Profile

Amancio Ortega
Born	Amancio Ortega Gaona March 28, 1936 (age 76) Busdongo de Arbás, León, Spain
Residence	A Coruña, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Co-founder of the Inditex group, World's #7 wealthiest person
Net worth	US$37.5 billion (2012)[1]
Board member of	Inditex (CEO)
Children	Sandra Ortega Mera, Marcos Ortega Mera, Marta Ortega Pérez

The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega, opened the first Zara store in 1975 in a central street in downtown A Coruña, Galicia, Spain.[3] Its first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. The store proved to be a success, and Ortega began opening more Zara stores throughout Spain. During the 1980s, Ortega started changing the design, manufacturing, and distribution process to reduce lead times and react to new trends in a quicker way, in what he called "instant fashions". The company based its improvements in the use of information technologies and using groups of designers instead of individuals.[4] In 1980, the company started its international expansion through Porto, Portugal. In 1989 it entered the United States and in 1990 France. This international expansion was increased in the 1990s, with Mexico (1992), Greece (1994), Belgium and Sweden (1994), etc. until reaching its current presence in over 73 countries. Zara stores are company-owned, except where local legislation forbids foreigner-owned businesses; In those cases, Zara franchises the stores.