The founder of the Spanish fashion chain Mango, 71-year-old Isak Andic, died on Saturday in an accident in a mountain range near Barcelona. Spanish media report this. The billionaire, one of Spain’s richest residents, took a walk with relatives in the caves of Montserrat. There he allegedly lost his balance and fell about 150 meters into a ravine.
Turkish-born Andic migrated to Spain with his family in the late 1960s, when he was a thirteen-year-old child. Already during his high school years he sold shirts to other students. In 1984, he and his brother opened their first clothing store in Barcelona, which was called Isak Jeans. Subsequently, a branch was opened in Madrid and the name was changed to Mango.
Today, Mango is a popular fashion chain that ranks alongside Zara and H&M. The company has stores in more than 120 countries. In recent years, Mango made the news when it came to abuses in the clothing industry. For example, clothing for Western chains such as Mango, Zara and Primark was produced in the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh. That factory collapsed in 2013, killing 1,134 workers. Popular fashion chains then committed to better management of their production chains.
Last year, Mango was linked to Uyghur forced laborers. Research by Uyghur interest groups and the Helena Kennedy Center for International Justice showed that the chain, together with 38 other brands, had clothing exported to Europe that was forcibly made by Uyghurs.