Calvin Klein – The Calvin Klein Success Story

Growing

Klein, born November 19, 1942, was taught to love fashion by his mother. He often accompanied her when she went shopping in New York City for affordable clothing. From an early age he knew that he wanted to be a fashion designer and taught himself to draw and sew.

Before turning twenty, she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She married Jayne Center and began working as an apprentice drawing European coat designs for her employer, Dan Millstein, to copy. Klein, however, scorned the idea that American normative practice was to imitate European fashion and longed to start his own company. He believed that original fashion ideas could come from the United States and he was the innovator to make it happen. But the realization of his dream seemed a long way off, as he was struggling financially and was working part-time at his father’s grocery store to earn some extra money.

starting the business

calvin klein ltd. was formed in 1968. Klein took a $10,000 loan from a friend and used $2,000 of his own money to get started. Instead of looking for success, she stumbled upon it. His first order came from a coat buyer at Bonwit Teller’s department store who got off the elevator on the wrong floor and saw Klein’s work. The buyer was impressed and ordered $50,000 worth of coats. In addition, an editorial was written in Vogue praising Klein’s designs. Klein’s reputation was quickly established.

Five years after starting Calvin Klein Ltd., Klein moved away from exclusive coat design and offered women a less expensive alternative to glitzy European sportswear fashion that could be identified as “The Calvin Klein Look.” Men were also drawn to Klein’s comfortable outfits and masculine designs.

He was recognized for his achievements by receiving the fashion press’s Coty Award in 1973, 1974 and 1975, and his wealth grew as the public continued to buy his understated clothing. But success disrupted his home life, and Klein and Center divorced in 1974. Klein embarked on a period of partying and irresponsibility. Klein, now a prominent public figure, could be found nightly at Studio 54, but his days of carefree tranquility came to a halt in 1978 when his daughter Marci was kidnapped. Marci returned home safely, but the incident scared Klein enough to turn him away from the publicity he once so doggedly sought.

building an empire

It was through an exciting ad campaign in 1980, featuring a 15-year-old Brook Shields in a pair of skinny jeans and the phrase “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins,” that propelled Calvin Klein Ltd. once upon a time. further. This now widely emulated and sexually driven method of advertising was immediately condemned by feminists, calling it pornographic. However, through this experience, Klein learned that there is no such thing as bad press; in its first week, a staggering 200,000 pairs of fitted Calvins were sold. In 1982, Klein was taken to court over an ad campaign featuring men wearing nothing more than boxer shorts with the Calvin Klein name embossed on them. Although some magazines refused to print the ads, the underwear sold incredibly well.

Due to the onset of AIDS and the effect it had on the promiscuity of the ’70s, the demand for sexy, skintight jeans waned. The debt Klein had racked up in 1984 nearly brought down her fashion empire. Using $80 million in junk bonds, Klein refinanced the debt, leaving his company at great risk.

Klein remarried in 1986. However, addicted to vodka and Valium at this time, Klein checked himself into a rehab center in the Caribbean. When he came out, bankruptcy was imminent, but David Geffen, a friend from Klein’s holiday days at Studio 54, helped him financially and gave him a chance to start over.

Saved from ruin, Klein immediately went to work producing a variety of products. The most affordable designer clothing brand CK and, like Richard Branson, licensing the Calvin Klein name for sunglasses and other fashion accessories, brought fledgling Klein back to the top.

Again, the controversy surrounding one of Klein’s 1995 ad campaigns led the FBI and Department of Justice to investigate Klein for violating child pornography laws. Klein halted the campaign, and eventually the Justice Department ruled in his favor.

With the success of CK perfume and her CK jeans and the money raining down once again, Klein is certainly the picture of a survivor who could have self-destructed, but due to a host of good ideas coupled with good fortune and diligence, it has become one. of the best fashion designers in the world.