WSJ Magazine’s Elisa Lipsky-Karasz lands a rare interview with Marta Ortega Pérez, daughter of Zara founder Amancio Ortega. One of Zara’s finest image-makers Steven Meisel photographs Ortega Pérez for the interview.

Mr. Ortega is the founder and controlling shareholder of Inditex, which owns Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Uterqüe and Zara. The latter clothing company holds a commanding presence in 96 countries — often in the same high-rent district as Cartier, Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton.

WSJ writes that the original Chanel jacket might cost $8,550 wile a similar one at Zara’s sells for $120.

AOC treads carefully on such comparisons and especially in the world of fast fashion. So a side note from us here.

AOC on Covering Fast Fashion

AOC writes regularly on Zara’s #JoinLife program and its sub-level project Closing the Loop. Zara has a goal that by 2023, they will no longer send anything to landfills from their own headquarters, logistics centers, stores and factories. Also in 2023, the company has targeted a reduction in electricity and energy consumption of 15%. 2020 pre-COVID results suggested that Zara energy use was increasing against the 2023 target. While Inditex has stated they have water reduction initiatives, and there’s talk of how the company plans to reduce their water footprint through a “Master Action Plan”, there was no evidence of set targets to reduce water wastage in February 2020.

We have not reviewed Inditex’s latest sustainability commitments — and we do not want to derail the WSJ Magazine interview with Marta Ortega Pérez. Our point is to be sure that our very supportive AOC readers understand that sustainability is always in our lens of analysis. Because we write about a brand doesn’t mean that we endorse all of its practices or efforts.

Long ago, I said that the global economy would collapse if we all stopped consuming. It’s not even realistic to suggest the practice. AOC is committed to promoting sustainable consumption, however, and sustainable production. We will ALWAYS feature a sustainable project over a non-sustainable one if they are equally well-designed and photographed.

AOC looks at Zara and Inditex the way we look at H&M. We are bird-dogging them while we agree that given their size, they can be more effective than most fashion brands at helping the environment. Hence we promote their positive efforts and criticize/question their failures to keep their commitments. This is how we roll.

Back to WSJ’s Marta Ortega Pérez Interview

Inditex chairman Pablo Isla, who stepped into that position in 2011 when Ortega retired, expects Ortega Pérez to assume increasing responsibilities and leadership within the organization. Isla calls out the topic of sustainability as being of particular concern to her. “You never know your future, and I’m open to it. But to be honest, I would like to stay close to the product. I think that’s what my father always did,” is her response.

Fabien Baron, an independent creative director who has counted Dior, Calvin Klein, Burberry and Louis Vuitton as clients, admits that when Ortega Pérez attended a Zara team meeting in 2017 at his offices in New York, “I didn’t even know who she was. I just thought she was someone who worked at Zara,” he says, laughing. He came to appreciate her unassuming approach as he helped develop Zara’s new cosmetics line and worked on brand campaigns with top fashion photographers such as Steven Meisel. “[Marta] is like the undercurrent voice of the brand,” says Baron. “She brings a layer of sophistication to Zara that maybe Zara didn’t have before…. Her father built a business, and [Marta] is building a community that will help the company go to another level.”

Ortega Pérez is in love with imagery and is deeply involved in branding and social media campaigns.

“The brand is notable for forgoing print advertising and instead relying on its stores and social media for marketing. Zara is also known for its practice of buying marquee properties in luxury retail areas, an unusual tactic among its competitors, who typically lease less expensive spaces. In a similarly ambitious strategy, the brand’s photo shoots are comparable in tone and pedigree to those of a high-end designer like Miuccia Prada —and often use the same top models and photographers.”

AOC can attest to this reality. The FW Meisel campaign was a sophisticated, cinematic jaw-dropper. Steven Meisel's 'High Tension' ZARA FW 2020 Campaign: Mika, Mona, Rianne, Sacha.

Master photographer **Steven Meisel** captures **ZARA’s** Fall Winter 2020 campaign called ‘High Tension’. The music sets the mood straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Models **Mika Schneider, Mona Tougaard, Rianne Van Rompaey** and **Sacha Quenby** are styled by **Karl Templer,** with creative and video direction from **Fabien Baron.**

For all its might and tight price points, Zara cultivates an atmosphere that fosters creativity, from the perspective of photographer Mario Sorrenti, who began working with Zara in 2016. “Usually you have a great idea and you want to do something really spectacular but you don’t have the budget.” This is not the case with Zara, Sorrenti continues.

Peter Lindbergh was a dear friend to Ortega Pérez, who recently organized a tribute collection, with unisex T-shirts in black and white that featured some of his most famous photographs. Baron curated the mid-July collection, with proceeds donated to the Franca Sozzani Fund for Preventive Genomics. The late EIC of Vogue Italia was a longtime friend of Lindbergh’s. An exhibition of Lindbergh’s work in Zara’s home base of La Coruña is in the works, organized and overseen by Ortega-Perez.

Read the entire interview Why Marta Ortega Pérez Is the Secret to Zara’s Success at WSJ Magazine.