Founder Of Fashion Brand Mango, Isak Andic, Dies In Hiking Accident

File Photo of Isak Andic. (X)

Isak Andic, the  founder and owner of the global fashion brand Mango, tragically passed away in a hiking accident on Saturday. The 71-year-old businessman, originally from Istanbul, slipped and fell from a 150-meter cliff while hiking with his family near the Montserrat caves, close to Barcelona, according to Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.

 A Legacy in Fashion

Andic, who moved to Catalonia from Turkey with his family in the 1960s, founded Mango in 1984, building it into one of the world's most recognizable fashion brands. Under his leadership, Mango expanded rapidly, first opening stores across Spain and then branching out internationally, beginning with Portugal and France. Today, Mango has a presence in over 120 countries, with a turnover of 3.1 billion euros in 2023. Approximately 33% of its business comes from online sales.

Mango’s CEO, Toni Ruiz, expressed profound sorrow following Andic’s death, stating, “His departure leaves a huge void, but we are all, in some way, his legacy and the testimony of his achievements. It is up to us to ensure that Mango continues to be the project that Isak was ambitious and proud of.”

Cesar de Vicente, Mango’s global retail director, remembered Andic’s unique vision for the brand. "He saw that we needed color, style," de Vicente said in an interview with AFP in March 2024. His leadership and eye for fashion transformed Mango into a global powerhouse.

Andic’s Impact on Catalonia and the Fashion Industry

With a net worth of $4.5 billion, Andic was serving as Mango’s non-executive chairman at the time of his death. The head of Catalonia's regional government, Salvador Illa, paid tribute to Andic as a businessman whose leadership "has contributed to making Catalonia great and projecting it to the world." Illa also described Andic as someone who left an "indelible mark on the Catalan and global fashion sector.