People only just learning how Zara got its name - and it's not after the founder

15 April 2023 , 08:00

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Do you know how Zara got its name? (stock photo) (Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Have you ever wondered how Zara got its name? Millions shop there every year, but it turns out many of us have no idea about the unusual way the shop became the Zara we know today.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the shop was named after the person who founded it, as many shops with first or last names as part of their brand are, but that's actually not the case when it comes to Zara.

Instead, the clothing retailer's short and snappy moniker came about by complete accident - after founder Amancio Ortega was unable to give his first-ever storefront the name he actually wanted.

The name isn't taken from the founder's name (stock photo) (Getty Images)

Back in 1975 when Amancio was opening his first store in Spain, he had wanted to name it 'Zorba' after the film Zorba the Greek, according to Marie Claire.

However, after having the letters for the store sign made, he realised there was already a bar with the exact same name just two blocks from where his shop was located.

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So to avoid confusion, Amancio simply rearranged the letters to make 'Zara'. He ditched the 'O' and the 'B', and it's believed he took the second 'A' from a spare set of letters that had been delivered as backups.

This means that the word 'Zara' doesn't have any special meaning when it comes to the popular clothing retailer, but it instead came about by happy accident.

Meanwhile, people were recently left gobsmacked when they discovered that Adidas doesn't actually stand for 'All Day I Dream About Sports', as some people had spent decades believing.

The acronym is a popular misconception when it comes to the brand, but the sports clothing shop actually got its name from the founder, Adi Dassler, who set up his company as a sports shoe brand in Germany in 1924.

The story was thought to be that Adi founded his company as 'All Day I Dream About Sport' to show off his huge passion for it, but it was actually just a nickname of his which he used in the name.

From there, Adidas stayed what it is today with its three-striped logo being well-known across the world.

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