At 38, Marta Ortega, daughter of the founder of Inditex, became on Friday April 1, 2022 the president of the group which owns Zara and Massimo Dutti, among others. Portrait of an heiress like no other.
Beige trench coat, Kelly Hermès camel handbag, white jeans, khaki blazer, sky blue waistcoat… According to the few rare pictures of Marta Ortega Perez, here are the clothes that make up the wardrobe of the new boss of Inditex (Industria de Diseño Textil), giant of Spanish fast fashion. Timeless, chic, all-purpose and above all discreet pieces, like the company from which this young woman from 38 years old. Since 1er April 2022, the youngest ofAmancio Ortegafounder of the Iberian group, is the “chairwomanfrom the clothing company. An appointment announced on November 30, 2021. In taking up this position, Marta Ortega Pérez succeeds Pablo Islaa lawyer 20 years his senior, himself CEO of Inditex since 2011 (he then took over from Amancio Ortega) and joined the company in 2005. He is known to be one of the architects of the group’s success as we know it today. For example, under his presidency, the market valuation of Inditex was multiplied by ten. A success that earned him to bow out with a nice jackpot : a retirement savings plan of 9 million euros accompanied by 2 million shares valued at nearly 55 million euros according to the specialized site Fashion Network.
A heritage empire
6,500 stores in 96 countries and 174,000 employees. This is the kingdom over which Marta Ortega Pérez, as a worthy heiress, is now responsible for reigning. Until then, the young woman supervised the design and launch of products for Zara in particular and more broadly for the six other brands of the group (Oysho, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Zara Home). A small company whose turnover in 2021 amounted to €27.716 billion. Sign of fate, Inditex and Marta Ortega are almost the same age; not yet forty years old.
It’s the January 10, 1984 that Marta Ortega is born. His father, the son of a railway worker and self-taught who became the first Spanish fortune (this is estimated at $57 billion by magazine Forbes), was first married to Rosalía Mera, with whom he had two children, Marcos and Sandra, and with whom he launched Zara in 1975. Then he married Flora Perezthe mother of his third daughter, Martha. She grew up in the Galician town of La Coruña located a few kilometers from the headquarters of Inditex. Her studies, she first follows them in a jesuit college of the region, then in a Swiss private high school before landing on the banks of theEuropean Business School from London, from which she graduated in 2007. Alongside her studies across the Channel, she worked as a saleswoman in a Zara store in the British capital. A job where the other employees don’t know anything about her ancestry, even if, according to legend, the Rolex she wore (long before she was 50) on her wrist would have aroused the suspicions of her colleagues. “The first week, I thought I was not going to survive. But then you kind of get addicted to the store.”she told in a rare interview with the magazine wall street journal in August 2021 about this retail experience.
A child of the seraglio
Her new role as president came as no surprise. It must be said that since she finished her studies, Marta Ortega Pérez has been wandering the halls of Inditex where “she has led many projects“, as Pablo Isa explained during his speech to the press on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. “She knows [l’entreprise] On the fingertips” affirmed then the former leader of Inditex. What Marta Ortega also confirmed in the press release announcing his appointment: “I have lived and breathed this business since I was a child and have learned from all the great professionals I have worked with over the past 15 years. I have always said that I will dedicate my life to building on my parents’ legacy, looking to the future but learning from the past, serving the company, our shareholders and our customers.“.
However, his new role at the head of the ready-to-wear group did not necessarily delight the shareholders. Immediate consequence: -6% on the Inditex price on the stock exchange on the day of the announcement of his appointment. Marta Ortega Pérez, however, does not arrive alone: at her side, Oscar Garcia Maceiras assumes the role of Executive Director General. An appointment that comes just a year after the arrival of this 47-year-old lawyer as the company’s general secretary. Another ally: Carlos Torretta, second husband and father of Matilda, Marta’s second child. At Inditex, he has been working since 2019 in thecommunication team of the e-commerce division of Zara. He himself is no stranger to the world of fashion, since he is the son of the designer Roberto Torretta and for a time headed the Spanish branch of theelite model agency.
Challenges in perspective
But the challenges that await Marta Ortega Pérez are numerous (and up to his remuneration of one million euros per year). Among these, succeeding in continuing to seduce by doing fast fashion in a world increasingly sensitive to eco-responsibility issues. The group, also singled out for possibly using the Uyghur forced labor in China, is struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. If Inditex’s 2021 turnover were in 36% increase compared to the previous year, it had still not reached its Covid-19 pre-crisis level. Which should not be possible in 2022 either, since due to the war in Ukraine, Zara’s Russian stores are all closed since the beginning of March 2022. A measure that affects some 502 shops and should be felt on the company’s annual results. To overcome these difficulties, Inditex can count on the resources of Marta Ortega Pérez and in particular on her fashion touch. It was under his aegis that the group called on photographers Steven Meisel (who immortalized the young woman for the magazine wall street journal in August 2021), artistic director Fabien Baron, stylist Karl Templer and director Luca Guadagnino.
She is also the one who launched the ultra-desirable collection Zara SRPLS and boosted the label’s collaboration with the French actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg at the end of 2021. Accustomed to the front rows of fashion shows alongside Anna Wintour and others, Marta Ortega Pérez knows the fashion sphere like his pocket. Ultimate proof: in December 2021, she posed with the gratin of the sector for the inauguration of the exhibition Untold Stories in La Coruña. An extensive retrospective of the work of photographer Peter Lindbergh which was set up by the Spanish heiress and closed on March 31, 2022. One day before Marta Ortega Pérez begins the new chapter of her life.