In what year was Zara founded?

Zara was founded in 1975.

The first Zara shop opened in central A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, established by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera. The store initially sold affordable versions of clothing inspired by popular higher-end fashions, a formula that helped the brand expand rapidly across Spain.

The name itself was nearly different. Ortega and Mera reportedly first intended to call the shop “Zorba,” after the 1964 film Zorba the Greek. After discovering that a nearby business already used the name, they rearranged the shop’s lettering and created “Zara.”

The year 1975 identifies Zara’s first retail store, not the founding of its parent company. Inditex, the wider fashion group, was created later, in 1985. Zara’s first store outside Spain opened in Porto, Portugal, in 1988, marking the beginning of its international expansion.