Who Owns Calvin Klein?

Calvin Klein founded his company with childhood friend Barry Schwartz in New York City in 1968 with an initial investment of approximately $10,000. Klein, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, had previously worked as a coat designer before launching his own label. The original business focused on coats and sportswear.

The brand's commercial breakthrough came in the early 1970s when Klein expanded into women's sportswear with a clean, minimalist aesthetic influenced by his admiration for Yves Saint Laurent. Calvin Klein's designer jeans, launched in 1978 with a controversial advertising campaign featuring a 15-year-old Brooke Shields, generated enormous attention and established the brand's association with provocative, body-conscious marketing.

Calvin Klein fragrance became a significant revenue driver beginning with the launch of Calvin Klein Fragrances in 1978. The franchise grew through the 1980s and 1990s with successful launches including Obsession (1985), Eternity (1988), and CK One (1994). CK One, marketed as a unisex fragrance at a time when gender-neutral beauty products were rare, became one of the best-selling fragrance launches of the decade.

Calvin Klein underwear, launched in 1982, grew into one of the brand's most commercially significant categories through advertising campaigns featuring celebrities including Marky Mark (Mark Wahlberg), Kate Moss, and later Justin Bieber. The Calvin Klein waistband became one of the most recognized fashion brand identifiers in the world.

Calvin Klein sold the majority of his brand to PVH (then called Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation) in 2003 for approximately $430 million. Klein and Schwartz retained a financial interest through earnout provisions tied to brand performance targets. Calvin Klein himself stepped down from direct creative involvement with the brand following the sale, officially departing in 2004.

Under PVH's ownership, the brand has been managed across its core categories with significant investment in global retail expansion and brand marketing. The brand operates flagship stores in major fashion cities globally, including New York, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, and Shanghai.