Natori and Johnny Was Launch Loungewear Collaboration at 72 US Stores

Josie Natori has signed a loungewear licensing-style collaboration with Oxford Industries-owned Johnny Was, placing the Natori x Johnny Was label in 72 Johnny Was stores across the US plus johnnywas.com and natori.com from Monday. The collection spans silk robes, caftans, pajama sets, kimonos and elevated loungewear, priced from $160 to $2,400.

For Natori, the deal adds roughly 70 new doors for the holiday season in a category where the brand already holds category authority — intimate apparel and sleepwear. Josie Natori, who founded the family-owned label in 1977, framed the distribution gain as a decisive factor in the deal.

What brought the two brands together?

"First, I could not say no to Lisa Kazor, who is president. I have known and worked with Lisa for over 30 years at Neiman Marcus," Natori told WWD. "It was enticing to be in 70 new doors for holiday in a category that Natori is an authority."

Kazor, president of Johnny Was since December 2025, previously worked with Natori on women's ready-to-wear and intimate apparel collaborations. She described the new project as "a special full-circle moment." Kazor joined the brand as chief commercial officer and strategic adviser in April 2025, after 25 years at Neiman Marcus Group, where she rose to senior vice president and general merchandise manager of women's ready-to-wear, outerwear and intimates, with earlier roles at Bloomingdale's, Tourneau/Bucherer and Joor.

"For me, it's always about bringing art into life. Johnny Was shares that spirit, which made this collaboration so much fun," Natori said.

How was the collection produced?

Development began a year ago, with the Johnny Was team working through the Natori print archive as the basis for the collection's motifs. Natori confirmed the handmade component: "There are also amazing embroidered caftans, all handcrafted in our factory on the Philippines." That detail anchors the collection's upper price points in Natori's existing vertical production rather than new vendor onboarding.

The assortment reinterprets Natori's signature prints through Johnny Was's color palette and embroidery techniques, and includes a capsule "couture" collection of embroidered kimonos. Kazor singled out the limited-edition hand-embroidered dusters and caftans as "superlative examples of the craft of both brands," and flagged the seasonless pajamas, an embroidered hoodie and blankets as gift-driven volume pieces.

Christy Whitley, head of design at Johnny Was, said: "Natori has this incredible archive of prints, and we were able to bring our own personality through color and embroidery."

Who owns what?

Oxford Industries acquired Johnny Was in September 2022 for $270 million. The brand, founded in 1987, is being repositioned around embroidery and prints as its differentiators under Kazor's leadership. Natori, founded in 1977, remains family-owned and has expanded from lingerie and sleepwear into ready-to-wear, accessories and home.

The collection's design brief — pieces that move between occasions, positioned on innerwear-as-outerwear versatility — targets the home and gifting channel at a $160-to-$2,400 spread, equivalent to a fifteenfold range between entry pajamas and couture-level embroidered kimonos.

Neither company disclosed sales targets or the deal's financial structure. The holiday launch across 72 doors will provide the first read on whether archive-led collaboration can lift Johnny Was traffic during Oxford Industries' peak quarter.