Josie Cruz Natori

A Bloomingdale's buyer's suggestion to lengthen some Philippine peasant blouses is where Josie Natori's lingerie business began in 1977. Josie Cruz Natori, a Manila-born investment banker, turned that advice into Natori, a New York house known for embroidered sleepwear and lingerie, much of it made in the Philippines.

Manila, piano and Merrill Lynch

She was born Josefina Almeda Cruz on May 9, 1947, in Manila. A gifted pianist, she performed with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of nine. She grew up in a family of business owners; her grandmother ran several enterprises, among them a pharmacy.

In 1964 she moved to the United States to study at Manhattanville College, adding economics courses at Fordham University, and became a US citizen in 1974. Her first career was in finance, at Bache & Co. and then Merrill Lynch. She later summed it up plainly: "After six years at Merrill I had become the first woman V.P. in corporate finance, but I was really bored."

The blouse that became a nightshirt

Looking for a business of her own, she settled on fashion after the Bloomingdale's buyer looked at blouses sent from the Philippines and suggested making them longer, which turned a top into sleepwear. A trunk show in her apartment followed, at which Saks Fifth Avenue placed an order for 5,000 pieces. "Within three weeks I had $350,000 in orders," she recalled.

From 300 square feet

The showroom grew from 300 square feet in 1978 to 18,000 square feet by 1983. Natori has said that about 70 percent of the company's products are made in the Philippines, which ties the house to the country its first blouses came from.

Labels and lines

The Natori Company now sells under several labels, among them Natori, Josie Natori, Josie and N Natori. The range moved well past nightshirts into bras, panties, robes, loungewear, ready-to-wear, bridal, swimwear, accessories and home goods, and in June 2014 the company launched a fragrance, JOSIE. Her son Ken Natori is a vice president of the company, working on e-commerce, finance, licensing and marketing.

The company also sells a Pretty Smooth mastectomy bra, and has pledged all profits from it in October to breast cancer charity.

Recognition

Natori is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In March 2007 she received the Order of Lakandula, one of the highest civilian honors in the Philippines, and in 2021 she was among the internationally known Filipinos featured on a Philippine postage stamp series. Nearly five decades after the Bloomingdale's meeting, the company's website still presents her as its founder and guiding name.

Last updated October 7, 2026