Amancio Ortega Gaona has always shunned publicity. But in today’s 24-hour news culture, the would-be recluse has generated more headlines than many of his competitors.
Never granting interviews and appearing in public for the first time when Inditex was listed on the Madrid Bolsa in 2000, has only intensified the media’s fascination.
People close to Mr Ortega, who turned 75 this week and will soon relinquish control of the company he founded, insist that the clothes should do the talking — a philosophy perhaps best exemplified by his own personal dress code of plain white shirt with no tie.
Mr Ortega is ranked seventh in Forbes’ billionaires list, with an estimated fortune of $31 billion, but his fashion empire started from humble origins — he made dressing gowns in his own home in La Coruña.
This rugged corner of northwest Spain is better known for sending fishing boats out into the treacherous seas off the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death) than for chic fashion. But Mr Ortega’s designs caught buyers’ attention both for look and price — and the orders started to come in.
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Mr Ortega’s desire to escape the glare of publicity has been inherited by his heir apparent. Marta, his 27-year-old daughter by his second wife, has worked on the shopfloor in London, Barcelona and China and is now based at the Zara headquarters in Arteixo. Yet she has been photographed only by paparazzi while showjumping.
Inditex insiders emphasise, though, that her accession to the throne is a long way off.
Pablo Isla, 47, the Real Madrid fan who will take over as chairman in July, was previously chairman of Spanish tobacco company Altadis, general secretary of Banco Popular and worked for the Spanish Government.
He is unlikely to adopt the hands-off approach preferred by many British company chairmen. “The continental role of a chairman is very different to the Anglo-Saxon one,” a company insider said.