later shows wearing knock-offs
of the outfit from her first
performance.

6. ZARA
• Zara’s ‘vertically integrated’
business model limits
outsourcing, making most of its
catwalk copies in-house and
ensuring better quality control.
When it does use cheap labour, it
mostly uses poorer European
countries over the developing
world.

7. ZARA
• Garments hit shop
floors within three
weeks of design –
blitzing the
industry average of
six months.

8. ZARAsold in
Fashion used to be
four seasons. Zara wants
you to buy for one-
hundred-and-four. New
clothes arrive in every
store twice a week – days
known by fans as “Z Days”
– and fuel the need to
turn over your wardrobe

9. ZARA
The brand’s global
distribution centre, also in
Spain, moves 2.5 million
items per week. Nothing
remains warehoused
longer than 72 hour

10. ZARA
• Clothes are ironed in advance and
packed on hangers with security and
price tags affixed, saving store staff
‘prime selling time’. Records are kept
of any clothes tried on but not
bought, sent back to Spain along with
all cash register data.

11. ZARA
• Customers visit Zara on average six
times more often than its
competitors, causing rival stores to
dread its arrival on their turf. When
Zara opened a store in China last
year, one industry commentator noted
“it just murdered everything around
it”.

12. ZARA
• And when the doors of
Zara’s first Australian
store opened in Sydney
in April, 80% of the
stock was snapped up
within three minutes.

13. ZARA
• Shoppers might love Zara but
fashion’s elite are not so happy. One
unnamed designer complained “we
spend a fortune researching and
working up ideas, then Zara comes
along and walks off with them for
nothing”.

14. ZARA
• Shoppers might love Zara but
fashion’s elite are not so happy. One
unnamed designer complained “we
spend a fortune researching and
working up ideas, then Zara comes
along and walks off with them for
nothing”.

15. ZARA
• Zara.
Fast, affordable, pre-
packaged fashion. A
business built on
speed, designed for
addiction.

16. ZARA

17. ZARA