Zara's True Story: Designer VS Buying

A girl who likes a fashion brand bought the first Zara shirt in Zara China's first flagship store, and excitedly renamed MSN “I love Zara”. In China, Zara began to try to conquer young consumers with its unique business model.

In Europe, the only way Zara is popular is “first-rate design, second-rate fabrics, and third-rate prices”. It aims at the consumer needs of those young people who can't afford top brands but like fashion design.

Luo Zhi, a designer who had studied in France for many years, told reporters that top fashion apparel brands in Europe do not like Zara because they are always copied by Zara. The small and medium-sized clothing brands are envious of Zara and are mimicking them.

　 "Flying" designers

Zara has nearly 400 designers. They have designed about 12,000 kinds of fashion in one year. Both numbers are far more than other well-known clothing brands.

These designers are typical "flyers" who often fly between various fashion shows or enter various fashion venues. Usually, some of the latest designs of top brands just came out. Zara will release fashions that are very similar to these designs.

This design method can ensure that Zara keeps up with fashion trends. It is reported that in Europe, Zara will pay a fine of tens of millions of euros to top brands each year. Zara did not abandon this design model as a result – Zara’s profit from it was much higher than the fine.

Zara calls her design a "trinity" - this "three" is the "designer", "marketing expert" and "stocking expert". The three together to determine the design style.

The first step in this design pattern is the collection of fashion information by designers and “fashion watchers”. The designer then analyzes, collates and categorizes the collected information, and then draws the design sketches.

The second step is that the designers and "market experts" and "receipt specialists" form a business team to discuss the sketches, so that all products can maintain the "Zara style" as a whole, and at the same time modify, refine, and refine the design plan. .

The third step is that the “business team” will jointly determine the specific requirements for when to put into production, what fabrics to use, what colors to use, how much to produce, costs and selling prices based on the information in the database, and deliver these requirements to the production department.

This mode of operation guarantees fast, standardized operations from design to production. It is understood that a Zara product can take an average of 10 to 15 days from design to delivery to the store shelves, which contrasts sharply with the average standard of 6 to 9 months in the fashion industry.

Lu Xiaoxiang, the chairman of Shanghai Fayijie Garment Co., Ltd., told reporters that no clothing company in China can invite so many designers to spend money to make them run around the world, participate in various fashion press conferences, and in a short time It takes time to come up with designs and this requires strong financial strength as support.