Amancio Ortega family. Success story and biography of Amancio Ortega, founder of the Zara brand. Amancio Ortega now

Amancio Ortega recently took first place in the list of the richest people in the world, beating Bill Gates by 5 million. He is the founder and leader of the Zara brand, which has been considered one of the symbols of Spain for many years. The company continues to increase profits and develop. Amancio is known for the fact that, despite his position and fortune, he practically does not communicate with journalists, does not give interviews, and does not take pictures. How did Amancio Ortega achieve success?

Childhood and formation of Amancio Ortega

Not much is known about the founder of Zara. This is due to the fact that he very rarely communicates with journalists. But even this communication is limited to the development of the company and its business, and he does not answer questions about his personal life. Until 2011, there was practically no mention of Amancio in the press, despite the fact that he was already on the lists the richest people world with a fortune at that time of 21.5 billion dollars. At some point, many experts and journalists themselves generally doubted that Amancio Ortega was a real person.

Interest in the person of Amancio Ortega grew after he became the richest man in the world for two days in 2012, but after that he again lost his position to Bill Gates. And again, even after such success, the billionaire did not talk about his life. And at that time he was already 75 years old. At the same time, the man did not attend social events, fashion shows, which seems impossible, given that he founded a leading retail chain that produces clothes and accessories.

However, in 2017 a book was published"The Zara Phenomenon" written by Ortega's friend Covadonga O'Shea. In addition to the history of the development of his company, Amancio also shared his childhood memories, success secrets and other facts about his personal life.

independent child

Like many modern billionaires, Amancio was born and raised not at all in a wealthy family. In 1936, in the village, whose population did not exceed 60 people, the third child, Amancio Ortega, was born in the family of a railway worker and a maid. He had a brother Antonio and a sister Pepita. The family was very poor, so at the age of 13 he had to leave school and go to work in a shirt shop.

“My mother and I went to the grocery store, and when she and the seller went behind the counter, I heard a man say to her, “I'm sorry, but I can't lend you groceries anymore.” On that day, I realized how difficult it is for parents and decided that I needed to bring money to the family, and not just use it. ” says Amancio.

In the store, he served for several years as a messenger and handyman. He carried out any tasks with all responsibility and seriousness. Ortega was distinguished by independence and perseverance from childhood, and his parents instilled in him a sense of pride in himself and his work, regardless of what he did.

15 year old manager

After seeing how hardworking he is in the village, Amancio decides to go to work at the more expensive La Maja store. His brother and sister were already working there. In just a few months, the young Ortega was appointed to the position of manager, and Rosalia Meru Goynchenu was hired in his place. This girl two years later became the first wife of the future billionaire.

During his work in this haberdashery, Amancio not only gained experience, but also began to delve into the intricacies of working with fabrics. He constantly studied cutting and sewing, the use of this or that material, the principles of creating the clothes themselves, and also learned in detail all the features of expensive brands. In addition, the young manager constantly communicated with people, buyers, so he knew exactly what they were looking for and wanted to see.

The first business and the birth of the Zara brand

At the age of 17, Amancio Ortega quits his job to start his own business - the production of children's bathrobes and underwear. The advantage of his products was that they were made from high-quality, but inexpensive fabric. At the same time, most of the clothes were copies of expensive brands, and the price for it was affordable for almost everyone. In addition, thanks to communication with people, Amancio already had a fairly large network for the sale of goods. These principles of work formed the basis of his future company Zara.

The starting capital of Amancio's business was 20 euros, which was a fairly large amount at that time. He saved this money from wages for several years. The firm was named GOA Confessiones, which is made up of Ortega's initials.

The businessman's plans were to expand production, but there were practically no people in the village who could work. Almost all the men went to the only profitable place of work - to fish at sea, while the women looked after the children. It was women that Amancio began to hire, creating large cooperatives.

Ortega found a supplier of fabrics, and also entered into an agreement with buyers who took the goods in bulk to stores. Most of the women have been cutting and sewing all their lives, so they were almost professionals. Amancio brought an example of clothing from some famous brand, and they copied it.

Zara store opening

After 10 years, Ortega has already become one of the most successful and profitable enterprises in the region. In 1970, the company was already hiring designers who created unique clothes and accessories. After another 5 years, he opened his first Zara store, which sold the company's clothes.

In 1985, Ortega launched the Inditex group based on the GOA Confessiones venture, which includes Zara. Today Inditex is one of the largest and most successful firms in the fashion industry with a huge number of brands.

Success Secrets of “Fast Fashion”

The secret of Zara and Amancio Ortega's success is that they came up with a unique development strategy that is completely different from how other businesses operate. For example, most fashion houses are engaged in the creation of original designs, but the production itself is transferred to Asia or other countries where it is not so expensive work force. Amancio also said that Zara will only work within the company itself. The same applies to a large number of other areas - sales, product storage, delivery, and more. Zara does not work with suppliers, they have their own departments that create clothes from the moment the fabric is purchased to the moment it is handed over to the user. . This process is called "fast fashion", which is more in line with small regional companies that produce clothes for mass use, rather than branded goods.

In addition, speed is of particular importance to Zara. From the creation of a new model to its sale should take no more than 2 weeks, while popular fashion houses can drag out the process for months. In addition, the company does not produce huge volumes of goods. One week after release new series, half the shelves of the store may remain empty. The essence of the development model is that potential clients will visit stores more often and will be more interested in the appearance of new products. And it works, because one person visits Zara on average 17 times a year, while stores of popular brands - 4.

A few years after the opening of the first point of sale, Zara stores began to launch in major cities around the world. Today they are considered among the fastest growing and most productive.

Amancio Ortega - interesting facts

  • Ortega was married twice: the first time to Rosalia, whom he had known since childhood, and the second time to Flora Perez Market.
  • He has three children: Sandra and Marcos from his first marriage, and also has a daughter, Marta, who was born to Flora before he divorced Rosalia.
  • Many Zara clothing models are practically copies of other well-known brands. Amancio himself says that they analyze fashion trends and display them in their products.
  • Christian Louboutin unsuccessfully sued Inditex in 2008 because they released high-heeled shoes with a red platform.
  • More than 11 designers so far accuse Ortega of plagiarism.
  • Amancio's hobbies are football, horse riding, horseback riding and raising chickens.
  • Amancio's daughter Marta is considered the most likely candidate for the position of head and owner of Inditex. She started working in the company from the most modest positions, but gradually developed, studied, studied this area.
  • Ortega has a Falcon 900 private jet.
  • The billionaire invests in real estate around the world, as well as in travel business and the oil and gas industry.
  • He has a Spanish medal for civil merit.

Amancio Ortega's fortune today is 84.4 billion. On August 31, he overtook Bill Gates in wealth, because he transferred 4.5 billion of his personal funds to a charitable foundation.

The richest man in the world. The site browser studied the history of the founder of the Zara network and the Inditex group of companies, the largest organization in the field of fashionable clothes.

Amancio Ortega

Amancio's childhood was difficult. The salary of his parents, a railway worker and a servant, was barely enough to live on, they had to constantly borrow. At the age of 12, Amancio realized that this could not continue for long, and he had to help his family.

In 1950, they had to move from the Spanish city of Busdongo to La Coruña, where his father received new job. In A Coruña, Ortega began working as a messenger at the local Gala shirt shop, which is still open today at the same location. While working at Gala, Amancio learned how to sew clothes by hand. A few years later, Amancio got a job as a sales assistant at the La Maja haberdashery, where his brother and sister already worked. In the 60s, he became a manager in one of the shops in the city, and his future wife, 16-year-old Rosalia Mera, took the place of an assistant.

Back in the early 60s, Amancio and his wife sewed bathrobes, nightgowns and underwear themselves in a small workshop. By 1972, Amancio had ideas for running a clothing business, and he and his brother set up their own GOA factory.

Unemployment was high in A Coruña, men worked at sea, leaving their wives to survive in difficult conditions for a long time. Therefore, Ortega was able to recruit thousands of women for his factory. Despite the rather low salary, many agreed, because it was the only way to earn money. Materials for tailoring were brought from Barcelona on their own, thus cutting off intermediaries.


In 1975, there was an incident with a partner - an order for a large batch of linen was canceled. Almost all available funds were invested in tailoring this order. To save the business, Ortega decided to open his own store in A Coruña. The name "Zorba" had to be dropped due to registration issues. This is how the first Zara store was born.

In the late 70s and until the 90s, Zara stores from Galicia spread throughout Spain. In 1985, Ortega founded the company Inditex (Industria de Diseño Textil Sociedad Anónima), all Zara stores were combined into a network, which became a subsidiary of Inditex. Things were going well, and in 1988 Zara went beyond the borders of the country. First, a store was opened in Portugal, in Porto. A year later, Zara appeared in New York, and a year later - in Paris.

Swimming against the current, Amancio Ortega manages to overtake everyone

Ortega's main ideas have always been relevance, speed and full control at all stages - from searching for ideas to selling in their stores. To this day, these principles form the basis of Zara.

Goods in stores are updated every two weeks, delivery to warehouses must occur within 48 hours. It was precisely such a restriction that had to be established during the urgent opening of the first store, Ortega decided to make this rule permanent.

With a very short product renewal cycle, a variety of small batches are brought to stores, which are guaranteed to be sold. And if some things are not in demand, they are quickly replaced with more popular ones. On average, it takes 10 days from the development of a design to the appearance of a thing in the store. Therefore, tens of thousands of clothing models are replaced in the corporation's stores every year, and people visit them much more often than competitors' stores during this time.

Inditex Headquarters in Arteiho

Relevance and speed are inextricably linked for Ortega. Even at the beginning of the journey, when the company produced bathrobes, the most fashionable and expensive solutions at that time served as a guide. This approach still works today, but on a different level.

At Inditex's military-protected headquarters in A Coruña, every day hundreds of designers and analysts track the latest trends in different regions in real time. Sales and customer requests in stores, opinions of bloggers and interesting clothing options on the streets of cities around the world are taken into account.

POS systems in stores allow you to constantly collect data about the interests of customers. Previously, representatives of the company attended fashion shows, immediately transferring sketches to the headquarters of the designers. Zara was often accused of direct copying, especially by Italian designers, but the company rejected all accusations of plagiarism, pointing out that it uses common ideas and trends in its clothes. With the development of technology, this way of searching for ideas is no longer necessary.

Data center Inditex

The company spends no more than 0.3 percent of its revenue on promotion, while competitors spend much more on advertising. In addition, Inditex does not involve well-known designers to develop collections. Corporation brands are often included in the “fast fashion” category, with which the company does not agree.

This is not our approach at all, we take care of every item, every collection, coordination and production processes

Pablo Isla, President of Inditex

Designers follow the popularity of color schemes and materials, paying attention to individual elements. There is also ongoing monitoring social networks. Every day, at least 3 new models and patterns are created, which are immediately sent to the factories, the most suitable performers are selected, who immediately start sewing the order.

The most complex models are sewn in Spain, Portugal and Brazil, while the simpler ones are sent to factories in Bangladesh, Morocco, Turkey, Vietnam, India and China. Thanks to small batches and the production of some goods nearby in Spain, the company's costs for accounting and storage of goods can be reduced compared to competitors.


Shop test layout

A special pride of Inditex is the logistics department. A huge building is opposite their headquarters. It is there that supplies from all over the world flock. The department works at a tremendous speed, delivering clothes to the US and Europe within 24 hours and 48 hours to Asia and South America.

At Inditex headquarters, full-size mock-ups of stores are being assembled for testing. They serve as replicas of real stores, with clothes, music, cash registers, only without customers. For maximum effective use materials, designers select the most suitable cutting options in special programs.

The company also strictly monitors the amount of harmful substances emitted into the atmosphere, therefore, in its work it uses production optimization systems, which also reduces costs. In factories, the company also tries to introduce less harmful methods of production, but Inditex owns only a small number of these factories.

Ortega used to call his stores every day to keep abreast of what is happening, today they do it with the help of analytics tools. The desire to constantly monitor the needs of customers, the founder instilled from the very beginning of the company. The speed with which designers can update products in stores is amazing, it takes competitors dozens of times longer.

In parallel with the development of Zara, Massimo Dutti joined Inditex, buying 100 percent of the company, and opened new chains - Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Tempe, Uterque and Lefties. The company went public in 2001 at a $8 billion valuation.

At the moment, Inditex is the largest group of companies in the fashion market, uniting more than 6,777 stores in 88 countries, employing 141,192 people. While economic conditions and high unemployment continue in Spain, Ortega Corporation continues to grow at a rapid pace and show positive results. In the first half of 2015, Inditex posted revenue of €9.42 billion and revenue of €1.16 billion, up 26 percent from the same period last year. The company is expanding particularly rapidly in China and plans to make a second focal point for Asia. Every day the world opens one new shop Inditex.

Amancio Ortega is a rather secretive person and very rarely appears in public. In his entire life, the richest Spaniard gave only 3 interviews. Ortega is known to prefer a simple lifestyle, spending most of his time in Spain.

In 2011, he stepped down as president of Inditex to Pablo Isla, but owns a 59 percent majority stake and continues to advise employees while taking part in design development. He wears the same set of clothes as his uniform and can eat lunch at the diner with company employees. Ortega is ready to communicate with employees of any level, being interested in the opinion of everyone, not just top managers, while he never had a separate office. Swimming against the current, Amancio Ortega manages to overtake everyone.


Amancio Ortega Gaona Born on March 28, 1936 in Spain in the village of Buzdongo de Arbaz in the province of Leon, he is the founder and president of the Zara fashion empire. In 2010-2011, according to the rating of the magazine, he owned the ninth largest fortune in the world, 25.0 billion US dollars.

At the age of 14, he began working as a peddler in a shirt shop. Then he is taken to work in the haberdashery La Maja, where his brother Antonio, sister Pepita and Rosalia Mera already worked. In "La Maja" he gained his first but deep knowledge in the field of fabrics, threads, cutting and sewing.

At Amancio Ortega an idea arises to establish the production, distribution and sale of children's bathrobes, without intermediaries, which made it possible to sell products at a lower price. Later, this idea formed the basis of the philosophy of the Zara empire. GOA (Amancio's initials in reverse order) prospered and expanded. On May 15, 1975, the first Zara store opened on one of the central streets of A Coruña. Amancio wanted to name his future empire the name "Zorba", but there were problems registering it, resulting in "Zara".

New GOA stores appeared one after another, in 1985 the Inditex group was created, uniting all the enterprises working for Zara. In 1988, Zara crossed the borders of Spain. A store under this name opened in Porto, Portugal. In 1989 Zara appeared in New York, in 1990 in Paris. In 1991, the Pull and Bear distribution network is born, in addition, Inditex acquires 65% of the Massimo Tutti group, and five years later this brand becomes completely owned by Inditex.

In 1998, the Bershka chain of stores was born, specializing in clothing for young women. A year later, Stradivarius stores become the fifth distributor of the fashion empire network Amancio Ortega. Another network appears in 2001 - Oysho stores, specializing in underwear. In the same year, Inditex successfully placed on the stock exchange. In 2003, the first Zara Home stores were opened. The eighth distributor of the network was trademark"Kiddy's Class/Skhuaban".


The Inditex Group has more than 3150 stores in 64 countries around the world. An average of 450 new stores are opened every day. There are 1,616 Inditex outlets in Spain, 290 of which bear the Zara name. Outside of Spain, Italy is of particular interest to Inditex (122 stores, 47 of which are Zara), Russia (31/13), France (149/98), Great Britain (64/50), Japan (27/27 ), China (8/8).

This growth rate of the Inditex group allowed it to become the world's second largest knitwear company in terms of the number of points of sale, ahead of the American group Gap. Ahead is only the Italian "Benetton" with 5,000 stores, but most of them are not owned by the company, but are used by franchising. The secret of the success of the Zara empire, which is the key brand of the Inditex group, lies in the flexibility and instant response to changes and fashion trends, in the work of all the structures of the group in the interests of the points of sale and the strategic location of stores on busy city streets. Inditex deliberately does not resort to a franchise system, as this would negatively affect the rapid distribution of products that are the key to the group's commercial success.


Despite the fact that Zara is a well-known brand all over the world, until recently, even in Spain, few people knew its creator and owner by sight. He lives in a two-story mansion in A Coruña in the Salaeta neighborhood, not far from Orsan Beach, and of his "whims" can only be called a private hippodrome on Cape Finisterre and a Falcon 900 aircraft, which he intends to change to another. In the middle of the week Amancio Ortega eats in a common dining room with his employees and, despite the fact that he dresses half of Spain and has led a real revolution in the fashion world, he does not differ in particular elegance.

The Foundation was established in 2001 "Amancio Ortega" whose activities are aimed at cultural events, Scientific research, improving the education system.

Fashion brand "Zara" is the same symbol of Spain as bullfighting or paella. Its founder Amancio Ortega- the richest Spaniard on the planet handed over the reins of the company to his deputy and retired. ♌

We catch goldfish in the Internet

The Zara brand has taken pride of place among the most recognizable symbols of Spain. At the same time, its founder and ideologist, Amancio Ortega, is practically unknown to the world. This fact literally infuriates journalists and paparazzi - the richest Spaniard on the planet refuses to give interviews to the press and pose for cameras. And even now, when he officially retired, having transferred the reins of government to reliable, proven hands, he leads a modest and completely non-public life.

unknown celebrity

The first mention of Ortega in the press dates back to March 2011, when Forbes ranked him seventh among the richest people in the world. According to experts of the publication, the Spaniard's fortune was estimated at 21.5 billion euros. He was recognized as the richest Spaniard, the second largest European in terms of capital. But neither this figure, nor these facts stunned the colleagues of the American edition from all over the world. By that time, there were doubts in journalistic circles whether this Amancio Ortega, the sole creator of Zara, was really real?

By that time, he was already 75 years old. And for all the time of his successful activity, he never agreed to give an interview or pose in front of the camera. Amancio constantly ignored the world events of the fashion world and even refused an invitation (that's unheard of!) to a reception with the Spanish royal family!

Moreover, the more popular the brand became, the more reclusive the magnate led. For the first time, the world had the opportunity to find out what it looks like at the company's public report. Only once in 2001 did he agree to pose for the cameras for 15 minutes. Even those who watched what was happening could see how hard it was for him. The only question the Spaniard agreed to answer shed light on this strange behaviour. Amancio said that he did not want to be recognized on the street by anyone other than friends, relatives and loved ones. Since then, Ortega has been nicknamed "the paparazzi's nightmare."

Biography crumbs

All that journalists managed to collect about his biography is miserable crumbs. But they are also quite valuable, given that neither relatives nor friends are in a hurry to share details from the life of a magnate. It was his personal request, which they cannot refuse.

However, it is known that his date of birth is March 28, 1936. The mother, who named the boy Amancio Ortega Gaon, was a housewife, and her father was a railway worker in the village of Buzdongo de Arbas in the province of Leon. From the age of 13, Ortega went to work in a shirt shop as a messenger, while leaving school. Then he moved to a new place of work - haberdashery La Maja. At that time, his sister Pepita and brother Antonio were already working there. Here he met Rosalia Mera, who was an employee there, and later became his first wife.

Working among haberdashery goods, gradually delving into the peculiarities of cutting and sewing, he decided to establish the production of inexpensive children's bathrobes. They had to be sold directly, without intermediaries, so the price of the products was quite low. This successful idea he implemented with underwear, and the cut was copied from the most expensive brand. By the way, it was this idea of ​​copying luxurious things that formed the basis of his own brand.

Birth of the brand

The Zara brand is lucky - its date of birth is known almost to the minute. On May 15, 1975, the first store under this name was opened in the center of A Coruña. The main concept of the store is the sale of exact copies of expensive fashion houses at affordable prices.

By the way, the name was planned a little different, but the name Zorba was already taken, so we had to stop at Zara. However, even with this name, the Spaniard achieved a dizzying success after a dozen years, he united the brand and all the enterprises serving it into a single corporation Inditex Group. And three years later, the global expansion of Zara began. The first country to open a brand store was Portugal - the city of Porto. After him, stores appeared in such major world cities as London, New York, Milan, Paris.

Today, under the wing of the corporation, such brands are developing as:

  • Kiddy's Class/Skhuaban.
  • Zara Home
  • Oysho
  • Stradivarius
  • Bershka
  • Massimo Dutti
  • Pull and Bear

In total, more than 4,500 stores have been opened in 75 countries of the world, which is slightly less than that of the Italian Benetton.

Brand development

Another one is known about Amancio Ortega interesting fact. When in 2008 the government of the country called all the leading entrepreneurs to an emergency meeting on economic crisis, the owner of Zara did not come again. However, it made no sense for him to sit there. Even during the crisis, corporation sales grew by as much as 14%.

But in early 2011, the Spanish tycoon announced his resignation and retirement. The decision was announced in the same reclusive spirit: he sent 98,000 letters to his employees around the world, announcing that former vice president Pablo Isla would now take his place.

The decision was justified by the fact that during the leadership of Isla, the company expanded its expansion into Asia, took its place in the online spaces and, in principle, strengthened and increased its potential. But skeptics argue that Isla is unlikely to lead the company on his own - Ortega will surely keep his finger on the pulse and give the necessary recommendations in time.

Secret of success

Analysts of the world of the fashion industry cannot agree on what exactly is the success of the brand. Probably just by copying the best designers in the world and low prices You can't ensure the success of a brand Many tend to think that the secret lies in the speed of updating goods in stores. Every three days they receive new arrivals to update 40% of the available stocks. Each of the 4,500 stores sends daily reports to the main office about the dynamics and nature of sales. The collection update is generated based on this information. By the way, the collection usually consists of about 30 thousand models.

Interestingly, this innovative system has been repeatedly tried to be copied, but no one has achieved such success. Many believe that the most important part of success is still the peculiarity and charisma of the leader. Amancio Ortega does not have higher education but he is a highly intelligent person. Once he sets a goal, he will definitely achieve it. That is why, without setting a goal to be rich, he was able to get so rich.

Personal life

It is known that Ortega married a second time. By the way, this was the only time he wore a tie. The Spaniard raised three children. Moreover, many consider his daughter Martha to be a real candidate for owning the paternal empire. She has been with the corporation for a long time, but started out in humble positions in stores. Gradually studying the features of work in other positions, having traveled the whole world with this mission, she again settled in home country where he manages a branch of the company.

Life Amancio Ortega is more than modest. The Spaniard lives in a two-story house with his family in La Coruña, where the company's headquarters are located. Truth. He allowed himself a few weaknesses - his own racetrack and a private Falcon 900 aircraft. But basically, the entrepreneur invests money meaningfully. He has invested a lot in the tourism business, the oil and gas sector, and sports.

 

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