Our Story
Our story traces the growth of a small business into one of the largest fashion retail groups in the world.
1963
The business begins in A Coruña, north-west Spain
The company starts life as Confecciones GOA, a modest workshop making dresses and quilt dressing gowns for distribution. In ten years, the workforce grows to 500.
1975
The first Zara store opens
After 12 years of making textiles, Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, opens the business’s first store in A Coruña.
1976
Zara’s approach to fashion is a success
Zara’s business model shrinks the gap between fashion creation and the customer, bringing customers closer than ever to the products they want, all at an affordable price.
1977
Our headquarters are established in Arteixo, Spain
GOA and Samlor, Zara’s first garment factories, are constructed on the outskirts of A Coruña, where our headquarters still are today.
1983
Zara expands across Spain
The company has nine stores in some of the most prestigious shopping districts in Spain’s biggest cities.
1984
Our first logistics centre opens
We invest in building a state-of-the-art logistics centre, spanning 10,000 square metres in Arteixo.
1985
Inditex is officially founded
Inditex is incorporated to bring all our companies together under one banner. We establish a distribution system capable of reacting to shifting market trends extremely quickly.
1988
Zara goes international
We enter our first new market, opening a Zara store in Porto, Portugal.
1989
Zara goes transatlantic
Customers in the US get to shop in Zara for the first time in our new store on Lexington Avenue, New York.
1990
Zara brings its fashion to France
Our first French store opens on Rue Halévy in Paris.
1991
Pull&Bear and Massimo Dutti join Inditex
For the first time we expand our stable, taking on two more brands.
1992
Mexico gets its first Zara store
Zara’s debut store is on Calle Madero, one of the most prestigious shopping streets in Mexico City.
1993
We enter the Greek market
Greece becomes our sixth international market when we open our first Zara store in Athens.
1994
Zara comes to Belgium and Sweden
Our maiden store in Bruges, Belgium, occupies a prime position on Steenstraat, its most significant shopping street and one of its great historical thoroughfares.
1995
We begin operating in Malta
Zara arrives in Valletta. Zara also launches its casual Trafaluc line for women.
1996
We enter the Cypriot market
We open our first Zara store in Nicosia.
1997
We expand to Norway and Israel
We now have more than 600 stores in 14 markets.
1998
Bershka is launched
Our new brand is aimed at young people. Inditex opens stores for the first time in the UK, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Japan, Argentina and Venezuela.
1999
Stradivarius joins Inditex
Our fifth brand is primarily aimed at young and dynamic women (now it also has Man collection). Our international expansion continues into nine new markets: Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Canada, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.
2000
New headquarters are built in Arteixo
We move to a brand-new building in Arteixo, on the outskirts of A Coruña, Spain, to accommodate our rapid growth. We also open stores in four more markets: Andorra, Austria, Denmark and Qatar.
2001
Oysho is launched and Inditex goes public
Our lingerie brand, Oysho, opens its first stores and Inditex is listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange. We issue our Code of Conduct for Manufacturers and Suppliers and join the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). We open six new markets.
2002
The 'for&from' programme launches for people with disabilities
Our 'for&from' social inclusion programme begins, providing labour integration for people with disabilities. We build a new distribution centre in Zaragoza, Spain, and open our first stores in Finland, Switzerland, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Singapore.
2003
Zara Home is created
The first stores of our home and interiors brand, Zara Home, are opened. We enter the Slovenian, Slovakian, Russian and Malaysian markets.
2004
We reach the 2,000 store milestone
Our 2,000th store opens in Hong Kong, bringing our coverage to 56 markets across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. We open inaugural stores in Morocco, Estonia, Latvia, Rumania, Hungary, Lithuania and Panama.
2005
Pablo Isla becomes Deputy Chairman and CEO
Pablo Isla becomes Deputy Chairman and CEO of Inditex. Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines become new Inditex markets, along with Monaco and Costa Rica in a busy year that saw almost 700 new stores open across the world.
2006
We develop our Environmental Strategic Plan
Our 2007-2010 Environmental Strategic Plan formalises our aim to ensure our business operations are environmentally responsible and sustainable. Serbia, continental China and Tunisia are newcomers to our global stores map.
2007
Zarahome.com becomes our first online store
We begin our move into online commerce with Zara Home, and open two new distribution centres near Madrid and Léon in Spain. Our 1,000th Zara store opens in Florence. We also sign an agreement with IndustriALL, an international trade union federation, to strengthen labour rights.
2008
Uterqüe is launched and our first eco-store opens
We create our eighth brand Uterqüe, which specialises in fashion accessories. Our first Zara highly eco-efficient store is opened in a landmark building in the commercial heart of Athens. Inditex opens store number 4,000 in Tokyo and we reach 73 markets with stores in South Korea, Ukraine, Montenegro, Honduras and Egypt.
2009
We deepen our coverage in China
Stradivarius, Bershka and Pull&Bear open their first stores in China. Barcelona gets our second eco-store and a new distribution centre in Palafolls.
2010
Zara goes online and our 5,000th store opens in Rome
Zara begins to sell its products online in September and by the end of 2010 the online platform is live in 16 European markets. We mark our 5,000th store with the opening of an eco-efficient Zara store in Rome, and present our new Environmental Strategy Plan, called Sustainable Inditex 2011-2015.
2011
Pablo Isla takes over as chairman
Pablo Isla, the CEO of Inditex since 2005, becomes our chairman too. In the same year, we launch online platforms for all our brands and Zara begins to sell its fashions online in the US and Japan. We achieve presence in 82 markets.
2012
Another milestone is reached: 6,000 stores
We celebrate a new milestone of 6,000 stores with the inauguration of our flagship eco-store in London’s Oxford Street. Zara’s new image is launched at its Fifth Avenue store in New York. We build a cutting-edge logistics centre in Tordera, Barcelona, the first of its kind in Spain to be granted LEED gold environmental rating.
2013
New-image flagship stores open
We rolled out new brand images in our flagships and opened new high-profile stores such as Massimo Dutti at Rue de la Paix and Zara on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Oysho and Zara Home in Shanghai and Pull&Bear in St Petersburg, among others. We are among the first signatories of the landmark Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to improve conditions there.
2014
New logistics centre in Cabanillas (Spain)
Our new logistics platform in Cabanillas, Guadalajara, Spain starts operating and achieves the environmental LEED gold certification. We continue to integrate the expansion of our online and offline capacity, with new flagship stores, extension and refurbishment of existing facilities and entrance into new markets. Our new Technological Center is inaugurated.
2015
We reach the 7,000-stores milestone and our employees share our profits
Zara in Hawaii, one of 330 new stores this year, becomes our 7,000th store. We also set up a special profit-sharing plan that pays out €37.4 million to the 78,000 employees in stores, factories, logistics, brands and subsidiaries across 50 countries where we do business.
2016
International recognition of our sustainability work
We are named as group leader for the retailing industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and top Greenpeace’s Detox Catwalk, being described as ‘exemplary’ in our approach to zero discharge of hazardous chemicals during our production. We strengthen our unique agreement with IndustriALL Global Union and launch our 2016-2020 Environmental Strategy Plan. Five new markets get their first Inditex stores and we enter eight new online markets.
2017
We keep developing our integrated model of stores and online
In line with our integrated model of stores and online, we begin selling throught zara.com in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. From a commercial perspective, among many other initiatives, we increase the Zara Join Life sustainable collections and spread out this initiative to Massimo Dutti and Oysho.
2018
Selling in 202 markets and expansion of our headquarters
The evolution of our integrated store and online model prompted the expansion our online presence. Zara launched its global online store (zara.com/ww) in 106 markets in which it did not have stores. We also completed the latest expansion of our headquarters in Arteixo, La Coruña (Spain), incorporating new working areas and new services for employees.