Frequent Questions

Inditex’s founder, Amancio Ortega, started a small family business in a workshop making women’s clothing in 1963. He opened the first Zara store in 1975 in A Coruña (in the north west of Spain) and Inditex was officially founded as its parent company in 1985.

The first Zara store opened its doors to the public in the year 1975 in A Coruña (in the north west of Spain), where the Group started its activity and where it has its headquarters. Today stores from the Inditex group can be found in hundreds of cities on the five continents, mostly in the most relevant commercial arteries.

In 1988 a store was opened in Porto (Portugal) and in the immediately posterior years the first stores outside the Iberian Peninsula were opened, in New York (1989) and Paris (1990). Thus began a process that would lead to the current presence in 95 markets as well as selling online in 215 markets.

Inditex is listed on the stock market since 23 May 2001, after making a Public Offer for Sale of Shares that elicited great interest from investors all over the world, with demand being 26 times higher than the volume of the supply. The shares are included in the main Spanish and international stock markets such as the Ibex 35, FTSE Eurotop 100 and the Eurostoxx 600.

With the objective of personalising its approach to different market segments, Inditex avails of seven fashion distribution brands. All of them share the same commercial and management approach: to be leaders through a sustainable and integrated business model. Each of the brands has great autonomy for managing their business. The management teams are independent when making commercial decisions and in the way they administrate their resources. However, the fact of pertaining to a global group provides them with a large number of organisational synergies and knowledge management. Thus, each management team can concentrate on the development of its business knowing that certain support elements for the same are covered by the accumulated experience of the Group. Inditex, as the parent company, is responsible for the central corporate services, that is to say, those shared by the seven brands and that facilitate international growth such as administration, the use of logistical technology, the general policy for human resources, the legal aspects, the f inancial capacity, etc.

With the objective of personalising its approach to different market segments, Inditex avails of seven fashion distribution brands. All of them share the same commercial and management approach: to be leaders through a sustainable and integrated business model. Each of the brands has great autonomy for managing their business. The management teams are independent when making commercial decisions and in the way they administrate their resources. However, the fact of pertaining to a global group provides them with a large number of organisational synergies and knowledge management. Thus, each management team can concentrate on the development of its business knowing that certain support elements for the same are covered by the accumulated experience of the Group. Inditex, as the parent company, is responsible for the central corporate services, that is to say, those shared by the seven brands and that facilitate international growth such as administration, the use of logistical technology, the general policy for human resources, the legal aspects, the f inancial capacity, etc.

Inditex is one of the largest fashion distribution groups worldwide with an integrated platform of stores and online. It has 6,477 stores in 95 markets and is selling online in 215 markets, of which 95 of them have a stores and online platform.

The success of Inditex's brands collections resides in the capacity to recognise and integrate the constant changes in fashion trends, continuously designing new models that respond the customers' wishes. Inditex takes advantage of the flexibility of its business model in order to adapt to the changes that may occur during campaigns and, in this way, reacts to them with new products in the brick-and-mortar and online stores. The models for each campaign are integrally developed by the creation teams of the various brands. Over 700 designers use prevailing fashion trends on the market and the customers themselves as principal sources of inspiration, through the information received from the stores.

The entire production, regardless of its origin, is received in logistical centres in each of the brands in Spain, which simultaneously distribute to all stores in the world with an elevated and constant frequency. The distribution is carried out twice a week, always including new models in each shipment which allows for constant renovation of the offer present in the stores. In the same way, the platforms also distribute to the online distribution centres that the group has in different parts of the world. The logistics system, based on IT applications developed by the company's teams, makes it possible that from the receipt of the order in the distribution centre to the delivery of the merchandise at the store, an average time of 36 hours passes for European centres, up to a maximum of 48 hours for stores in America or Asia.

At Inditex, we have pledged a long-term commitment to upholding the highest and most ambitious standards of sustainability all across our value chain. 47% cent of our garments carry our Join Life label which denotes environmental excellence, fostering the use of more sustainable raw materials and processes that use water and energy more sparingly. We estimate over 60% of the collection will be Join Life in 2022.

Our continual quest for innovation enables us to be better and more efficient while also lessening our impact on the environment. This is a never-ending process and while continuously incorporating state-of-the-art sustainability practices, we must always do more. Framed by that vision, we have been devising multi-year social and environmental plans since 2002. Most recently, at the 2021 Annual General Meeting, we unveiled ambitious environmental targets for delivery in the coming years and with the net-zero emissions target set forward for 2040. Among those targets, it is worth highlighting that of having 100% of the cotton used in our garments will be organic Better Cotton, recycled or Next Gen in 2023, two years ahead of schedule. In addition, we will only use organic linen and recycled polyester by 2025.

At Inditex we work with suppliers from 50 different markets, driven by their respective areas of expertise. 50% of the end product manufacturers we work with are located close to our headquarters in Arteixo, mainly in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco. Our sourcing process is unique and framed by clear principles: we source in a sustainable and responsible manner and we engage with suppliers on a non-exclusive basis, striving to work with them to help do things better, taking a long-term approach.

At Inditex we work with suppliers from 50 different markets, driven by their respective areas of expertise. 50% of the end product manufacturers we work with are located close to our headquarters in Arteixo, mainly in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco. For the sake of transparency, we share all the information of our suppliers with IndustriALL Global Union, which represents more than 50 million workers affiliated with nearly 600 unions all over the world. Besides, we keep constantly updated our Wet Processing Units list –which also includes mills that are contracted by our direct suppliers.

Part of Inditex’s production is carried out in the 9 factories that pertain to the group, which focus on the manufacture of the garments that include a greater fashion component.

Last year we worked with 1,790 direct suppliers in 44 markets who in turn used 8,756 factories (the main of them clustered close to our headquarters in Arteixo, mainly in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco). We get to know and assess all of the facilities we work with (irrespective of their position in the production chain) and all must meet our production standards. Last year we conducted 6,119 traceability audits to verify the information provided to us by our suppliers in situ.

We get to know and assess all of the facilities we work with (irrespective of their position in the production chain) and all must meet our production standards. Before they start to work with us, we evaluate them (with no forewarning) to verify their eligibility. After that we carry out regular audits to check they are complying with all our requirements in terms of labour rights, occupational and product health and safety and environmental management. Some of our main stakeholders, including IndustriALL Global Union, have access to our supplier base.

Our living wages strategy is based on understanding and addressing the needs of our supply chain workers and their families and communities in order to encourage decent working conditions and sustainable productive environments. Here it is worth highlighting our ongoing collaboration with ACT (Action, Collaboration, Transformation), which is one of the bedrocks of our work on the living wages front, together with the work done under the umbrella of the Framework Agreement with IndustriALL Global Union. That strategy is complemented by our work in the areas of responsible procurement practices, improved factory production organisation systems and payroll management systems, the latter including payment digitalisation projects.

We produce high-quality products that are made to last and do not advertise to push demand. We aim to design products that reflect today’s trends, styles and tastes, and we do so with a commitment to quality and a desire to see that our creations are worn season after season, year after year, fit to demand. Our design and sourcing teams work to accurately anticipate our customers’ demand. This entails a low commitment of stock at the beginning of each season in order to respond accurately to customer and market needs throughout the season. This process is not necessarily quick. Must be dynamic, of course, but rushing would be a mistake. To be quick is not as important as being honestly close to customers’ demands. And it can take time to understand the new step to be given. The manufacturing pace is smoother than it could seem part by part. Because every design family is ordering only a few thousand items for each new creation. This is made possible by having a relevant number of factories used for our production close to our headquarters in Spain to react. Most fashionable garments are made by suppliers in the proximity areas or in the eleven own factories that the Group has in Spain. Moreover, the items less related to the latest trends are contracted with a greater margin of time, so the production periods are wider.

By integrating our online and store clothing stock in order that customers can access all our products either in our stores or through online, we are able to carefully manage clothing stocks to avoid surpluses. This integrated stock management system allows Inditex to maximize its full price sales and minimize the number of articles with discounts in very concrete sales periods.

What little does remain is either sold to third parts, donated to charity (sometimes for those charities to resell themselves) or recycled. At the end, the whole production is used.

At Inditex we are working to transition to a circular system based on long-lasting items made from safe and recycled materials that can be reintroduced into the circuit several times. To that end, we have identified multiple opportunities in every link in our value chain for making our business more sustainable in the long run, from product design to end-of-life management. Our goal is to transform the concept of ‘waste’ so it is viewed as a valuable resource that can be recovered and reused as a secondary raw material in production systems. And to achieve that we are working together with industry players and backing a number of different initiatives. Highlights include the mechanical recycling of pre-consumer cotton fibre; our collaboration with academic institutes to research possible solutions for separating natural and synthetic components in textile mixes; and our research into the recycled polyester manufacturing process.

With this regards, we have recently announced a three-year commitment to buy 30% of Infinited Fiber Company's annual future production volume of Infinna™, a textile fiber that can be created from 100% textile waste –a deal valued at more than €100 million and that is very significant for Infinited Fiber’s plans to scale up its recycling technology through its first large-capacity factory.

At Inditex we are working with universities and research centres on that matter. We are looking at all stages of the process, from design to manufacturing and end use. For example, we are working with Chemipol on adaptation of the water micro-filtering technology used in agriculture for water purification in wet processes in the textile industry.

As part of our commitment to sustainability and the efficient use of resources, we are giving a step further. In 2020 we completely deleted plastic bags from stores and replaced them with 100% recycled paper bags. Our aim is to promote bags’ reuse and contribute accordingly to an efficient use of resources. 100% of bags’ prizes are put aside environmental initiatives.

At Inditex we are fully committed to contributing to the economic and social development of the different countries in which we are present. 

Our tax commitment is evidenced by our compliance with all tax obligations generated from our corporate activity. This is in compliance with applicable local and international regulations, through good tax practices, and in line with the sustainability and corporate social responsibility principles established by the Group. 

During 2021, our activities in the markets in which we operate generated total taxes of 6,093 million Euros of which 2,423 million euros are direct taxes, among which we highlight corporate income tax, custom duties, property tax and social security payments supported by the Company; and 3,670 million euros as collected taxes, including income tax withholdings for employees and shareholders, social security payments supported by the employee and taxes on the production and consumptions of good and services.

We expressly reject opaque company structures which have special purpose vehicles in tax havens. Group Companies located in countries or territories considered as tax havens by Spanish law are related to sales made in the nine stores located in Macao SAR* and the one in Monaco.