Oh, God, no!” Josie Cruz Natori said, grimacing when asked if she ever thought of retirement. The oversized, pendulous earrings on her lobes jounced as she shook her head at the thought of leaving the brand she founded 40 years ago.

“That’s a dirty word. That’s not in my vocabulary,” she added, her small face wrinkling as she laughed.

At a time when many fashion brands are closing their doors or declaring bankruptcy, The Natori Company is marking a milestone this year, and continues to thrive. Its founder, who turned 70 in May, is still at the helm as chief executive. Her husband, Ken Natori, is company chair.

“I’m still extremely hands-on,” Natori said, as she took a break from entertaining friends and styling clients who came to shop her Spring-Summer 2017 collection last Friday. Her longtime retail partner, Rustan’s, hosted a salon show and shopping party in her honor at the exclusive Manila House in BGC.

Rustan’s chair and CEO Zenaida Tantoco’s father, Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco, and Natori’s dad, Felipe Cruz, were high-school friends, so “they’re like family to me,” Natori said.

“I love [my job],” she said. “There’s no way you can be in this business and be good at it if you don’t love it, because it’s tough, very tough.”

Game changer

When she started her company in 1977, the New York-based designer-entrepreneur said “it was very easy.” But the whole structure of the fashion industry has changed since, she said, especially with the advent of the internet. “It has been the biggest game changer.”

To keep up, her only son and company president, Kenneth Jr., launched the brand’s e-commerce site 10 years ago. In the beginning, Natori was being sold at 150 department stores; it’s now down to five as brick-and-mortar stores are shuttering and refocusing their business on online retail.

“And even with those five, the ones that are working are [their e-commerce],” she said.

Natori also had to tap social media and work with so-called influencers for marketing. (In her Instagram, there are posts of celebrities in Natori, including Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian wearing her silk robes in Cannes).

“My feelings aside, it’s a fact of life,” she said. “Everyone’s learning this so-called game. I think everyone’s just trying to figure it out. We’re all in the same boat, though some have more money. In our limited resources, we try. It has been interesting. Personally I do e-mail, Twitter, Instagram, but do I buy from the internet? No. But I understand that this generation does. It’s important how you reach that audience.”

Like family to Natori: Maritess Tantoco-Enriquez, Kathy and Michael Huang, Rustan’s chair and CEO Zenaida Tantoco and “Tito Benny,” Rustan’s patriarch Bienvenido Tantoco Sr.

More independent women

The customer has also evolved. When she started, and well into the 1980s, “I couldn’t do anything wrong,” since the dressy, Hollywood style of Natori coincided with the era. But when the minimalist ’90s went casual, “I couldn’t do anything right,” she added with a sigh.

“Women have become independent, which is really good,” she said. “Before, fashion was dictated to them. Women today want something versatile, timeless, something that can go from day to night, something they can travel with, easy to pack. And it’s not simply saying you’re dressing a career woman. The definition of career today is so different, because there are women who work from home; the lines are blurred. You have to be in tune to the lifestyle.”

Through the years, the brand has expanded from the heritage Natori lingerie line, to include Josie Natori RTW, its most luxurious brand; the diffusion and more accessible N Natori; and the contemporary, “more fun” Josie.

The brand has also dabbled in fragrance and eyewear, and has a home collection. There are fashion accessories to complement the apparel, created in partnership with Filipino designer and exporter Arnel Papa.

“We try to address different lifestyles and preferences,” Natori said. “Consumers are king. Anyone who doesn’t pay attention to that won’t survive today.”

Select styles from the Natori 40th anniversary capsule collection

New challenge

Natori started her career on Wall Street as the first female vice president of investment banking at Merrill Lynch. While born to privilege as the daughter of a construction magnate, she was raised to be entrepreneurial.

Looking for a new challenge in 1977, a year after giving birth to her son, she brought an embroidered blouse from the Philippines to a buyer at Bloomingdale’s, who, in turn, advised her to turn it into sleepwear. That was how her made-in-the-Philippines, luxe lingerie business was born.

Her being Filipino, said Natori, was what gave her brand “a distinctive niche, the East-West sensibility, that point
of differentiation.”

“It’s my heritage and my love for the arts that are reflected in the patterns, the embroidery, the colors,” she said. “They’re what make Natori what it is 40 years later—the quality, the craftsmanship, the artisanship. It’s quite special to me, my love of the craft of our people, for which I’m very grateful.”

Natori: “There’s noway you can be in this business and be good at it if you don’t love it, because it’s very tough.”

Paying back

Natori pays back by continuing to support Filipino talent. At Manila FAME, she helps curate Manila Wear, the trade show’s fashion segment.

“There’s so much talent in the country,” she said. “You just need to get that break, to know the marketplace, to connect the dots. There’s so much opportunity for Philippine design. It should be faster than it is, but there has been progress in that.”

For her part, she tries to keep a balance between her logical and creative sides. “In the end it’s a business. I can get crazy and overdevelop something, but there’s also the practical side of me.”

Her advice to aspiring designers: “You have to have a vision and stay with it. Be tenacious, believe in yourself. It’s work 24/7.”