The story behind Nathalie Vleeschouwer
No nonsense with a twist.
Nathalie Vleeschouwer is the lifestyle fashion label by the eponymous independent designer, who has been firmly rooted in Antwerp since 1990, but also resonates internationally.
She has crafted an open universe in which purity, sophistication and a playful wink go hand in hand.
The Belgian designer launched her collection in 2011, but the roots of her fashion house go back as far as 1990. Inspiration is derived from all corners of the globe and distilled by Nathalie and her team at their headquarters in Antwerp. Because the soul of the collection is inextricably bound to the designer herself, it has an authentic style and is continually evolving, just like Nathalie’s creative ideas.
Experience, craftsmanship and lasting partnerships with a handful of suppliers and workshops form the basis of every garment that bears her name. Made with love, so that you can wear it again and again, and mix & match it with different items every season. Where the creativity of this collection – released once every six months – stops, yours begins.
Lifestyle brand
Nathalie Vleeschouwer is a lifestyle brand. The focus has been on women's wear since 2011, but the universe continues to expand. In recent years, a men's line has been added, a home perfume, a range of sunglasses, swim wear, shoes and much more is yet to be revealed in the coming seasons.
Over the years, Nathalie Vleeschouwer has become more than a brand you can trust for clothing, but stands for a complete style and philosophy.
Family business with teamwork as a driving force
The designer heads the Natale company. The management of Natale is in the hands of Nathalie herself and her husband, Jan. They have run the company together since the 1990s.
Their eldest daughter, Felix, joined the team in 2017, son Lion joined Natale in 2023. The youngest daughter is still studying.
A staff of approximately 40 work hard every day, prominently or behind the scenes, in a wide range of jobs from pattern designer to sales assistant. By outsourcing as little work as possible experience is combined, ensuring a dynamic business culture.
Nathalie Vleeschouwer is the head designer of a creative team, and collaborates with her own pattern maker. Each design is developed in detail by our team. We strive to build relationships of trust with all our suppliers and manufacturers, in which transparency and long-term cooperation are of the essence. We regularly visit our partners on site with a view to strengthening our ties and building a genuine relationship of trust and mutual respect.
Corporate social responsibility & sustainability
Respect for people, the environment and society are key values at Natale.
By opting for quality goods at fair as a starting point, we hope to contribute to enhancing the sustainability of the fashion industry. We deliberately choose to release only two collections a year and are adverse to hypes as well as overproducing. By adhering to this long-term vision we can make honest fashion that you will enjoy for many years to come and in which both the maker and the wearer take pride.
Our collections are produced without any use of child labour, in pleasant working conditions and for honest wages by audited suppliers with whom we build up partnerships with a long-term vision.
Keeping our creative, commercial and administrative departments under one and the same roof in Antwerp ensures that Natale’s environmental impact remains limited. We make every effort to minimise our ecological footprint throughout our production chain as well. This is one of the reasons why we have been sourcing more than half of what we produce from Belgian manufacturers for over 20 years.
The remaining production is divided between Portugal (ready-to-wear), Turkey (the HAND capsule collection) and China (fine knitwear).
We actively put studio visits on our agenda, so that we can keep a close eye on the pulse and see the working conditions with our own eyes. Nathalie's son did his internship for six months in China at our knitwear manufacturer. We also actively report on this in our newsletters and via social media. So be sure to follow our communication channels if you want to be taken behind the scenes.
Step by step, we try to integrate more ecological fabrics into the collection every season, depending on the supply and always with a correct price-quality ratio in mind.
A life's work
Nathalie Vleeschouwer’s interest in fashion stems from her childhood. Her father was a purchaser for a clothing chain, and as a child she loved nothing more than to accompany him to the big clothing factories. The Antwerp Academy of fashion was a logical next step in her career, but she decided – at the age of 22 – to swap the Academy with learning from practice. This resulted in the launch of Fragile, a maternity wear collection, in 1990. In those days, making fashionable maternity clothing was unheard of. That is how Nathalie became a global pioneer in the world of maternity fashion. The collection was a great success, all the way from Antwerp to Tokyo, and many brands have since followed in Fragile’s footsteps.
Having won the Womed Award in 2010 for female entrepreneurship, Nathalie felt she was ready to embark on a new venture in addition to Fragile. To underscore the authentic style of this new collection she decided to give it her own name: Nathalie Vleeschouwer.
The first collection was presented at the international trade fair in Paris in September 2010 and was available in shops in the spring of 2011.