Amancio Ortega founded Zara, the Spanish fashion retailer that became the flagship chain of the Inditex group.
Ortega began in clothing manufacturing in 1963, when he established Confecciones Goa. In 1975, he and Rosalía Mera opened the first Zara store in A Coruña, Spain. The store sold fashionable clothing at relatively accessible prices and quickly expanded across Spain.
Zara’s success came partly from Ortega’s tightly coordinated approach to design, production and distribution. The company became known for responding rapidly to changing fashion trends and regularly refreshing store collections. This model helped make Zara an emblem of so-called fast fashion.
A common mix-up is to identify Ortega as merely Zara’s owner. He was a founder of both Zara and Inditex, the wider group created in 1985. Inditex later grew to include brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and Zara Home. Ortega stepped down as Inditex chairman in 2011 but remained a major shareholder.