Last Updated on July 17, 2023
Wondering if Zara is a UK brand and if it’s still popular? Then you have come to the right place. Here we’ll tell you everything you need to know about one of our favourite retailers, Zara. We’ll kick off by answering your question, before moving into some details that you may not know about the company. Let’s kick off.
Is Zara a UK brand?
In short, no. Zara is actually a Spanish clothing retailer, founded by Amancio Ortega in 1975. Born in 1935, Ortega opened his first Zara store in Spain with his wife in 1975 after learning how to make clothes by hand. He has since become one of the world’s richest businessmen, with a net worth just shy of 74 billion Euros.
Zara is actually part of a wider group called Inditex – which has owns brands including Pull and Bear, Zara home and Bershka. Oretga is the largest shareholder, with 60% of the comapny. According to the company website, in a recent annual general meeting, Inditex “plans to cut emissions along its value chain by 50% in 2030 (on the path to attaining net zero emissions by 2040), expand its circularity projects and pursue new biodiversity initiatives which will recover and regenerate at least five million hectares in different parts of the world”. This goes some way towards the company becoming even more ethical and sustainable.
Despite it being a Spanish brand, there are still loads of Zara shops around the world. It’s estimated, at the time of writing, that there are more than 3,000 Zara stores worldwide, spanning 96 countries. Spain has the most Zara stores, with 547 shops, while – at the time of writing, there are 68 shops in the UK. You can check out more stats around Zara’s stores here, a website that has pulled them together for you. You can also see what we think is the best Zara store in the UK right now.
Is Zara still popular?
Yes, massively. Despite the company, like many, suffering financially as a result of the Covid pandemic, where Oretga reportedly lost around $10bn in 2020, Zara remains incredibly popular for men and women for home, fashion and other lifestyle elements. In fact, it didn’t take long for the company to recover and reach pre-pandemic levels, parent company Inditex revealed on an earnings call in 2021.
In terms of items, Zara continually puts out timeless, often simple clothes that look and feel wonderful. We are big proponents of them here and can safely say they often feature in a number of my round-ups. That’s all you need to know about if Zara is a UK brand and if it’s still popular. But why don’t you check out our other Zara articles, including our best Zara new-in items or our comprehensive how to return Zara items.
