Calvin Klein

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Company logo since February 2017
Calvin Klein in Miami Beach (2014)

Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942 in the Bronx , New York City ) is an American fashion designer .

The internationally active clothing company Calvin Klein, Inc. , founded by Klein in 1968, still exists today, but has been managed without Klein since it was taken over by Phillips-Van Heusen in 2003 . Under the brand name "Calvin Klein", clothing including underwear for women, men and children as well as shoes, accessories, perfume, jewelery, watches and home articles in the upper price segment are sold worldwide through own stores, own online shops and international retailers.

Life

Calvin Klein in Manhattan (2011)

The son of Jewish immigrants (his father Leo Klein came from Hungary , his mother Flore Stein's family has roots in Austria ) graduated from the High School of Art and Design in Midtown Manhattan in 1960 and subsequently studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea (Manhattan) , where he graduated in fashion design in 1963. He then worked as a freelance designer for other fashion houses in Manhattan. At the end of December 1967, Klein founded the clothing company named after him in New York City with the financial help of a school friend. He exhibited his first small collection of three dresses and six coats for women in a New York hotel in March 1968 and eventually won an order from the Bonwit Teller fashion house. Other American fashion houses, including Macy's, followed suit. Klein quickly made a name for himself in the New York fashion scene with his simple, purist, timelessly modern fashion with clear lines in discreet, monochrome fabrics. Klein's personal contacts with fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar supported the marketing of the Calvin Klein collections. In 1973 Klein received his first Coty Award , the forerunner of the CFDA Fashion Awards, for his now 74-piece women's collection . In 1974 and 1975 he received the Coty Award again. He finally received the CFDA Fashion Award in 1981, 1983, 1987 (best American fashion collection), 1993 (in two categories: women's and men's fashion), 1998/99 (men's fashion) and 2001 (life's work).

Klein married Jayne Center in 1964, with whom he has a daughter named Marci. In 1974, Klein divorced. In 1986 he married Kelly Rector, from whom he separated in 1996; In 2006 this marriage was divorced. Since he left his fashion company, Klein's same-sex partnerships have been a topic in the press. Klein has lived in Southampton in the Hamptons since 2003 and shies away from public appearances.

Company Calvin Klein Inc.

Former Calvin Klein logo (mid 1970s to 2017)

As early as the late 1970s, Klein began to issue licenses for various products such as perfumes (now manufactured by Coty Inc. ), accessories and, since the 1990s, watches (licensed to the Swatch Group ) and glasses under the brand name Calvin Klein to other manufacturers .

From the late 1970s, Calvin Klein became known for his jeans clothing and the sometimes daring advertising campaigns that went with it - for u. a. 1980 Brooke Shields in teenage -Alter as a model posing - famous. Klein is credited with inventing designer jeans for the mass market. He presented the first designer jeans with the Calvin Klein logo in 1978.

In 1982, the Calvin Klein Underwear division was founded for underwear. Klein is considered a pioneer of high-priced designer underwear. At the beginning of the 1990s, Mark Wahlberg , then under his stage name Marky Mark , was a model or photo motif in a large advertising campaign for Calvin Klein underwear that was photographed by Herb Ritts . The model Kate Moss also graced the advertising posters for the Calvin Klein jeans, underwear and perfume divisions in 1992. At times Wahlberg and Moss appeared together in commercials for Calvin Klein Underwear .

In 2002, Klein sold his company to Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (PVH), an American shirt manufacturer, for $ 430 million . Since the completion of the sale, which was carried out with financial support from Apax Partners in 2003, Klein is no longer responsible for the design of the fashion collections. The purchase agreement stipulated that Klein would remain employed as a consultant at PVH until 2017.

In February 2017, under Raf Simons' direction, a new corporate logotype created by graphic designer Peter Saville made of pure capital letters was presented, which is intended to remind of the original company logo from the late 1960s.

Product range

  • Calvin Klein Collection logo.svg
  • Calvin Klein logo.svg
  • CK Calvin Klein logo.svg
  • Calvin Klein Jeans logo.svg
  • Calvin Klein Underwear logo.svg
  • Calvin Klein Home logo.svg

Fashion and accessories

current collections:

  • CK Calvin Klein (between 2013 and 2017: Calvin Klein Platinum Label )
    before 2013: cK Calvin Klein , originally designed as a lower-priced second line, reintroduced in 2003 as a medium-priced bridge collection in Asia and in 2005 in Europe . Over 200 stores in Italy, Southeast Europe, Moscow, Istanbul, Australia and especially Asia.
  • Calvin Klein (White Label) sportswear collection
    originally reserved for North America in the lower mid-price segment with its own stores, outlets and an online shop in the USA . Increasingly available internationally since the mid-2010s. Former sub-brands Calvin Klein Golf (2007–2017) and Calvin Klein Sport (exclusively for Macy’s 2007–2017).
  • Calvin Klein Performance
    fitness collection launched in the USA in 2008, relaunched worldwide in 2018
  • Denim
    -based youth sportswear launched in 1977 by     Calvin Klein Jeans with its own stores; priced like or somewhat under white label.
  • Calvin Klein Underwear
    underwear; own stores worldwide.

former collections:

  • Calvin Klein by appointment (from April 2017 to spring 2019) launched
    by Raf Simons in his atelier in Manhattan (205 West 39th Street), individually adapted and handmade designer fashion in the top price segment
  • Calvin Klein 205W39NYC (until 2017: Calvin Klein Collection ; discontinued in spring 2019)
    high-priced catwalk collections for the fashion shows in New York (women) and Milan (men). Former boutiques in New York, Shanghai , Qatar and Paris (from 2018) and previously in Singapore and Dubai .

All brands listed are offered for women and men. There is also a children's collection in North America for Calvin Klein (White Label) and Calvin Klein Jeans .

The main line Calvin Klein Collection was designed under Klein's direction in New York until 2003 and manufactured in Italy. The fashion line was licensed under PVH to Italian clothing manufacturers ( Vestimenta , Fingen ) until 2008 and has been designed under its own direction in New York since then, see the “Designer” section. In 1994, Klein granted the license rights for the CK underwear to the New York clothing company Warnaco Group . Warnaco obtained the license for the Calvin Klein Jeans collections and finally also for the children's collections in 1997 through a company takeover . From the late 1990s, Warnaco also controlled the Calvin Klein (White Label) collections under license and, with the exception of the Calvin Klein Collection boutiques, also the stationary Calvin Klein stores (as of 2010 over 1000 stores worldwide). In February 2013, PVH announced that the company had bought Warnaco. This means that all licenses originally issued to Warnaco revert to PVH.

In Germany, the brands cK Calvin Klein , Calvin Klein Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear , which are licensed to the New York clothing company Warnaco Group until 2013, have their own stores in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Oberhausen, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich.

Home Collection

The license collection Calvin Klein Home covers areas related to the topic of 'home & living'. The collection includes bed linen, towels, table linen, dishes, accessories, carpets, furniture, etc.

Perfume and cosmetics

In cooperation with the cosmetics group Coty Inc. (with Unilever until 2005 ), numerous fragrances , makeup and care products are offered under the name Calvin Klein . Calvin Klein launched his first women's perfume under his name as early as 1978 and launched a men's fragrance called Calvin in 1981 (both no longer available). Through intensive advertising campaigns with well-known models , the fragrance division makes a considerable contribution to the brand awareness of the Calvin Klein company. The countless Calvin Klein fragrances, available for women and men or as unisex fragrances, and some of them brought onto the market in numerous versions and new editions, include Obsession (since 1985/1986), Eternity (since 1988/1989 ), Escape (1991/1993), ck ONE (1994), ck BE (1996), Contradiction (1997/1999), Truth (2000/2002), Euphoria (2005/2006), Calvin Klein Man (2007), ckIN2U (2007), ck Free (2009), Beauty (2010), Encounter (2012), Downtown (2013), Reveal (2014), Obsessed (2017), Calvin Klein Women (2018) etc.

In the decorative cosmetics sector, Calvin Klein had made several unsuccessful attempts, most recently with the short-lived make-up line CK One Color launched in 2012 .

Designer

An older, no longer used CK logo

Calvin Klein and direct successor

From 1968 to 2003, Calvin Klein himself headed his company as creative director, even though numerous designers worked on his team in the last few years before he left. The designer for the women's Calvin Klein Collection from 2003 was the Brazilian Francisco Costa , who joined the company in 2002. His predecessor from 1996 to 2002 was Tim Gardner. The men's Calvin Klein Collection was created in 2003 by the Italian Italo Zucchelli, who had been with the company since 2001. The Briton Kevin Carrigan, who has been with Calvin Klein since 1998, was the creative director for the ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein sportswear collections as well as the licensed Calvin Klein Jeans collection . Accessories and shoes from all Calvin Klein brands are designed by the German Ulrich Grimm to this day . All four designers had already worked for the company when Calvin Klein was still the company's creative director and headed a team of designers in the years before he left. Amy Mellen is responsible for the design team for the Calvin Klein Home collections. At the New York clothing company Warnaco Group , David Cunningham has been heading the design of the Calvin Klein Jeans collection since 2009 .

Raf Simons

In April 2016, PVH announced that, as part of a new strategic direction for the brand, all Calvin Klein brands would be managed by a single creative director, who would be named by the end of 2016. The designers Costa, Zucchelli and Carrigan then left the company. At the beginning of August 2016, PVH confirmed the Belgian designer Raf Simons as Chief Creative Officer with overall responsibility for all Calvin Klein brands in New York. The annual salary was $ 18 million. Simons, previously creative director of the women's division at Dior , brought along his Dior studio manager and long-term employee, Pieter Mulier, who was appointed creative director of Calvin Klein. The first designs by Simons for Calvin Klein were presented in spring 2017 and were highly praised by the press. Simons changed the company logo, renamed the company's catwalk line, Calvin Klein Collection , to 205W39NYC (after the postal address of the company headquarters), changed the design teams, filled strategic positions with their own confidants and changed the entire image of the Calvin Klein brand through highly artistic designs and futuristic marketing campaigns. Simons also moved away from the clear, minimalist, flawlessly elegant aesthetics of the company founder and his designer successors and devoted himself to the dark sides of Americana , cowboy culture, immigrant experiences, horror in his catwalk presentations and advertising campaigns with androgynous models. Films and apocalyptic scenarios.

In spring 2018, PVH hired a former L'Oréal manager as the new Marketing Director at Calvin Klein who did not report to Simons. In September 2018, PVH curtailed Simons' responsibilities. In mid-November 2018, Simons' lawyers accused PVH of breach of contract and set the company a 30-day deadline. At the end of November 2018, the CEO of PVH, Emanuel Chirico, publicly criticized the aloof designs for the catwalk and jeans collections as well as the lack of sales expectations at Calvin Klein after investments of around 70 million dollars and announced an image change or course correction as well as the cancellation of numerous planned projects for cost reasons. PVH is said to have offered Simons a new employment contract with limited responsibilities in autumn 2018, which Simons refused. Finally, in December 2018, after the 30-day period had expired, Calvin Klein Inc. announced that the company was separating from Simons after the company's strategy no longer matched the creative director's vision.

Even if media interest in the Calvin Klein brand had increased massively after Simons' appointment, Simons had won numerous prizes for his artistic designs, which were highly praised by the specialist audience (including CFDA women's fashion prize 2017 and 2018, men's fashion prize 2017) and The points of sale for the catwalk collection had increased tenfold after Simon's first fashion presentation, the hoped-for sales figures ultimately failed to materialize and the costs for retail stores continued to rise. " After only four collections a collaboration ended, which in retrospect must be recognized as one of the great creative experiments of the present ", wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung . More critical voices criticized Simons' lack of experience with fashion companies such as Calvin Klein, which mainly do wholesale wholesale for the mass market, and the fact that he has been given too much responsibility. In addition, Simons would remain a stranger to the average consumer. In the areas of perfume, jeans and underwear - the main sources of income for the Calvin Klein brand - Simons had not achieved any noteworthy success, let alone launched a profitable it bag in the accessories business . Simons' artist collaborations, including with Sterling Ruby and the Andy Warhol Foundation, have been costly projects for PVH.

The Calvin Klein fashion show planned for February in New York has been canceled. PVH then announced that it would close the Collection flagship store on New York's Madison Avenue and permanently discontinue the entire Collection line, after previously planning to rename and reposition it. At the end of March 2019, Chirico described rising sales figures for the Calvin Klein brand after Simons' departure.

Others

In the film Back to the Future (1985), the young lead actor (Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox ) travels into the past of 1955 and meets his young mother there. Marty passes out after an accident; in this state his future mother finds him. She is amazed that the rubber band of his underpants says "Calvin Klein", believes this is Marty's name and addresses him with it first.

Picture gallery

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography Klein ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Infomat Fashion, accessed in 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.infomat.com
  2. ↑ Calvin Klein in old size , FAZ.net, March 28, 2014
  3. ↑ Calvin Klein creative director tells why it was time to revamp the brand , SCMP, November 4, 2013
  4. ↑ Warnaco conquers the area  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Textile Industry, October 2, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  5. ↑ Locations  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Textile Industry, August 20, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  6. ↑ Calvin Klein opens store in Frankfurt , Textilwirtschaft, August 18, 2009
  7. ↑ Calvin Klein opens laundry shops in Germany , Textilwirtschaft, August 29, 2008
  8. ↑ Calvin Klein , Textilwirtschaft, October 7, 2008
  9. ↑ Fingen takes over the worldwide Calvin Klein license  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Textile Industry, October 13, 2005@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  10. ↑ Do you want to create a completely new Calvin Klein now? Die Welt, April 20, 2016
  11. ↑ a b c "This is not America" sueddeutsche.de, January 22, 2019
  12. ↑ Raf Simons and the End of an American Dream thecut.com, December 22, 2018
  13. ↑ Raf Simons and Calvin Klein Part Ways wwd.com, December 21, 2018
  14. ↑ What's Next for Calvin Klein Following Raf Simons Split? wwd.com, December 24, 2018
  15. ↑ Raf Simons and Calvin Klein: Behind the Breakup businessoffashion.com, December 21, 2018
  16. ↑ Is Raf Simons too brainy for Calvin Klein? fashionunited.de, December 21, 2018
  17. ↑ Calvin Klein Says Designer Fashion Is Over nytimes.com, March 7, 2019
  18. ↑ Calvin Klein Sales Improved Following Raf Simons' Departure hypebeast.com, March 28, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Klein, Calvin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klein, Calvin Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York City