Love, Zara

MANILA, Philippines - I am obsessed with Zara. It began early, on a trip to Madrid when I was about 12, then a tomboyish, awkward and non-stylish pre-teen. My mother, who had ‘til then never seen me go crazy over clothes (days I’m sure she now misses dearly), was surprised when I took to Zara like a fish to water. I remember it now as one of our few girly mother-daughter moments: me, finally finding a store that stocked everything a 12-year-old girl (ahem, “blossoming into a lady”) could ever want — piling shirts upon pants upon dresses to try on; and my mother, carrying even more things for me to try on. At the time, Zara had not yet opened in the Philippines, and I remember exclaiming to her, “This store is awesome, one day I’m going to bring it to the Philippines.”

Well, I was beaten to it, and when Zara finally did open in Manila I continued my patronage, surrendering my meager allowance week after week for a new pair of shoes or some other must-have item. (And even now, with rebajas, or sales, in full swing, Zara continues to take a majority of my hard-earned money, so help me.) When I graduated from university and went in search of employment, I ended up working for Zara for a few months, my first real job (shout-out to my then-manager, now regional head of Zara, Ms. Aiz, and my favorite SA/trainer Jomz, both of whom were too kind, considering I was the antithesis of a model employee). Turns out, working for Zara wasn’t for me, but it was an interesting experience, to say the least.

When Zara announced the opening of their Asian flagship store in Hong Kong and invited us to cover the occasion, I felt that Zara and I had finally come full circle. They even allowed me to pull out from their store in Hong Kong despite all the difficulties that entailed, and enabled me to shoot my first international editorial (to your left) which was another amazing life experience courtesy of what is now undeniably my favorite brand.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jesus Echevarria, communications and corporate affairs general manager for Inditex Worldwide (and basically the right-hand man of mysterious Amancio Ortega, founder and CEO of Inditex), one of the few men who could actually answer all the questions I had always wanted to ask.

YSTYLE: Congratulations on your new store! It’s beautiful.

Jesus Echevarria: Thank you. We are very proud of the store, the first of its kind in Asia, and one of our biggest, situated in the very heart of Hong Kong. Queen’s Road in Central has long been a hub for business, fashion and lifestyle and we couldn’t have hoped for a better location.

The current location of the Zara flagship store in Hong Kong is Crawford House (belonging to the Lane Crawford group, Hong Kong’s most popular high-end luxury department stores), and one of the most prestigious buildings in Central. Prior to Zara, this spot was occupied by a competing brand. According to friends from Hong Kong, it closed in this location because it wasn’t making enough money. What can you say about this?

Zara chose this location because of its prestige and centrality. In terms of competing, we like to say we don’t really compete with anyone but ourselves. We strive to make Zara bigger and better. Why their store had to close down, we do not know. But it did not deter us from building our flagship store for Asia in this location because for us, it is the most ideal. We budgeted around HK$1.3 billion last year alone for expansions — building new stores and refurbishing the old ones. This flagship in Hong Kong is the first of its kind (boasting five floors in a prime location is very expensive in a small city like Hong Kong) and the rest of the stores in the rest of Asia will be renewed in this image, copying the improvements in design, layout and sustainability.

One of your biggest Zara branches in Manila (Rockwell) is undergoing renovation, and a new one is being built in SM Megamall, both of which are to have two floors. Can we expect these to be similar to the Zara along Queen’s Road?

They will be following the design aesthetic that we are doing in Queen’s Road, similar to the elegance and simplicity of this flagship store. We have very specific criteria for all our stores that are implemented worldwide, which is why when you step into a Zara anywhere in the world, it feels like a Zara. Everything from the architecture, design, window displays and mannequin displays are directed by our team from Spain.

I noticed that Zara doesn’t advertise.

We don’t believe in advertising. Everything in Zara is internal. We care more about our products, our customer, than putting out ads. Even the Zara look books are just for in-store and online, none of them ever appear in any magazines or on the television. This is why we invest so much on the prime locations of our stores. For example, Zara Queen’s Road is situated in one of the most prestigious buildings, and surrounded by other high-end brands, which puts us at that level. In a place like Hong Kong where property is extremely expensive, we show our success by situating ourselves in only the best locations. We don’t really feel the need to advertise because whatever we are doing, it’s working.

How do you translate trends and merchandise on such a large global scale?

Inditex employs over 350 designers, all of whom reside in a small town in the south of Spain. Our creative hub employs people of all ages, nationalities and creative backgrounds from all over the globe, and they translate the trends in real time, using information gathered directly from the stores themselves as well as research to maximize productivity. Orders come in twice a week along with the newest items being shipped directly to the store by all our suppliers around the globe. We employ a special system: an order format in each store that allows the managers to inform us almost daily of quantities sold and make weekly orders for their specific stores so we can predict and maximize our sales and shipments.

So you do all your market research in-store?

Well, this is also why we don’t focus on advertising — the items, once published, might not even be available in the store anymore. We use the store and our sales as a way to communicate directly with our customers — we know what they are buying, what colors they want, what fabrics are best for which country. We get it to them as fast as we can, and eliminate the middleman. It’s very effective.

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I realize now that my love for Zara started because (as Jesus put it) “the Zara woman is her own stylist.” Sure, the items are pre-styled and segregated into trends, but every week, with the direction of the head stylists from Spain, the items (over 18,000 separate pieces last year alone) are mixed and matched into millions of different combinations, allowing for a woman to enter Zara and explore the different aspects of her personality, and allowing for a creative freedom of expression not found in very many stores. As a stylist, I understand now why my 12-year-old self felt like a kid in a candy store — I was entering the dialogue of fashion with Zara and the many women it strives to represent.