Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in A Coruña, Spain, in 1975.
Ortega and his then-wife Rosalía Mera founded the business that became Zara after building experience in garment manufacturing and sales. The first store opened as a clothing retailer in central A Coruña, the Galician city where Ortega had established his earlier textile activities. Zara’s early success came from producing fashionable clothing and moving designs from concept to store quickly.
The company was originally called Zorba, but changed the name to Zara after discovering that a nearby business already used the original name. Zara became the flagship brand of the Inditex group, which was founded in 1985.
The city may also appear in English as La Coruña, but A Coruña is the official Galician form and the answer used here. Zara’s later global expansion made its fast-fashion supply chain widely studied, especially its combination of centralized logistics, frequent store deliveries, and closely monitored customer demand.