The 2021 net profit of Zara owner Inditex more than doubled to €3.2 billion as the retailer’s sales recovered with many countries easing the restrictions imposed to fight Covid. Most of Inditex's 6,657 stores worldwide reopened from mid-2021. The world’s biggest fashion retailer recorded 36 per cent more sales in 2021 compared to 2020. It sales totaled €27.7 billion. The annual results were in tune with those predicted by analysts Refinitiv as most other fast fashion retailers recorded pre-pandemic level sales.

Restrictions imposed in Germany and Japan to curb the spread of the Omicron variant in the fourth quarter led to a loss of €400 million for the Spanish retail giant. Owner of brands such as Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear, Inditex was able to weather the health crisis by producing more than half of its apparel near Spain and deliver them to consumers faster and raise the share of online sales to about a quarter of its overall revenues in 2021.