Zara brushes off rainy summer as sales rise

Zara owner Inditex shrugged off its rivals’ disastrous summer and posted higher sales.

The world’s largest fashion retailer said sales between August 1 and September 8 were 11 percent higher than the same period last year.

By contrast, its fast fashion competitors including H&M and Primark have given gloomy updates after rain deterred shoppers from buying summer clothes.

Inditex, which also owns the Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti brands, said sales rose 7.2% to 15.3 billion pounds in the six months to July 31.

“The spring/summer collections have been very well received,” she says.

The Spanish firm’s autumn and winter offering has also started off on the right foot.

Fashion companies with brick-and-mortar stores have generally struggled to cope with stiff competition from online retailers.

H&M, the world’s second-largest clothing retailer, said June sales would fall 6 percent from a year ago.

And Primark said last week that a wet summer had made it harder to move everything.

Inditex CEO Óscar García Maceiras said: “The design, quality and experience we offer are, together with the efficiency and increasing sustainability of our operations, the keys to our results.”

Shares rose 4.5% in Madrid.