Ready to wear market:
Ready-to-wear or prêt-à-porter often abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for factory-made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes, as distinct from made to measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. Off the peg is sometimes used for items other than clothing such as handbags.
Ready-to-wear has rather different connotations in the spheres of fashion and classic clothing. In the fashion industry, designers produce ready-to-wear clothing, intended to be worn without significant alteration because clothing made to standard sizes fits most people. They use standard patterns, factory equipment, and faster construction techniques to keep costs low, compared to a custom-sewn version of the same item. Some fashion houses and fashion designers produce mass-produced and industrially manufactured ready-to-wear lines but others offer garments that are not unique but are produced in limited numbers.
The textile and apparel industry constitutes the largest global manufacturing employer with approximately 200 nations involved in production resulting in $313.5 billion in trade during 1996. Of this amount, $163.3 billion was derived from apparel, the tenth largest trade category in the world. The apparel industry comprises many small but interrelated firms. Making garments to sell as ready-to-wear is labor intensive but to initiate production requires less capital investment and less advanced technology than many other businesses. Women constitute the majority of the labor force worldwide and have found apparel a continuing source of employment throughout history. These factors have made the business of ready-to-wear clothing of particular importance to the economies of developing nations in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and to entrepreneurs in many earlier eras.
Zara’s business units:
Zara is a fashion label and fashion chain stores established in 1975 by the Spanish group Inditex own by Amancio Ortega. Next to Zara, the rest of the labels the groups own are Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Zara kinds and Uterque. During the last two decades Zara tripled its profit and stores and nowadays is ranked the third biggest retailer worldwide. It has 3000 in-house designers located in its headquarter in the region of A Coruña, Spain,which design over 40 000 items per year among which only 10 000 are selected for production. Opposite to its competitors, more than 50% of its production is in Europe and not in Asia or South America (Bruce and Daly, 2006). According to Sull and Turconi (2008) average markdown ratio is at approximately 50 per cent, for comparison Zara sold only 15 per cent on sale. All these facts allow Zara to expand its sales and profits over 20 per cent per year. By September 2010 Inditex group owns 4907 stores
Zara Home is a chain store of Inditex Group specializing in fashion and home decor. About 70% of its products are textiles; decorative objects complete the offer.
For 2011, Zara Home represents 2.3% of sales of the Inditex Group.

Zara offer a multitude of products for men, women and children. Zara stores have men's clothing and women's clothing, each of these subdivided in Lower Garment, Upper Garment, Shoes, Cosmetics and Complements, as well as children's clothing (Zara Kids)
For Zara home, it sells its textile collections – bed, table and bath linens – are complemented by dishware, cutlery, glassware and decorative accents.
Zara Home stores offer inspiration in a range of themed display environments: Contemporary, Classic, Ethnic and White. Zara Home constantly updates the merchandise in its shops to include the hottest trends in home decoration.

Strategy:
Far ahead of its direct competitors , the US Gap or the Swedish H & M, Zara is the reference brand of fast fashion and cheap : offering collections largely inspired by fashion houses but at moderate prices , it expects extremely fast rotation of its models in the shops to encourage impulse buying . Any Zara’s costumer knows he will not necessarily find its " heart stroke " from one week to another, or even the next day ... To ensure the almost weekly renewal of its linear , the Spanish giant uses a production line and distribution tightened to the maximum.

The key succees factor of Zara are:
• Short Lead Time = More fashionable clothes
• Lower quantities = Scarce supply
• More styles = More choice, and more chances of hitting it