Iora: Made in Singapore, priced for the Filipino budget

Singaporean brand Iora reconsiders power and trend dressing in its fall collection and infuses it with a lot of ruffles and other feminine touches. In an exclusive preview for the Philippine media in Singapore, the brand named after the Asian bird revealed what’s in store for the Filipino market — now with 10 branches in SM, Ayala and Robinsons Malls — in the coming months.

The autumn collection is made up of five lines designed by Iora’s three-woman design team headed by Jane Koh: Power Dressing, Formality Reconsidered, Undying Denim, Ruffle Party, and Glittering Glamour. Jane explains that most of the dresses in the collection were exclusively made for the Philippine market because, unlike Singaporeans, Filipino women prefer dresses to coordinates, whether it’s for work or for play. That’s what franchise owners Monette Bata Garcia and Anabelle Tiu Cuazon noticed from their shoppers, too, when they first brought the brand to Manila in 2005.

Inspired by street dressing in Europe and Asia — particularly the layering styles of Spanish and Japanese women — the architecture in European cities and the runway collections in the fashion capitals, Iora’s autumn collection swings from loose silhouettes to tiered styling, from monochromatic ensembles to separates with pretty prints. The shapes are very relaxed, asymmetrical and sexy, the movement fluid with materials like chiffon and silk. For personal inspiration Jane looks up to John Galliano: “Galliano is my favorite because he’s always crazy but his designs are very basic.”

Iora is wearable and affordable clothing fit for the Asian body and climate, which is why it has earned a loyal following in Manila and Cebu. Its average price range is P1,500; basics can go as low as P680 while the dressier pieces are only up to P3,800.

“Our advantage is that our cuts are suited for the Asian body,” says Monette. “Our customers say that other imported brands’ lengths are too long.”

If you think that fashion coming out of Singapore cannot possibly fit the Filipina body, think again: Iora’s design team adjusts their designs to local specifications. In fact, it was the Philippine franchise that started the request for XL and double XL sizes for the form-fitting styles. Jane recognizes that Filipino women are “bustier” and have a longer torso than the reed-thin Singaporeans, and when Monette and Anabelle go on a buying trip to Iora, they fit every single piece before deciding which ones to order for their Manila stores.

While Iora knows that today’s women are looking for value for money, they also know that women want to have a big, quality wardrobe and accessories for their everyday fashion needs. Sixty new styles are added to the store each month and the market is categorized by lifestyle instead of age. Age, after all, is just a number that seems to go down in these modern times. “Women in their 50s don’t dress their age anymore; sometimes they dress like women in their 30s or even 20s. There are no specific rules, just pick the right style for you,” Jane says.

“We have very good detailing and styling, and the designs are between trendy and classic, ensuring long-term use,” says Monette.

Anabelle adds that 65 percent of the clothing is smart and casual, 25 percent for the young and trendy, and 10 percent for the executive.

Iora’s accessories, too, are fun to match with its clothing line. The store carries scarves, jewelry, belts, and bags priced from P350 to P2,000. For an even bigger bargain, check out Iora’s outlet store in Eastwood City, Libis, for past seasons’ collections with prices cut by as much as 70 percent.

From Singapore To Manila

Recessionistas who want to wear imported clothes have found Iora to be their reliable go-to boutique with its prices positioned between local brands and the more expensive ones coming from Europe and the US. 

When Monette and Anabelle were looking for a franchise to bring to Manila, they considered other names but decided on Iora for the simple reason that they liked the clothes.

The two were classmates at ICA, then Anabelle left for Canada where she double-majored in economics, and commerce and finance and worked part-time as a sales associate in a clothing store, while Monette took up business management at the University of Asia and the Pacific.

When Anabelle came home, she worked at Citibank while Monette worked for Banco de Oro. While both were trained in finance, they realized that this was not what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. Monette lived in Singapore for a year to study at the Toni & Guy Academy to be a hairstylist and there in the city-state mushrooming with malls, she discovered that a lot of women were wearing Iora.

Monette came home and became a hairstylist at Toni & Guy in Manila — a stint that she describes as doubling as hairstylist and an emotional counselor to clients who were dealing with their personal crises by going to the salon. “You’re literally on your feet all day and you’re hearing the problems — and gossip — from all your clients. It was fun but also stressful. All the while I was thinking I wanted to be in fashion,” she says.

It helped, of course, that the two young women are shopingeras themselves and that they both come from business families: Monette’s family is into garments manufacturing, while Anabelle’s is into steel. It also helped that the founder and owner of Iora, Ng Leng San, is like them — young and hardworking. He started in fashion retail 20 years ago, getting involved in his father’s retail business when he was only 20, and creating Iora when he was 29 — first in Singapore’s Chinatown and then moving into more upscale malls.

“When we first got in touch with Iora, they told us they were not yet ready to franchise the brand,” says Monette. At the time Ng was also in talks with a Brunei business partner and was about to open its first foreign outlet there. Two years later, in 2005, Monette and Anabelle went back to Iora and got the go signal to bring it to the Philippines — opening three stores in the first year alone.

 “The growth has been really fast,” says Anabelle. Today they have 10 stores — including two in Cebu and one to open this year at Ayala’s Marquee Mall in Pampanga, and they’re considering opening a store in Davao.

“We were really looking for a business,” says Monette. “We wanted something of our own, we wanted to own our hours because we are both raising young children. With another partner, Christopher Cu-Unjieng, we got Iora.”

While retail activity has inarguably slowed down around the world, they feel that Iora has found its niche on the local market despite the stiff competition among foreign brands. Sales are up, and Iora shoppers are leaving the store with the promise of a bigger wardrobe, but not a thinner wallet.

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Iora stores are located at SM Mall of Asia, Robinsons Galleria, TriNoma Mall, Glorietta, Rustan’s Tower, SM Cebu, Ayala Mall Cebu, SM Megamall, and an outlet store in Eastwood City. Soon to open at Ayala Marquee Mall in Pampanga.