Inditex is a fashion conglomerate that retails several clothing brands.
Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. (Inditex) is a Spanish multinational clothing company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia, in Spain. Inditex, the biggest fast fashion group in the world, operates over 7,200 stores in 93 markets worldwide. The company’s flagship store is Zara, but it also owns a number of other brands such as Zara Home, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Uterqüe and Lefties. The majority of its stores are corporate-owned, while franchises are mainly conceded in countries where corporate properties cannot be foreign-owned.
Inditex business is centered around one simple premise: to be quick at responding to the market. Whereas it would take almost a year for a traditional fashion company to get its products out, from conception to runway to stores, for Inditex this process takes less than two months, in order to replenish stores with new and different products weekly and respond quickly. This is not without consequences on the earth and people, as it is the biggest fast fashion brand in the world. New styles are prototyped in just 5 days, and 60% of the manufacturing happens locally to shorten lead-times. In Zara stores, it can take a new garment as little as 15 days to go from design and production to store shelves.
Currently, Inditex has outlets in about 213 countries globally and only a low market share in many of them. Consequently, the company notes it has strong growth potential in many countries where it has an office.
Inditex reported more gains in the third quarter: its sales growth in constant currency matured 21% from the previous year.
In the March-May quarter, H&M’s net sales dropped 50% from a year earlier to 28.7 billion crowns ($3.1 billion). But its online sales have increased by 36% in the period. The company’s stock price is down.