Marie Claire UK Marie Claire UK
  • Fashion Fashion
      • Fashion
        • View all Fashion
        • Fashion Trends
        • Shopping
        • Watches and Jewellery
        • Fashion News
  • Beauty Beauty
      • Beauty
        • View all Beauty
        • Fragrance
        • Hair
        • Make Up
        • Skincare
        • Nails
        • Marie Claire Beauty Awards
  • Health Health
      • Health
        • View all Health
        • Fitness
        • Nutrition
        • Female Health
        • Wellbeing
  • Life Life
      • Life
        • View all Life
        • Opinions
        • Travel
        • Sustainability
        • Weddings
        • Money & Work
        • Competitions
  • Culture Culture
      • Culture
        • View all Culture
        • TV and Film
        • Celebrity News
        • Books
        • Royal News
  • Vouchers Vouchers
      • Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Mint Velvet
        • Karen Millen
        • H&M
        • nobody's child
        • ASOS
        • ARKET
        • MANGO
      • Designer Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Reiss
        • THE OUTNET
        • SSENSE
        • Mytheresa
        • Liberty London
        • Selfridges
        • Farfetch
      • Accessories
        • View all Vouchers
        • AllSaints
        • Aspinal of London
        • Charles & Keith
        • River Island
        • FitFlop
        • Kate Spade
        • Vagabond
      • Jewellery
        • View all Vouchers
        • Pandora
        • Abbott Lyon
        • Goldsmiths
        • Beaverbrooks
        • Astrid & Miyu
        • Swarovski
        • Angara Jewellery
      • Beauty
        • View all Vouchers
        • Sephora
        • Cult Beauty
        • Space NK
        • Dyson
        • Clarins
        • Look Fantastic
        • Clinique
      • Activewear
        • View all Vouchers
        • Lululemon
        • Gymshark
        • Sweaty Betty
        • Nike
        • adidas
        • New Balance
        • Helly Hansen
  • NEWSLETTER Signup to our newsletter
  • logoCreated with Sketch.
    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!


    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    You are now subscribed

    Your newsletter sign-up was successful


    An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
    Trending
    • Women in Sport 2026
    • Marie Claire Masters
    • Autumn Winter 2026
    • Nail Trends 2026
    • Best Investment Bags
    • Best Perfumes
    1. Style

    This is the first item Zara ever sold

    We’ll give you a clue: it wasn’t shoes

    Penny Goldstone's avatar
    By Penny Goldstone
    Published 27 July 2017 In News

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

    • Facebook
    • X
    • Pinterest
    Share this article
    Join the conversation
    Follow us
    Add us as a preferred source on Google
    Subscribe to our newsletter

    We’ll give you a clue: it wasn’t shoes

    Remember when we told you why Zara is called Zara? Well we have another fun fact that concerns your favourite high street brand (we assume it is as it’s overtaken Topshop as the most searched shop).

    It’s about the first item ever sold by Zara. Now we all know the Spanish fashion brand is brilliant for shoes, accessories and generally anything like this polka dot dress that’s flying off the shelves.

    So we were quite surprised to find out that the first item sold had nothing to do with any of those… because it was a bathrobe.

    Refinery29 got a preview of the new documentary Zara: The Story of the World's Richest Man (founder Amancio Ortega earns $761 a minute FYI), which revealed Ortega started his business making bathrobes.

    You may like
    • models wearing new Sézane Sézane Just Launched the Most French Rebrand of All Time—Here's What We'll Shop
    • Massimo Dutti Lyst This High Street Store Is Competing With Chanel, Miu Miu, Dior and Saint Laurent—According to the 2026 Lyst Index
    • Cara My Life in London Cara Delevingne on Designing Her First Collection for Topshop and London's Best-Kept Secrets

    He used to work at boutique La Maja with Rosalia Mera (who would later become his wife) and her sister and they created a cheaper version of a quilted robe that the store sold.

    At the time, women would apparently go shopping in their robes as there was no heating in their houses, so he saw an opportunity to sell them a stylish robe, for a fraction of the cost of other stores.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!

    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    He started selling them door to door before opening his company, and we all know how the rest of the story goes.

    We actually recently got a sneak preview of the AW17 collection, which includes luxe velvet robes, so it certainly seems like Zara has gone full circle.

    Penny Goldstone
    Penny Goldstone
    Social Links Navigation
    Contributing Fashion Editor

    Penny Goldstone is the Contributing Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK. She writes about catwalk trends and the latest high street and Instagram sartorial must-haves. She also helms the Women Who Win franchise.

    She has worked in fashion for over 10 years, contributing to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Good Housekeeping, and Stylist.

    Read more
    models wearing new Sézane
    Fashion Sézane Just Launched the Most French Rebrand of All Time—Here's What We'll Shop
    Massimo Dutti Lyst
    Fashion This High Street Store Is Competing With Chanel, Miu Miu, Dior and Saint Laurent—According to the 2026 Lyst Index
     
     
    Cara My Life in London
    Fashion Cara Delevingne on Designing Her First Collection for Topshop and London's Best-Kept Secrets
    @sarah.corbettwinder wears sarong and shirt
    Shopping Last-Minute Packing for Your Beach Holiday? All You Need Is Your Favourite Shirt and This Throwback ’90s Item
     
     
    Latest in Style
    Sienna Miller red jackets white jeans
    Fashion Sienna Miller's Easy Autumn Outfit Highlights How to Wear the Colour of the Season
    A woman wearing some of the trend-led wardrobe updates from the article
    Shopping 18 Trend-Led Items to Update Your Wardrobe with Minimal Effort—and Minimal Cost
     
     
    Black boots listing image
    Shopping They're Not Basic, They're Timeless: A Pair of These Editor-Approved Black Boots Is Always Worth the Investment
    A woman wearing some autumn basics on sale from the article
    Shopping These Timeless Autumn Basics Might Be on Sale, But They’re Anything But a Frivolous Purchase
     
     
    Latest in News
    New Beauty Launches Romilly Wilde / Cécred / Bobbi Brown
    Beauty The Beauty Digest: Cécred Comes to the UK, Romilly Wilde Returns & £22 Skincare Gets Serious
    The Beauty Digest: New Products to Know
    Beauty The Beauty Digest: A Foundation With Infinite Shades, Diptyque Does Bodycare, and the Exhibition Every Beauty Lover Should See
     
     
    Eva Omaghomi
    Fashion After 17 years in the Royal Household, Eva Omaghomi Talks Bringing African Design Talent to Harrods
    New Beauty Products: The Beauty Digest
    Beauty The Beauty Digest: Dyson Does Teeth, Fenty Rips Up the Rulebook (Again) and a Surprisingly Fragrant Week for Dogs
     
     
    logoCreated with Sketch.
    • Site Archive
    • Contact Future's experts
    • Contact us
    • Terms and conditions
    • Advertise with us
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookies policy
    • About us
    Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google

    Marie Claire UK is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

    © Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.