Inditex (Zara)

Spanish fast fashion company operating a tightly coupled network topology where design, manufacturing, logistics, and retail are densely connected with minimal buffers. This enables the famous 2-week design-to-store pipeline - design teams communicate daily with manufacturing, goods ship twice-weekly to stores.

The tight coupling proved catastrophic during COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020. When Spanish factories (producing 50% of inventory) went idle overnight, stores in London, Paris, and New York displayed empty racks within 72 hours. Inditex posted its first quarterly loss in decades. The topology optimizes for speed but eliminates resilience - suitable only for stable, continuous-flow environments.