Amancio Ortega, Founder Of Inditex Group

One afternoon in 1948, on the streets of La Coruna, Spain, the mother led Oman and Theo, who had just left school, to a food store.

For the 12 year old boy, the shop counter was so high that he could not see what the man standing behind the counter looked like.

But he clearly heard what the man said to his mother, and it was forever.

"Mrs. Jose, I'm sorry, I can't credit you any more."

Sensitive Oman and Theo made a firm decision: never let their mother face such embarrassment again.

In August 7, 2012, according to Bloomberg billionaire index, the founder of Inditex group, which owns Zara and other fashion brands, instead of Warren Buffett, became the third richest in the world.

Within a day, the Spaniard's wealth grew by $1 billion 600 million to $46 billion 600 million, while Buffett's net wealth was $45 billion 700 million that day.

Yes, these two stories happen on the same person. His name is called.

(Amancio Ortega).

At present, the Inditex group he founded has surpassed American GAP and Sweden's H&M in recent years to become the world's top apparel retail group.

The company operates 8 brands including Zara, Massimo Dutt and Stradivarius, and has 5000 stores in 77 countries and regions around the world.

Florida, Spain, Madrid, London, Portugal, Lisbon...

Ortega's real estate is everywhere.

He is also a shareholder of Gartler, Partler, Menlle and Pontegadea Inversiones and other investment companies. She has invested in various industries, equestrian farms, football clubs, natural gas companies, tourism and so on.

Despite the fact that Spain and the European region are the most severe in the current global economic recession, Ortega's personal wealth has continued to soar without being influenced by the macro economy. His main wealth is fashion retailing, which is the world's most recognized business.

But by opening new stores in emerging markets such as China, Inditex has achieved 12 consecutive quarters of profit growth.

Entrepreneurship before school break out

La Coruna belongs to Galicia, Spain. It was once a place where private traders, pirates and tailors of medieval kings came forth.

In 1944, when the father of a railway worker was seconded here, he had just repaired a railway from Santiago to Zamora, and Amancio Ortega, who was just 8 years old, followed.

At that time, La Coruna was already the center of traditional textile and garment industry in Spain, where residents had many opportunities to master the whole process of fashion design, processing, wholesale and retail.

Four years later, little Ortega dropped out of school.

In the first year, he ran around, and everyone refused his job request because he was too young.

So, when he was in a family called Gala.

When the shop signed his first contract, he was overjoyed, though he was only a miscellaneous worker.

So in a bar called "Sarri n" in La Coruna, people will see Ortega, a young clothing delivery man, often talks with his friends about entrepreneurship.

A few years later, he went to a more expensive clothing company as a salesperson.

Working in the company called ramaha is like going to Ortega's family gathering. Sister Bebita, brother Antonio and sister-in-law Kevi divi are working here.

Ortega, quick and smart, quickly rose to the fore and was promoted to be the head of the Department. After a few years, he married Rosalia Mela Gyenicella, the girl who had been squeezed out of the manager's position, his first wife.

When he became a clothing store manager, Amancio Ortega gradually had a clear vision of what he would do in the future.

The boss asked him to sell a beautiful and elegant lady's cotton gown, which is popular among female consumers, but its price is too expensive for most people.

Ortega's whimsy - this idea later became the core business idea of Inditex company - selling fashionable fashion with cheaper materials and selling it at a lower price.

He bought a material that was quite cheap but cheap in Barcelona. He designed the sample and made a similar Nightgown on his living room table. The price could be reduced by half.

With the help of brother and sister-in-law, he began making cheap and fashionable fashionable nightgowns and sent them to local stores for sale.

Ortega tasted the sweetness.

More than 10 years of work experience has made Oman and Theo realize that there is a gold mine hidden behind the design and manufacture of a piece of clothing and the store shelves.

While contacting local textile producers and accumulating their customers, plus 2500 bank loans (equivalent to 25 dollars), 27 year old Oman Theo Ortega and his brother set up a small workshop to make women's home clothes: High Asia clothing.

Naturally, wife and designer sister-in-law are the first employees of the workshop.

In this simple factory, the popular women's Cotton Lined household clothes were produced and sold quickly, and even exported to foreign countries.

In the ten years, Oman and Theo's employees expanded to 500 people, and their own design team. They had no retail channels alone.

Marketing of "oil pollution model"

In the new City Plaza Shopping Center in New Territories, Hongkong, the latest display of this season is displayed in the glass window of Zara. The big signs attract people's attention. Next door is George Amarni, one of the most famous luxury brands in the world.

This is the Zara's fastidious choice. It only shops in the best locations, surrounded by top brands.

Zara has greatly satisfied the girls' flaunt Psychology: after being stimulated by the price stimulus and the temptation of style, luxury stores have turned to Zara, without emptying their wallets, and getting bright. Why not?

But at the beginning of the story, there is no fairy tale so beautiful.

Everything is like doomed.

In 1975, a German customer temporarily cancelled a large order. In order to get rid of the pajamas she had already produced, Oman Theo Otago opened the first Zara store (according to Wu Xiaobo's richest man).

The store is located opposite the most famous department store on central street in La Coruna.

The location of the first store revealed Ortega's vision for the location of the chain store, and his simple and simple storefront continued to be commended by the world.

Unlike many fashion brands, Zara hardly advertises. In Oman and Theo's view, the store is the most important marketing tool for Zara, the best advertisement.

Zara develops almost every week by opening a new store. Now Zara has opened nearly 5000 stores in more than 70 countries and regions around the world.

Shop in the most prosperous section of the central area of the big city, then extend the tentacles to the smaller cities around the country, and let the brand influence radiate across the country without advertising.

This "oil pollution" marketing strategy makes Zara considered by Harvard Business School to be the most worthwhile brand in Europe. Walton business school regards it as a classic research case in the future manufacturing industry.

Fast fashion is another killer of Amancio Ortega's business strategy.

The first Zara store is popular with customers because of its sales and sales of high quality and cheap fashion imitation.

Otter deepened his secret.

Its spokesman once said that Zara is a fast fashion brand. It is not a creator, but a quick responder to the trend.

Milan, Paris, New York and other major fashion week, bright lights, brand models, and Zara designers are shuttling in a fashion show, looking for inspiration.

Collect fresh and fashionable information and pick out styles that may be welcomed by customers. After that, the revised design will quickly put new products into production and sale.

A Zara fashion from design to production, logistics, and finally into the sales link, on average, takes only 2 to 3 weeks, 10 times faster than competitors.

More than 2 new fashions are launched every year, which is quite alarming in the fashion industry.

When the new product reaches 50% to 60% of the production, it will be sent to the store. If it fails to perform well in the first week after the shelves, it will be withdrawn immediately and will not be added to the production. If the sale is good, then the predetermined output will be completed in the next few weeks.

However, even the hot money will not stay in the shop for more than 4 weeks, which makes the customers dare not hesitate too much when they look at some clothes, because they may not see it in a few days.

Three weeks is the time to update all the clothes styles of Zara stores.

The word "Shanzhai", which is exclusively made in China, seems to have been used flexibly by Ortega.

The head of the fashion company hated his teeth, because his new ideas always appeared in Zara store just a few days after the conference.

Daniel, the fashion director of LVMH, said, "Zara is probably the most innovative enterprise, but it is also the most destructive of all Zara".

From this, he got a title without derogatory meaning: Fashion terminator.

Even though Zara has to pay tens of millions of euros per year for infringement penalties, Zara has not given up. Naturally, Zara's profit is much higher than that of a fine.

Inditex Group annual report said: "the purpose of Zara is to make fashion democratization.

Different from fashion privilege, we are able to afford affordable fashion by the encouragement of modern men and women's tastes, pursuits and lifestyle.

Some smart designers may be dismissive of Zara's cheap fashion show imitations, but they admit that Zara has cultivated a nation's fashion taste and has revolutionized the wardrobe of a generation.

India's Businessworld magazine praised Zara's speed: "traditional fashions always try to influence consumers with the trend of early prediction, but Zara does not do so.

It's just a fashion follower. It concentrates its energy on catering to the tastes of consumers. What they want, they create what they want, and then let the product go on top of it as fast as possible.

As the tide of globalisation is rolling in, Oman and Theo still insist on putting most of their production in Spain, which is the most puzzling decision for others.

Whether clothing or electronics, most manufacturers in the world have moved their factories to third world countries, with the aim of saving costs.

But Oman and Theo seemed to disagree.

He believes that his own fashion profit is not low, the purchase and production in Europe, although increased costs, but this is not a serious problem.

Insisting on "made in Europe" can guarantee speed and enable the company to introduce new fashions in the shortest time.

As a result, 80% of lnditex's flagship stores, Zara, and Pull&Bear, MassimoDutti, Bershka and Stradixarius, are still made in Europe, and 50% of them are from Spain.

Insisting on not moving factories, but smart Oman Theo did not ignore emerging markets such as China.

In May 2004, Zara opened its first chain store in Hongkong.

This is the eighteenth branch of Inditex group in the Asia Pacific region, marking 2000 retail stores in 50 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Africa on four continents.

Later, Inditex group also set up 3 companies such as InditexAsia, VastgoetAsia and ZaraAsia in Hongkong to purchase and collect fashion trend information, especially to understand the needs of young consumers.

Low key but never say die.

At 11:15 a.m. on July 1st 2001, in the industrial area of La Coruna port in northwestern Spain, Oman, Theo, 65, staggered out of his office and entered a television room.

15 minutes later, his company was listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange.

This small shop named Zara has become the third largest clothing company in the world, called Inditex.

15 minutes later, the share price soared from 14.70 euros to 18 euros, and already had 6 billion dollars of wealth. He walked out of the house and went straight to the company restaurant, where he had a simple lunch as usual.

Many media reported this scene, and people were astonishing.

Many people are surprised.

Inditex's stock gains are seen as a miracle in the world's clothing industry.

However, good friends still can only see Ortega who has stepped into the old age in the pile of clothes in the workshop.

He still goes to the design area every day to chat with designers who are only more than 20 years old.

In the preface of the richest man, Wu Xiaobo, a financial writer, describes the richest people in all parts of the world: they are low-key, calm and round, like a gold coin with different shapes but similar functions.

Incredibly rich and incredibly low-key, Amancio Ortega is a typical representative of them, and even one of the most low-key.

It is no exaggeration to say that he seems to be making every effort to make himself obscure.

It's hard to find a news about Amancio Ortega by browsing through the Spanish local newspapers.

He rarely received media interviews. Before 1999, his photos had never appeared in the media.

It was not until 2001 when Inditex first published its annual report that he had his first official portrait.

Entering his name in Google search, only about 260 thousand results can be found; instead of Buffett, he can find about 3 million 730 thousand results.

Ortega's subordinates say he is a man who avoids the upper class and the rich circles.

The most typical example is that in 1998, Prince Felipe of Spain visited the company. His representative was Ortega, who did not see him.

Now, Amancio Ortega and his second wife still live in a conspicuous apartment building in the center of La Coruna.

Some foreign media commented that he was a loyal follower of Rockefeller, an old American tycoon.

Rockefeller, who refused to write a biography after his death, said: the best exposure mode in newspapers is a brief description of your birth, marriage and death.

On 2011, Amancio Ortega, 75, announced his resignation from the company's CEO.

No media photo and no farewell party, he issued a short statement to 98000 employees, announcing the appointment of Inditex vice president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pablo Ira as CEO.

He said, dear friends, now is the time.

Some say that Inditex is no longer a hereditary family business, but others say that because of the age gap within the family, this can ensure that the family business thrives under the guidance of a loyal manager until his favorite 27 year old daughter, Marta, is able to take over.