Isak Andic, the founder of the Spanish clothing brand Mango, died this Saturday, December 14 in an accident, the company announced.
Arriving from Turkey as a teenager in Spain where he founded the clothing brand Mango, one of the largest groups in Europe in the clothing sector, Isak Andic died on Saturday in an accident. “It is with deep regret that we announce the sudden death of Isak Andic, our non-executive chairman of the board and the founder of Mango, in an accident on Saturday,” Toni Ruiz, the chairman, said in a statement. general director of this company.
He did not provide further details on the circumstances in which the 71-year-old man died but the Spanish press claims that he fell while hiking with several members of his family near Barcelona, in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain. “Isak was an example for us all. He dedicated his life to Mango, leaving an indelible mark thanks to his strategic vision, his inspiring leadership and his unwavering commitment to the values he himself instilled in our company” , added Toni Ruiz.
A successful brand in post-Franco Spain
Born in 1953 in Istanbul, Isak Andic moved to Barcelona with his family at the age of fourteen. In 1984, he opened his first store with his older brother Nahman on Paseo de Gracia, the city’s famous shopping street. And it was a huge success.
Spain had just emerged from a decades-long dictatorship that ended with Franco’s death in 1975, and consumers were hungry for more modern clothing. Isak Andic “saw that we needed color, style”, explained the company’s global retail director, Cesar de Vicente, in an interview in March 2024. The businessman quickly opened dozens of other stores in Spain and then abroad, starting with two neighboring countries, Portugal and France, all under the Mango name.
A turnover of more than 3 billion euros in 2023
Mango is today one of the leading ready-to-wear groups, with nearly 2,800 stores worldwide and 15,500 employees, according to its website. And a turnover in 2023 of 3.1 billion euros. Like its main Spanish competitor Inditex, a ready-to-wear giant that owns the Zara brand, Mango strives to quickly adapt its clothing and other accessories to the latest fashion trends while offering affordable prices. Its versatile offering, with both business and casual styles, has been a hit with consumers, with Mango selling almost 160 million fashion items annually.
This company has only one brand and does not have any factories, relocating its production mainly to Turkey and Asia, to manufacture at lower costs. Isak Andic “realized that having the same name, having the same brand in all the stores, would make the concept much stronger”, underlined Cesar De Vicente in this regard.
A family fortune estimated at 4 and a half billion dollars
The entrepreneur, who spoke little in the media, was one of the richest men in Spain. Forbes magazine estimates his and his family’s net worth at $4.5 billion.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reacted to the death of Isak Andic by writing on the social network “. The head of the Catalan regional government, Salvador Illa, for his part paid tribute to him as “a committed businessman who, through his leadership, contributed to making Catalonia a great nation and making it known to the world “.
