Calvin Klein – Calvin Klein Success Story

Growing

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

Before turning twenty, he graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. He married Jayne Center and began working as an apprentice drawing European coat designs for his 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 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 borrowed $ 10,000 from a friend and used $ 2,000 of his own money to get started. Instead of looking for success, he ran into it. His first order came from a Bonwit Teller department store coat buyer who got off the elevator on the wrong floor and saw Klein’s work. The buyer was impressed and ordered coats worth $ 50,000. In addition, an editorial was written in Vogue praising Klein’s designs. Klein’s reputation quickly established itself.

Five years after founding Calvin Klein Ltd., Klein moved away from exclusive coat design and offered women a less expensive alternative to swanky European fashions with sportswear that could be identified as “The Calvin Klein look.” Men were also drawn to Klein’s comfortable suits and masculine designs.

He was recognized for his accomplishments by receiving the Coty Award by the fashion press in 1973, 1974, and 1975, and his wealth grew as the public continued to shop for 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. By now a prominent public figure, Klein could be found every night at Studio 54, but his days of carefree quiet came to a halt in 1978 when his daughter Marci was kidnapped. Marci returned home safely, but the incident scared Klein enough to turn away from the publicity she once so stubbornly sought.

Building an Empire

It was through an exciting ad campaign in 1980, with 15-year-old Brook Shields in a pair of skinny jeans and the line “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins,” that propelled Calvin Klein Ltd. forward once again. This now highly emulated and sexually driven advertising method 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 adjusted Calvins were sold. In 1982, Klein was taken to court for an advertising campaign featuring men wearing nothing but boxer shorts stamped with the Calvin Klein name. Although some magazines refused to run ads, the underwear sold incredibly well.

Due to the emergence of AIDS and the effect it had on the promiscuity of the 1970s, the demand for sexy, tight-fitting jeans declined. The debt that Klein had accumulated in 1984 nearly toppled 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 the time, Klein was admitted to a rehabilitation center in the Caribbean. By the time he came out, bankruptcy was imminent, but David Geffen, a friend from the Klein days who was partying 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 CK brand of designer clothing and, like Richard Branson, the license to the Calvin Klein name for sunglasses and other fashion accessories brought Klein back to the top.

Once again, the controversy surrounding one of Klein’s 1995 ad campaigns led the FBI and the Justice Department to investigate Klein for violating child pornography laws. Klein stopped the campaign, and eventually the Justice Department ruling was in his favor.

With the CK perfume and her CK jeans a hit and the money pouring in again, Klein is undoubtedly the image of a survivor who might have self-destruct, but due to a host of good ideas coupled with good fortune and diligence, she has become in one. of the most important fashion designers in the world.

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