“Mango continues to chart a steady course towards new horizons,” says Toni Ruiz on the anniversary of Isak Andic’s passing

One year on from his passing, Catalan fashion company Mango is commemorating the legacy of Isak Andic. In memory of its founder, who lost his life on December 14, 2024 in a tragic mountaineering accident in Barcelona, Mango has undertaken a series of commemorative initiatives across its stores and corporate channels to highlight the business, human, and philanthropic legacy of the entrepreneur, born in Istanbul in 1953.

In this context, some of the company’s most emblematic stores have dressed their windows with a portrait of Andic and messages inside that evoke his legacy. Specifically, the tributes have reached its stores from Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona to Serrano in Madrid, as well as international locations such as Oxford Street in London, Fifth Avenue in New York, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan. In parallel, Mango added a black ribbon to its e-commerce platform and shared a commemorative video on its internal channels and social media.

The audiovisual tribute, produced by company employees drawing on hours of archival footage and interviews, captures the founder’s lessons and reflections in his own voice. “Isak was a visionary who transformed a personal dream into a global brand. His legacy remains a constant source of inspiration for all of us,” the company shared on its LinkedIn profile alongside the video, adding that “his spirit lives on in every step we take towards the future, as we continue to work to fulfil his vision and ensure that Mango is a project he would be proud of.”

For his part, the group’s CEO and executive chairman, Toni Ruiz, shared a personal letter addressed to Andic, both internally and on his LinkedIn profile, in which he reaffirmed that the values that defined the founder will guide the brand’s next steps. In it, he remembers Andic as “a brilliant entrepreneur and an exceptional person,” stressing that “there has not been a single day on which we have not remembered him.” “Mango continues to sail steadily towards new horizons,” he said.

Ruiz recalled the conversations and ideas left unfinished and highlighted the trust that the founder placed in the team, noting that “Mango is made up of excellent professionals and even better people.” The executive also reviewed the milestones of the past year, from double-digit growth to international expansion and momentum across all product lines, as well as progress at Mango Campus and the company’s focus on innovation and artificial intelligence- areas that Andic always emphasised. “What could have been a difficult year, we have together turned into a historic one,” he stressed. The letter concludes with a message of gratitude on behalf of the 17,000 people who make up the company and with the phrase the founder often repeated: “the sky is the limit.”

A year of continued growth

Following the path of growth championed by Isak Andic and reaffirmed by Toni Ruiz in his letter, Mango has closed a particularly strong year, marked by strategic advances and sustained expansion. Among other milestones achieved in the last 12 months, the company has reached its 60th store in the US with a new opening in Chicago and has accelerated the development of its Home category with its first dedicated store in Barcelona, followed by new openings in the same city, Madrid and Zaragoza. At the same time, it has strengthened its organisation with strategic additions such as Helena Helmersson, former CEO of H&M, as an independent director; Eva Gallego as head of the womenswear category; and Marlies Hersbach as the new director of online and customer, following the departure of long-time executive Elena Carasso. All these actions resulted in an outstanding financial performance, with growth of 12% in the first half of the current financial year, reaching a turnover of 1,728 million euros.

In parallel, during the last year there have also been significant changes in the structure of the family holding company that owns Mango. Following the death of Isak Andic, his three children reorganised the family’s companies under Punta Na Holding, the entity that brings together the family investment vehicles and controls the vast majority of the fashion company’s capital. In this context, the eldest son, Jonathan Andic, stepped down in June from his position as global director of Mango Man, a role he had held for 17 years, to focus fully on managing the family’s investment companies, which include business and property investments, sharing corporate governance responsibilities with his sisters Sarah and Judith.