Spain's textiles sector dons new colours in rebound from crisis

Madrid

SPAIN'S textile sector, flush with the glittering success of brands such as Zara, is beginning to recover from a crisis sparked by cut-throat competition from Asia that destroyed a third of its firms in less than a decade.

Inditex, owner of a range of brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti and Bershka, easily beat its closest rival, Sweden's H&M, in terms of earnings last year, booking a bottomline net profit of over three billion euros (S$4.5 billion).