Whether you are a fashion aficionado or not, Calvin Klein is a well-known name and a fashion powerhouse. Established in 1968 in New York City, Calvin Klein started small and built its way up to an American fashion leader.
Calvin Klein started his business with his partner, Barry Schwartz, as a coat shop in the York Hotel. The first Calvin Klein collection was a line of "youthful, understated coats and dresses." It was featured at the Bonwit Teller store in New York City. A few years later, they expanded that coat shop to add blazers, lingerie, and sportswear. By the late 1970s, Klein had expanded into scarves, shoes, belts, furs, sunglasses, and bedsheets. As time passed, Calvin Klein won various fashion awards and continued to expand, adding menswear, jeans, and cosmetics to his line. His winning of the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award multiple times in the ’70s and as the youngest recipient at the time cemented his place in the fashion world.
In the 1980s, Calvin Klein launched a line of underwear for men and women that changed the landscape of men’s underwear forever. It became something to be cared about and noted, and allowed the company to continue to grow. Even though Calvin Klein is a well-known name in fashion, it still had its trials and tribulations. After decades of ups and downs, including a dance with the possibility of bankruptcy, the company was acquired by PVH Corp. in 2003.
Today, Calvin Klein employs over 11,500 people globally. In 2019, global retail sales exceeded $9 billion. They were distributed in over 110 countries. Their headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.
Calvin Klein has not only retail but haute couture and commercial lines. They specialize in a variety of things: watches, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, and ready-to-wear items. The final thing they specialize in is the best one of all in our opinion. It is, of course, our favorite thing here at Independence Brothers - leather. Which means leather jackets.