Amancio Ortega, the owner and creator of fast-fashion brand Zara, with a net worth of $71.5 billion has officially passed Warren Buffett to become the second richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
Ortega's surge up Bloomberg's Billionaires Index says a lot about people's desire to hop on the latest fashion trend, even if the clothes are mass-produced rather than designer. The retailer's entire business model is built off getting new items into the store as quickly as possible. Zara, which is based in Spain, has maintained its factory in local La Coruña allowing it to turn designs into products faster than companies that have outsourced production to China. Zara also famously restocks its stores twice a week with brand new items that align with the latest trends.
Ortega, who created Zara in 1975 as a company operating outside of his living room, sits only behind Bill Gates as the richest person in the world now. However, Buffet, at $70.22 billion, is only a slightly behind Ortega, and probably would have kept the second spot had he not donated tons of money to charity, according to Quartz.
