The son of Isak Andic, the founder of the fashion chain Mango, has been released on bail of €1m (£866,000) after being arrested and questioned in connection with his father’s death in Catalonia almost 18 months ago.
Andic died in December 2024 after apparently falling 100 metres down a ravine while hiking in Montserrat, near Barcelona, with his son, Jonathan. His death aged 71 prompted tributes to him from politicians, journalists and the fashion world.
An initial investigation by the Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, concluded the death was an accident, but officers and judicial sources told El País and La Vanguardia last year that the case was being treated as a possible homicide.
On Tuesday the Mossos d’Esquadra said Jonathan Andic, who is now vice-chair of the Mango board, had been arrested and taken to appear before a judge in the Catalan city of Martorell. The 45-year-old was later released after posting the €1m bail.
The court said the case was being “investigated as a charge of homicide” and ordered him to remain in Spain, surrender his passport and appear weekly before the judge.
A spokesperson for the family said they were confident of Jonathan Andic’s innocence and they would continue to offer investigators their “total cooperation”.
El País reported last year that police had found no direct or definitive evidence to explain what happened in the ravine but had “come across a series of clues which, when taken together, had led them to move away from the idea of a mere accident and toward the possibility of a homicide”.
La Vanguardia reported that the judge overseeing the case changed Jonathan Andic’s official status from witness to possible suspect in September last year.
The family issued a statement to the media at the time saying: “The Andic family has not and will not comment on Isak Andic’s death in all these months. However, they wish to show their respect for the ongoing investigations and will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities, as they have done so far. They are also confident that this process will be concluded as soon as possible and that Jonathan Andic’s innocence will be proved.”
Isak Andic was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Istanbul in 1953, emigrated to Catalonia with his relatives in the late 1960s and started selling T-shirts to fellow high school pupils. He progressed to running a wholesale business and sold clothes in street markets before opening his first Mango store in 1984.
“He saw that we needed colour, style,” Mango’s global retail director, César de Vicente, told Agence France-Presse in March last year. Andic soon opened dozens more stores around Europe and “realised that having the same name, having the same brand, in all the shops, would make the concept much stronger”, De Vicente said.