At the headquarters of its parent company, Inditex, Zara’s designers cluster around tables covered with pages ripped from fashion magazines and catalogs; with photographs snapped of stylish people on streets and in airports; and with the deconstructed parts of other designers’ garments, fresh from the runway. “Zara is engaged in a permanent quest for inspiration, everywhere and from everybody,” says Spanish journalist Enrique Badía, who has written extensively about the company. Zara even copies its own customers. Store managers from the chain’s hundreds of locations are in frequent touch with
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