Calvin Klein

Klein was one of several design leaders raised in the Jewish immigrant community in the Bronx, New York along with Robert Denning and Ralph Lauren. Calvin Klein became a protégé of Baron de Gunzburg through whose introductions he became the toast of the New York elite fashion scene, even before he had his first mainstream success with the launch of his first jeans line. Later, 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 protégé. 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." Calvin Klein was immediately recognised for his talent after his first major showing at New York Fashion Week. Klein was hailed as the new Yves Saint-Laurent, and was noted for his clean lines and straight cuts on coats and suits.

In 1968, Klein and his childhood friend Barry Schwartz, who was to manage the business, then initially founded Calvin Klein Ltd., a coat shop in the York Hotel, in New York City with $10,000. Legend has it that a year later a buyer from Bonwit Teller 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, which led to the first Calvin Klein collection: a line of men's and women's coats featured at the New York City store.

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 as well as lingerie were added to his women's collection portfolio.

In the late 1990s the company opened elegant Calvin Klein Collection stores in Paris, Seoul, and Taipei and ultra-fancy cK Calvin Klein stores in Hong Kong, Milan and Kuwait City. As of today, there is only one Calvin Klein Collection store operated by CKI. It is located in New York City. The Calvin Klein stores in Milan, Moscow, Barcelona, Rome, Dubai (two locations), Seoul, Singapore and Taipei are maintained by partners.

Out of the two Calvin Klein Collection stores that existed in the US, the Dallas location in Highland Park Village which had been open for 20 years was closed in mid-2005. The only international location, in Paris, was closed by PVH in March 2006. The New York store, which serves as the company's flagship store at 654 Madison Ave., remains open till today. The sportswear and cK lines are mainly sold through North American department stores and in Europe through some high-end retail stores. In Europe, Calvin Klein is predominantly known for his underwear, and perhaps the Collection business, rather than for the medium-priced sportswear lines. In Asia, there are also signature cK stores that only carry the cK sportswear line. The Warnaco Group, in addition, maintains Calvin Klein Jeans and corresponding outlet stores. Apart from signature Calvin Klein Underwear boutiques, there are also several Calvin Klein Outlet stores, mostly located within factory outlet malls in the US, that sell the sportswear and cK lines at reduced prices but do not carry the Collection lines.

With the fall 2006 Collection runway presentations in New York City, CKI inaugurated an 8,600 sqft show room space that can seat up to 600 people on the ground floor of 205 West 39th Street, in Times Square South where Calvin Klein has been headquartered since 1978. Their current office space in the building is about 143,000 sqft with lease costs probably figuring at around $30 per sq in that area.

In 2006 two Calvin Klein Jeans boutiques opened in Cairo and Alexandria Egypt, selling only Calvin Klein Jeans. Also in 2006, Calvin Klein opened three boutiques (including a store selling only underwear) in Istanbul/Turkey.