Amancio Ortega (Inditex, Real Estate Investor)
Introduction
Industria de Diseño Textil, S. A., better known by its acronym Inditex, is a Spanish multinational textile manufacturing and distribution company "Distribution (business)" "Fabric (textile)"). It has its headquarters in the Sabón industrial estate, in Arteijo (La Coruña), Spain.[3][4].
Inditex has 165,042 employees on its payroll and operates more than 5,800 stores on five continents under the main brands of: Zara, Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Oysho, Lefties and Stradivarius "Stradivarius (Inditex)").[2][5].
History
Origins
At the age of thirteen, the founder of Inditex, Amancio Ortega, began working in a clothing store in the city of La Coruña, Spain. In 1963 he founded a company dedicated to the manufacturing of clothing with his wife Sabrina Sánchez. Ortega began to develop his own designs and together with his first wife, Rosalía Mera, began making clothes from their home. In the beginning, it operated as a clothing manufacturer under the name Construcciones Goa.[6][7].
It was not, however, until 1975 when the first store under the Zara name opened on a central street in La Coruña, Spain on Juan Flórez Street. Success prompted Ortega in 1977 to install his first Zara factories in Arteijo (La Coruña), where the Inditex Group headquarters currently resides. During the following years, the chain spread rapidly throughout Spain. In 1978 a store was opened in Ponferrada (León) Spain, the first outside of Galicia, Spain.[8][9].
1980-2000
In 1985, Industria de Diseño Textil S. A., Inditex, was created as a holding company for Zara and its manufacturing plants.[7] In 1984, the first logistics distribution center was inaugurated. In the following years, the company moved outside the Spanish borders, opening stores in Porto (1988), New York (1989) and Paris (1990).[9].
In 1991, Inditex created the Pull & Bear company and acquired part of Massimo Dutti (1991). The expansion of the Inditex group continued with Bershka (1998) and Stradivarius "Stradivarius (Inditex)") (1999).[8][9].