Calvin Klein - Biography

Last Editor: kcaloh				Calvin Klein Biography -   Name : Calvin Klein Profession : Designer Birth Details : born November 19, 1942, The Bronx, New York City, United States as Richard Klein

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Calvin Klein Detailed Biography -

Calvin Klein (born November 19, 1942, The Bronx, New York City, United States as Richard Klein), is a well-known fashion designer. His name is also a brand name of clothing marketed by his clothing company, which was launched in 1968. Calvin Klein was raised in the Jewish immigrant community in the Bronx, New York. Calvin Klein was a protegé of Baron de Gunzburg through whose introductions he became the toast of the New York elite fashion scene before he had his first mainstream success with the launch of his first jeans line. Calvin Klein was immediately recognised for his talent after his first major showing at New York Fashion Week. He was hailed as the new Yves Saint-Laurent, and was noted for his clean lines and strait cuts on coats and suits. Speaking in an interview with Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol for Interview magazine, published not long after the Baron's death Klein said:— "He was truly the greatest inspiration of my life... he was my mentor, I was his protegé..If you talk about a person with style and true elegance-- maybe I'm being a snob, but I'll tell you, there was no one like him. I used to think, boy, did he put me through hell sometimes, but boy, was I lucky. I was so lucky to have known him so well for so long." The Calvin Klein company, like many in the fashion industry, is known for its eye-catching advertising. It is noted by many conservative organizations for its use of seemingly-underage models in pseudo-provocative poses. In addition to clothing, Calvin Klein also gave his name to a range of perfumes, including CK One and CK Be (fragrances for everyone, regardless of gender), now owned by "Coty Inc.". Swatch manufactures watches under the Calvin Klein brand. Klein was the victim of a pieing in 2001 at a fashion premier at New York's Lincoln Center. Calvin Klein attended the 'High School of Industrial Art' and after graduating at 20 from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology in 1962, he apprenticed at an oldline cloak-and-suit manufacturer and spent five years designing at other New York shops. In 1968, Klein and his childhood friend Barry Schwartz, who was to manage the business, then initially founded Calvin Klein Ltd., a coat shop on one of the floors of the York Hotel, in New York City with $10,000. Legend has it that a year later a buyer from Bonwit Teller (a then New York based department store similar to today’s Lord & Taylor) 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. Hence, the first Calvin Klein collection was a line of men’s and women’s coats at New York retailer Bonwit Teller. 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 and pant suits as well as lingerie were added to his womens collection portfolio. In 1973 he was awarded the Coty Award for the first time (again in 1974 and 1975) 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. In the late 1970s, the company also made attempts to set up their own fragrance and cosmetics business but soon learned that they were not able to do it alone and 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 of pop singer Mark "Marky 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 $12,000,000. 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 thus it came as a shocking surprise when in 1999 it was announced again that CKI was 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 anymore. The company should never manage to go public which had supposedly been Mr. Klein's plan once. In mid-December 2002, Calvin Klein Inc. (CKI) was finally sold to shirt maker Phillips Van Heusen Corp., 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, 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 of 2003. Mr. Klein himself had considered Linda Wachner, 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 industry feared that PVH had taken on too much with the acquisition. It is said that talks between Calvin Klein and PVH had began as early as 2000. 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 more and more withdrawn from the business. Mr. Klein has appeared in the news from time to time since then when his name was associated with drug abuse, withdrawal treatments and public nuisance. Barry 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.