As the founder and managing director of H&F Retail Concepts, Mark “Jappy” Gonzalez has introduced luxury fashion brands to Manila, starting in the 1990s, through multi-brand store Homme et Femme.

More multi-brand stores followed, among them, Univers and Hoodwink which carried labels such as Sacai, Vetement, Bode, Jil Sander, Acne, Mason Margiela, Maison Kitsune, to name just a few. Gonzalez took a new direction later on to open mono-brand outlets Comme des Garçons, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Off-White, Y-3 and Fred Perry. In late 2021, Gonzales also opened the first Philippine branch of the Japanese café Omotesando Koffee.

His remarkable success was recognised with Gonzalez's inclusion in the 2017 edition of Business of Fashion (BoF) 500, a list of power players curated by the editors of the global publication Business of Fashion. It is a prestigious list where he joins other industry giants including Vogue’s Anna Wintour, V Magazine’s Andrew Gan, designers Rei Kawaubo, Raf Simons and Marc Jacobs.

Under his leadership, H&F Retail Concepts was able to grow, and more importantly, survive the uncertainties of the times. Gonzalez’s remains upbeat about luxury retail’s future. He is due to open another mono-brand store, Officine Universelle Buly. In November, Gonzalez will launch its first collaborative project with Filipino designer Carl Jan Cruz, which will be made available at Univers.