Born in Busdongo de Arbás, León, Spain in 1936, the fashion maven is considered one of the world's richest men with an estimated net worth of US$64 billion as of March 2014. He built his empire from scratch because he was not the scion of a rich family, unlike many of his contemporaries.
Ortega started his fashion career as a shop hand in Gala, a local shirtmaker, whem he was just a teenager. In 1972, he established Confecciones Goa and then opened his first Zara store in 1975, a name he chose because Zorba (his favored name) was already unavailable by then.
Nowadays, the Zara brand is just one of many brands under the Inditex fashion group. Other brands include Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Kiddy's Class, Zara Home, Tempe, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, and Bershka with billions in annual revenues. The fashion group has more than 92,000 employees from around the world.
Ortega has semi-retired from the fashion group but he still owns over 59% of it. No wonder then that he has US$62 billion to his name considering the reach of his fashion empire; Zara alone is worn by celebrities, rich people and fashionistas around the world.
Despite his wealth, Ortega has kept a low profile and a modest lifestyle. He lives in an apartment building with his second wife, wears non-Zara clothes with his "uniform" being a white shirt, blue blazer and gray pants, and patronizes the same coffee shop every day.
Such is his low profile that he has spawned a host of speculations and publications; he is the subject of Amancio Ortega: de cero a Zara (From Zero to Zara). He has granted very few - just three on record - interviews as well.
Then again, when your success can speak for you, why speak about it?