It was one of those interviews I had been looking forward to. Unknown to Josie Go, founder of Karimadon, her boutique played a huge part in my young professional life. (Of course, this was back when I was 40 pounds lighter and never-mind-how-many-years ago!)
In the late 1980s to 1990s, I would spend so many hours in a week shopping for new clothes at Karimadon for the endless cocktails I had to attend because of my job in the media. My friends and I also turned to the boutique for our “date” clothes, because, of course, as typical twenty- and 30somethings, we always had nothing to wear in our closets.
Karimadon’s designs have always been fashionable but never overly trendy, so even a season or two after, you could still wear the same clothes. There is also just a hint of sexy, showing a little bit of leg or shoulder, just enough to titillate and encourage more than a casual interest from the opposite sex. For career women, most especially, they are power clothes, sending the message that this babe means business.
The dresses are also quite affordable. I remember buying a red-hot number with long sleeves and gold buttons in front running from the hemline to the Chinese-style collar—for only P499 then.
Go is the daughter of the late Serafin Siy and the former Dominga Ng, who were both in the textile business, so she was surrounded by fabric most of her life. And having a passion for fashion since she was a child, the transition to retail clothing wasn’t a stretch. “I was kikay even as a child. And I love shopping! So my mother told me, ‘You keep on shopping, you keep on buying clothes. You open your own boutique!’ So I thought, ‘Oo nga ano? Why not?’” and she chortles at the memory.
With a waistline of a teenager, Go says Karimadon started out “as a little store” selling PX goods, such as chocolates and candies, at the Greenhills Shopping Center. “After a while, we decided to include some imported clothing items. These started selling so well that they would be bought even as we were in the process of displaying them. As we started to concentrate more on clothing, people started to ask about the clothes I myself was wearing. These were my own designs, and I would ask a seamstress then to make them for me; so I started asking her to make multiples of my own outfits and put them up for sale.”
She learned a lot about fabrics because of her parents’ business, adding: “This prepared me for when Karimadon first started manufacturing our own clothing. I knew what good-quality [fabric] was and what was not. I also knew who the sellers were and was able to get good prices, because they knew I was in the ‘business’. When I was growing up, I also saw how my parents ran their business and treated people fairly but firmly. They taught me to believe in myself and work really hard.”
The clothing brand was one of the pioneers in the ready-to-wear business in the 1980s. Then as now, Go says her clothes are inspired by magazines, her travels, even the chic fashion being worn on the street by some women, keeping in mind the attributes of the essential Karimadon woman. “That’s why I make it a point to always be observant, to keep up with trends without being a slave to what’s new.”
When it started, Karimadon’s market was mainly for women in their 20s and 30s. It has wider market now—starting from 18-year-olds to even those in their 60s. “Before, old women dressed like old women, but now they take care of their bodies.
“So whether you’re 40 or 60, you can still wear Karimadon dresses,” she points out.
Aside from being in select SM malls, it also accepts orders from clients as far as Australia and Europe through its online-shopping web site (www.karimadonfashion.com). “It’s almost like expanding overseas without opening a store there, right? That being said, we’re always open to opening new locations whenever and wherever it’s right for us.”
In fact, Karimadon will be in “two big Indonesian department stores this April.” Go also has an eye on the Middle East, particularly the United Arab Emirates with its growing battalion of Filipino women workers.
The brand has also expanded its line to include wedding gowns, and offers affordable matrimonial wear for brides, the godmothers and others in the bridal entourage. “Karimadon has always been a choice for women, especially for special occasions,” Go stresses.
She adds that Karimadon will be “collaborating” with popular designer Eric de los Santos for the brand’s formal and entourage gowns this year. It will also be working with two other designers on lines that will be launched by the third quarter.
She confesses that the way she operates the business can be tiring—coming out with new styles almost every week—but “it’s a matter of time management.” She is even able to squeeze in some chill time amid all her work, and relaxes by going out for coffee with friends, and shopping.
Though she and her husband of 41 years Richard continue to operate the business, Go hopes that one of her children will continue Karimadon’s legacy some day—after all, the brand was named after them (Karen, Rick Martin, Nick Ryan and Don). That said, the turnover is still too far along the road, because “I really love this business.”
Karimadon, already in its 35th year, remains competitive in the face growing competition from more local clothing brands and the flood of cheap imported clothes. Go knows the brand will prevail, because “one of our greatest strengths is we know the Filipina body and know how to dress it well.”
Image credits: Photo courtesy of Go family