Obituary: Isak Andic, businessman

The president and founder of Mango, Isak Andic, during the award ceremony for the 8th Kingdom of Spain Business Career Achievement Award (Iese), at the IESE Business School Barcelona North Campus, on 18 March, 2024 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Photo: Getty Images

Isak Andic began his fashion career selling "Made in Turkey" T-shirts to tourists, and ended up becoming the head of a clothing empire worth multibillions. Born in Istanbul, Andic’s family moved to Spain when he was 16 and Isak and his brother started selling clothes and shoes to make ends meet. They made a success of it and had stores in Barcelona and Madrid before deciding to rebrand in 1984 as Mango, a name apparently inspired by Andic falling in love with the fruit while on a trip to the Philippines.

From 1984-94 Mango grew into one of Europe’s leading fast-fashion makers. Three decades later it had 2700 stores in 120 cities around the world, and set a company record of €3.1 billion in sales in 2023. Andic was taking a break from overseeing plans to expand the chain into the United States when he slipped and fell on a caving expedition. Isak Andic died on December 14, aged 71. — Agencies