Sign up for a free recipe e-book →

Clarissa's Blog

Who Buys All That Zara Stuff?

Published by

Clarissa

on

Who could have thought that Zara could have possibly made its owner so rich? Just look at number 7 on this list of the richest people in the world:

In Spain, Zara is looked down upon as a chain that offers clothing for moneyless wannabes and poor housewives. In the US and Canada, many people have no idea of the contempt Zara evokes in Europe, so they buy the brand as if it represented some sort of high fashion. What is surprising to me is that Zara is the only clothing brand that got its owner on the list of the richest people in the world.

Am I missing something here? Is Zara a lot more popular than I thought it was?

19 responses to “Who Buys All That Zara Stuff?”

  1. Lindsay Avatar
    Lindsay

    I feel very ignorant now, as I had never heard of Zara before.

    (Of course, I do almost all my shopping at very cheap department stores, and even then I only ever get things that are heavily discounted. So maybe Zara is too expensive to be on my radar.)

    Like

    Reply
  2. Pika Avatar
    Pika

    Zara also owns Mango (another clothing brand) and wherever I’ve been in Europe, both these are very popular. I don’t know about Spain though, but in central Europe and Scandinavia, they are on par with H&M (Swedish) and M&S (British): nice fashionable clothes at affordable prices. Mango is more high fashion than Zara, which has more practical clothing.

    Also, I think there may be local differences in what each brand has in each country, For example, I know that H&M has a wide variety of stuff, from classical suits, etc. to sports fashion to teenage fashion in Scandinavia and central Europe. In UK/Ireland however, H&M only carries teenage fashion, so it has a signifcantly smaller audience than in the rest of Europe. It may be the same with Zara/Mango in that they have only certain parts in certain countries and so are targeting a wider/smaller audience in various places.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Z Avatar
    Z

    There are a lot of people in Spain who can only afford Zara and Mango if that. Try a working class neighborhood and you will see.

    Like

    Reply
    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      He’s richer than the Walmart folks, though, which really surprised me.

      Like

      Reply
  4. Z Avatar
    Z

    Ah yes – forgot – students here buy it, and flight attendants.

    Like

    Reply
  5. ptiderman Avatar
    ptiderman

    Perhaps this Spanish gentleman was rich long before starting this “Zara stuff. I’ve never heard of either him, or his clothing line…don’t care. I was, however, kind of surprised to learn there is someone richer than Bill Gates…

    Like

    Reply
    1. nominatissima Avatar
      nominatissima

      Well, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation takes up a good portion of Gates’ income, and he donates a lot to charity, so it makes sense to me that someone would be richer than him, based on that, if this is measured by how much is in the bank for them, rather than just how much is being raked in.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Priyanka Avatar
        Priyanka

        No, it’s their net worth, Leah. Which means their stakes (minus liabilities) in all kinds of things they’re involved in is taken into account, not just actual liquid cash they might have access too. So if, for example, Bill Gates draws a stipend or has an expense account or similar in the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, that would be counted as an asset (plus, of course, the Foundation would have its own investments to cover costs).

        On the other hand, you’re right. He does deplete his income more than most via charity. My obsessive need to supply facts compelled me to insert this otherwise irrelevant comment.

        Like

        Reply
  6. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    This German here has never heard of neither Zara nor Mango.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Pika Avatar
      Pika

      Funnily, perhaps there is no Zara in Germany (although I did buy some shoes in a Zara in Munich a few years ago, but maybe they pulled out?):
      http://www.zara.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/worldwide

      Like

      Reply
      1. Pika Avatar
        Pika

        Oh sorry, it is there, just it’s listed as Deutschland and not Germany, which I was looking for. 🙂

        Like

        Reply
  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I’ve never heard of neither Zara or Mango, but typically I don’t shop labels either. I’m not so easily swayed by someone’s approval or disapproval of me for knowing, wearing or not being up on the latest labels. If someone exhibited that type of shallow behavior around me I would think that they were an insecure, selfish idiot and I wouldn’t want anything to do with them. That opinion is entiredly biased given my experiences of people who were like that and they were miserable people to have to be exposed too.

    In regards to Walmart there are several different family members, so maybe the listing relevance only indicates that the money is dispersed between them.

    Like

    Reply
  8. Sister Avatar
    Sister

    Mango belongs to Zara? I had no idea!!!

    Like

    Reply
  9. Melissa Avatar
    Melissa

    A couple minutes of clicking around, and it looks like Zara is more expensive in the US than it is in Spain. (It’s actually quite expensive here!)

    Like

    Reply
    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      True! In North America, it is being marketed and upscale and “European”, which is an endless source of fun for people from Spain. 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  10. ellen Avatar
    ellen

    Zara is much more expensive than H&M here in Canada. In Spain, its ridiculously cheap and also they have Zara’s every 5 km.

    Like

    Reply
    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Very true! Zara is expensive in Canada and the prices are really inexplicable in terms of quality.

      Like

      Reply
  11. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Zara is the maine store of the group Inditex that have anothers, basically, Stradivarius, Bershka, Massimo Dutty, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Zara Home and Kiddies Class. It was created by Amancio Ortega in A Coruña and it’s phillosofy consist in “coping” high faishon designs an offered theme in an affordable Price. This is why these stores are soo popular in Spain that even the rich people buy some accesorize in there ( like Princess Letizia, and other famous people).
    The other important companys in Spain are Mango, from Barcelona, and Desigual, from Barcelona too.
    In Spain these stores are affordable (not cheap), I know in other parts of the world they are expensive.

    Like

    Reply
  12. Jess Avatar
    Jess

    Zara is more like underground popular. It’s mostly the fashion forward community that knows about it but in the u.s., it’s one the very few brands that actually does high fashion compared to everything else here. Europe is more fashion forward and always has been. Still, a lot of British ppl love zara even kate middleton.

    It’s just the trends…like abercrombie just opened a store for the first time in London like 2 or 3 yrs ago and that’s gotten a lot of attention over there. Whereas, it’s like so early 2000’s over here…

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

A conservative literary critic and college professor

Recent posts