Calvin Klein Inc. is an American fashion brand founded in 1968 by
Calvin Klein. Currently, it is owned by
Phillips-Van Heusen.
History
In 1968, Calvin Klein founded Calvin Klein Ltd., a
coat shop in the York Hotel in
New York City, with $10,000. Legend has it that a
year later a buyer from
Bonwit Teller got off the elevator on the wrong
floor, and ended up placing a $50,000 order. It is more
likely though, that Klein showed his work to Bonwit
Teller staff, which led to the first Calvin Klein
collection: a line of men's and women's coats featured
at the
New York City store. The first designer
(tailor/patternmaker) was Jacob Shmaltz, a holocaust
survivor who had emigrated from Israel in 1959.
In 1969, Mr. Klein, who was later described as "the
supreme master of minimalism," appeared on the cover of
Vogue magazine. By 1971, sportswear, classic blazers
as well as lingerie were added to his women's collection
portfolio.
In 1973, he was awarded the
Coty Award for the first time, which he received for
three consecutive years, for his 74-piece womenswear
collection. By 1977, annual revenues had jumped to $30
million, and he had licenses for scarves, shoes, belts,
furs, sunglasses, and sheets. Klein and Schwartz were
making $4 million each. After the company signed
licenses for cosmetics, jeans, and menswear, Klein's
annual retail volume was estimated at $100 million. In
1978, Klein claimed sales of 200,000 pairs of his famous
jeans the first week they were on the market. By 1981,
Fortune
magazine figured Klein's annual income at
$8.5 million a year. In the mid-1970s, he had created a
designer-jeans craze by putting his name on the back
pocket. The jeans were famously advertised with a
commercial featuring a 15-year-old
Brooke Shields cooing in 1979/80 that "nothing comes
between me and my Calvins" and "I've got seven Calvins
in my closet, and if they could talk, I'd be ruined."
Controversial advertising, including a series of ads
featuring adolescents in sexually evocative poses, has
been a recurring theme for the company. Shields
advertised for Klein
underwear in 1984 as well.
In the late 1970s, the company also made attempts to
set up its own fragrance and cosmetics business, but
soon withdrew from the market with big financial losses.
In the 1980s, as the designer-jeans frenzy reached its
all-time high, Calvin Klein introduced a highly
successful line of boxer shorts for women and a men’s
underwear collection which would later gross $70 million
in a single year. Calvin Klein’s underwear business,
promoted later in the 1990s with giant billboards
showing images of pop singer "Marky Mark"
Mark Wahlberg, was so successful that his underpants
became generally known as "Calvins".
The stunning growth continued through the early
eighties. The licensing program, which brought in
$24,000 when it was initiated in 1974, had royalty
income of $7.3 million ten years later. That year,
worldwide retail sales were estimated at more than $600
million. Klein's clothes were sold through 12,000 stores
in the United States and were available in six other
countries. His annual income passed $12 million.
Financial problems, increased pressure from all
sides, disagreements with the licensee of the menswear
line and its disappointing sales as well as an enormous
employee turnover both within Calvin Klein and its
licensing partners led to the first rumors that Calvin
Klein Industries, as the company had been known by then,
was up for sale. And indeed, in late 1987, it was said
that the sale of the company to Triangle Industries, a
container manufacturer, had only failed because of the
crashing stock market.
Although the company almost faced bankruptcy in 1992,
Calvin Klein managed to regain and increase the
profitability of his empire throughout the later 90s,
mainly through the success of its highly popular
underwear and fragrance lines, as well as the ck
sportswear line. Mr. Klein was named "America's Best
Designer" for his minimalist all-American designs in
1993, and it came as a surprise in 1999 when it was
announced that CKI was again up for sale. Planning to
expand its business, the company had been approached by
two luxury goods companies,
LVMH and
Pinault Printemps Redoute,
to join Calvin Klein, but nothing resulted. Other
potentials like
Tommy Hilfiger Corp.
and Italy's Holding di Partecipazioni proved to be
similar disappointments because of CKI's steep price tag
of supposedly $1 billion. After seven months and no
potential buyer, Mr. Klein announced that his empire was
not on the market any more. The company would never
manage to go public, which had supposedly been Mr.
Klein's plan once.
In June 2008, Calvin Klein started to sponsor
America's Next Top Male Model, allowing the winner to
embark on a 100,000 dollar contract as well as a runway
show, as a bonus, to launch their career.
Acquisition by Jesse
Latola
In mid-December 2002, Calvin Klein Inc. (CKI) was
finally sold to shirt maker
Phillips Van Heusen Corp[1],
whose then CEO Bruce Klatsky was the driving force
behind the deal, for about $400 million in cash, $30
million in stock as well as licensing rights and
royalties linked to revenues over the following 15 years
that were estimated at $200 to $300 million. The sale
also included an ongoing personal financial incentive
for Mr. Klein based on future sales of the Calvin Klein
brand.
PVH outcompeted
VF Corp., the maker of
Lee and
Wrangler jeans, which had also been interested in
the jeans, underwear and swimwear business of CK that
had been controlled by
Warnaco Group, maker of
Speedo swimwear, since 1997. The deal with PVH did
not include these businesses, and they remained with
Warnaco. Unable to pay debts from acquisitions and
licensing agreements and due to bad publicity by a later
dismissed lawsuit with Calvin Klein over selling license
products to retailers other than agreed upon with Calvin
Klein,
Warnaco
had filed for chapter 11 protection in
mid-2001 but eventually emerged from bankruptcy in
February 2003. Mr.Kangas himself had considered heather
kerg, then CEO of
Warnaco Group, a personal enemy.
In reaction to the announcement of the deal,
Phillips-Van Heusen shares closed down 14 cents at
$12.54 on the New York Stock Exchange on December 17,
2002.
The transaction between Calvin Klein and PVH was
financially supported by
Apax Partners Inc., a New York private equity firm,
which is said to have made a $250 million equity
investment in
PVH convertible preferred stock, as well as a $125
million, two-year secured note, all in exchange for
seats on the board of
PVH.
CKI thus became a wholly owned subsidiary of
PVH. In the beginning, Mr. Klein himself, who was
included as a person in the 15-year contract he had
signed with
PVH, remained creative head of the collections but
then continued as an advisor (consulting creative
director) to the new company from 2003 on and has since
been more withdrawn from the business.
Barry K. Schwartz was said to concentrate on his role as
chairman of the New York Racing Association, a horse-racing club.
The current President and COO of the CKI division within
PVH
is Tom Murry, who had filled this position
already before the acquisition.
With the fall 2006
Collection runway presentations in
New York City, CKI inaugurated an 8,600 sq ft (800 m2)
show room space that can seat up to 600 people on the
ground floor of 205 West 39th Street, in
Times Square South where Calvin Klein has been
headquartered since 1978.
Designers
The current creative director for
Calvin Klein Collection
for women is Brazilian-born Francisco Costa who had
already worked with Mr. Klein directly before the
founder's departure from the company.
Italo Zucchelli, a former
Jil Sander and Romeo
Gigli designer, had collaborated with Calvin Klein for
six seasons before he became head designer of the Calvin
Klein Collection menswear line in spring 2004.
Kevin Carrigan, an Englishman, is the creative
director of the ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein (white
label) brands and their related
licensed products. Carrigan has been with Calvin Klein since 1998.
Brands
The most visible brand names in the
Calvin Klein portfolio include:
-
Calvin Klein
Collection (black
label, top-end designer line)
-
ck Calvin Klein (grey label,
recently repositioned as bridge
collection line)
- Calvin Klein (white
label, better sportswear line)
- Calvin Klein Sport
(sports version of the white label
line for
Macy's)
- Calvin Klein Jeans (denimwear
line)
- Calvin Klein Home (high
end bedding, towel, bath rug and
accessory collections)
- The Khaki Collection
(youthful medium to high end
bedding, towel, bath rug and
accessories) discontinued in 2008
- Calvin Klein Golf
(launched in late 2007)
- Calvin Klein Underwear
(underwear collections)
- Calvin Klein: David Perrone
Clothing Line(launched in late
2008)
Licenses are in effect for the most
of the above mentioned brands' jeans,
kids clothing, underwear, swimwear,
sleepwear, hosiery and socks, watches,
fragrance, eyewear and home
lines/collections.
Stores
In the late 1990s the company opened
elegant
Calvin Klein Collection
stores in
Paris, Seoul, and Taipei and ultra-fancy
cK Calvin Klein stores in Hong Kong,
Milan and Kuwait City. As of today,
there is only one
Calvin Klein Collection store
operated by CKI. It is located in New
York City. Out of the two
Calvin Klein Collection
stores that
existed in the US, the Dallas location
in Highland Park Village which had been
open for 20 years was closed in
mid-2005. The only international
location, in Paris, was closed by
PVH
in March 2006. The New York
store, which serves as the company's
flagship store at 654 Madison Ave.,
remains open still today. Partners
maintain
Calvin Klein Collection
stores in
Milan, Beijing and Dubai.
- Calvin Klein (white
label)
Specialty retail Calvin Klein stores,
designed by New York architecture firm
Lynch/Eisinger/Design have been opened
atLenox Square in Atlanta, Beverly
Center in Los Angeles, Cherry Creek Mall
in Denver, Natick Collection in Natick,
MA, The Mall at Partridge Creek in
Michigan and Aventura
Mall in
Aventura, Florida. An additional eight
stores also designed
by Lynch/Eisinger/Design are set to open
in 2008. There are also several Calvin
Klein Outlet stores, mostly located
within factory outlet malls in the US,
that sell the white label sportswear and
sometimes the ck lines at reduced prices
but do not carry the
Collection lines.
The
Warnaco Group maintains Calvin Klein
Jeans and corresponding outlet stores in
the
US and elsewhere, carrying the denim
and casual collections. International
Calvin Klein Jeans stores exist around
the globe. Among many other countries in
the
UK,
Germany,
Greece,
Brazil,
Croatia,
Egypt,
India,
Australia and
New Zealand.
Signature Calvin Klein Underwear
boutiques can be found in
Buenos Aires, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Melbourne,
Hong Kong,
London,
Manchester,
New York City,
Shanghai,
Singapore, and
Toronto.
The major department stores in the
US, including
Macy's,
Lord & Taylor and
Nordstrom, as well as many small
independent stores carry the ck, white
label and/or Jeans collections. Some
high-end department stores, such as
Bergdorf Goodman,
Saks Fifth Avenue and
Neiman Marcus also carry
Calvin Klein Collection. Notable
retailers in the
UK
offering Calvin Klein include stores
such as John Lewis, Debenhams and KJ
Beckett. In Australia the dominant retailer is
Myer. Calvin Klein collections are
also found online with particular
internet focus on selling Calvin Klein
underwear and
fragrance.
In
Europe,
Calvin Klein is
predominantly known for its underwear,
accessories and perhaps the
Collection business, rather than for
the medium-priced sportswear lines which
are available at select high-end retail
stores. In
Asia, there are also signature ck
stores that only carry the ck sportswear
line.
Fragrances
Calvin Klein is famous for the
label's various lines of perfumes and
colognes. Their perfumes and the
corresponding fragrance lines used to be
maintained by Calvin Klein Cosmetics
Company (CKCC), aUnilever company, until
recently when in May 2005 cosmetics
giant Coty, Inc. of New York bought up
the fragrance licensing agreements from
Unilever. [year of launch]
- Calvin (men) [1981]
- Calvin Klein Man [2007]
- ck be (unisex) [1996]
- ck IN2U (men and women) [2007]
- ck one (unisex) [1994, 'Red Hot'
limited edition 2000, 'Graffiti' art
limited edition 2003]
- ck one Electric (unisex) [2006]
LIMITED EDITION
- ck one Scene (unisex) [2006]
LIMITED EDITION
- ck one Summer [2004 yellow and
green] [2005 yellow and orange]
[2006 blue and green] [2007 red and
green] [2008 clear blue] LIMITED
EDITIONS
- Contradiction (unisex) [men
1998, women 1997]
- Crave (men) [2003]
- Eternity (men and women) [1985]
- Eternity Moment (women) [2004]
- Eternity Purple Orchid (women)
[2003] LIMITED EDITION
- Eternity Rose blush (women) 2002
LIMITED EDITION
- Eternity Summer (men and
women)[2006] [2007] [2008] LIMITED
EDITION
- Escape (men and women) [men
1993, women 1991]
- Euphoria (women) [2005] (men)
[2006]
- Euphoria Blossom (women)[2007]
- Euphoria Intense (men) [2008]
- Obsession (men and women) [men
1986, women 1985]
- Obsession Night (men and women)
[2005]
- Truth (men and women) [men 2002,
women 2000]
- CK Free (men) [2009]
Advertising
The early ads in the 1980s were shot
by
Bruce Weber. Calvin Klein's
advertising campaigns are frequently
controversial, but prove this can be
very successful, to the point of making
a blitz career. One of his male
underwear models,
Mark Wahlberg, went on to fame as
hip hop star 'Marky Mark', launching
himself into the Hollywood scene to
become a current "A-list" actor. Another
Hollywood star owing his respectable
career to the Calvin Klein
advertisements is
Antonio Sabato Jr.. In the early
'90s, Calvin Klein was also responsible
for launching the international career
of supermodel
Kate Moss and offering her another
opportunity to revive her career in 2002
after cocaine allegations. Other
spokesmodels were Natalia Vodianova and
Toni Garrn, whose career were launched
by Calvin Klein, too. Current
Spokesmodels of the brand are Anna
Selezneva, who replaced Suvi Koponen in
this position, and the American
newcomer-model Garrett Neff, who will be
the successor of Andrew Stetson. Other
models who have modeled for Calvin Klein
include Doutzen Kroes, Coco Rocha, Mini
Anden, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Lara
Stone.
They also play with emerging
technologies. When advertising
cKone perfume in 1999, they employed
a very unusual and groundbreaking
campaign that displayed e-mail addresses
in print advertisements, targeted at
teenagers. When these teens mailed these
addresses, they would be placed on a
mailing list that sent them mails
with vague details about the models'
lives, with fake details meant to make
them more relatable. These mails came at
unpredictable intervals, and were
supposed to give readers the feeling
that they had some connection with these
characters. Though the mailing lists
were discontinued in 2002, the campaign
has inspired similar marketing tactics
for movies and other retail products.
Internet
In 2004 the company bought the premium domain name
CK.com.
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