We like to consider ourselves experts when it comes to the Spanish giant. Thursday is our favourite time of the week (it’s delivery day), we have sale dates etched into our brains (January is when the real bargains drop) and can recite the price points by heart (£29.99 is a given for most knitwear).
But even we have to admit that we didn’t know the quaint story of how the Spanish store gained its name. Yes, we’re ashamed of ourselves too.
According to Who What Wear, who unearthed a 2012 New York Times article which revealed the surprising information, Zara wasn’t always called Zara. And in even more groundbreaking news, the name simply came about by chance.
In 1975, Amancio Ortega Gaona, the future billionaire behind the Inditex Group, opened a store in northwestern Spain called ‘Zorba’, after the cult Greek film, Zorba The Greek.
But unfortunately for Gaona, there was a bar nearby which was also entitled ‘Zorba’. The manager of the bar voiced his concerns over the potential confusion of both companies possessing the same name.
But it wasn’t as simple as Gaona changing the name of his shop, as the future billionaire had already ordered the moulds for the letters in his sign.
So to solve the issue, the future founder of the multi-million pound Inditex Group, simply reorganised the letters. And what did the anagram spell? Zara, of course. Who knew the high-street giant had such humble beginnings?
The bar manager behind 'Zorba' will be pretty pleased he kept his name after all…
READ MORE: 23 Things You'll Only Know If You're Addicted To Zara