photo credit: David Marcu

Why Zara Is Leading the Fashion Industry: Takeaways From Their Upside-Down Business Model

Melissa Chu
Jumpstart Your Dream Life
5 min readFeb 19, 2019

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Have you heard of Amancio Ortega?

Chances are, you haven’t. So who is this mysterious entrepreneur whose fortune reaches over $65 billion and is one of the richest people in the world?

He’s the founder of Zara, the international Spanish clothing brand that’s shaken up the retail industry.

One thing I love doing is looking at successful brands and seeing what lessons can be learned from them.

As a clothing brand, Zara is like no other. People across the world from teenagers to recent retirees love to shop there. At the mall, it’s one of the busiest stores around.

So what’s their secret? Do they operate like other popular clothing retailers, or is there something else happening behind the scenes?

Turns out, Zara operates in a completely different way from other clothing companies.

How the Brand Creates Frenzied Buyers

The best way to describe how Zara operates is ‘fast’.

Normally, clothing brands release the same collections in one year: one for spring/summer and another for fall/winter. Traditional retailers try to predict fashion trends a year in advance.

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Melissa Chu
Jumpstart Your Dream Life

I write about living better, creating great work, and making an impact. Get your guide to achieving your goals at http://jumpstartyourdreamlife.com/welcome.