Fashion retailers are having a tough time… but nobody’s told Zara

Inditex, the Spanish company that owns brands like Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull&Bear, among others, has posted a large increase in revenues and profits, showing no sign of the troubles that have brought many of its competitors to their knees.

It has been a dismal few years for many fashion retailers.

In 2020, the Arcadia retail empire, which previously owned brands like Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Topman, Wallis and Topshop, collapsed into adminstration.

The same year, the UK’s top department store chain, Debenhams, also announced it would be shutting its doors.

Many of the brands were subsequently bought by online-first fast fashion competitors like Asos and Boohoo.

The top dog of the fast fashion revolution, however, remains Inditex, which has now registered a surge in sales and profits, despite ongoing cost of living pressures in many markets.

Inditex is Europe’s largest clothing retailer, a position that looks unassailable as it posted half year revenues of €14.8 billion, an increase of almost 25 per cent over the same period a year prior.

Net profits for the group for the period from February to July stand at €1.79 billion.

Inditex’s chief executive, Óscar García Maceiras, said the company’s strong results were a result of the company’s “unique fashion proposition, an increasingly optimised shopping experience for our customers, our focus on sustainability, and the talent and commitment of our people”.

He added the company had “great growth potential going forward”, noting also that its new autumn and winter clothing ranges had been well-received by customers.

The results come despite Inditex’s rapid pull-out from the Russian market – its second biggest in terms of number of shops – closing all 500 of its outlets in the country by March, mere weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. The withdrawal resulted in a €216 million charge on the business.

Inditex said it expected to invest more than €1 billion this year in growing its business, spending money on stores, its online sales platform and improving customer experience.

Inditex is represented in Malta by PG Group and Big Bon Group, run by different branches of the Gauci family.

PG Group, which owns the Pavi and Pama supermarkets, controls the Zara and Zara Home brands. In its latest financial update, it said these brands have experienced “a steady period of expansion”, with their operations recording a 42.7 per cent increase in year-on-year turnover.

Big Bon, whose owners are also involved in major developments like Paola’s Main Street Complex, Valletta’s Embassy (which recently underwent a full makeover), and the Dragonara Casino in Paceville, retains the other Inditex subsidiary brands – Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, and Oysho.