Calvin Klein Cosmetics Company, a subsidiary of Coty, marketed fragrances under the names Calvin Klein and cK.
Calvin Klein perfumes
are manufactured by Coty Inc, a leading global beauty company. Coty Inc has production facilities in several countries in Europe, including France and Belgium. In Europe, Calvin Klein is better known for its underwear, accessories and, perhaps, for the collections business, rather than for the mid-priced sportswear lines that are available in certain high-end retail stores.Designer Calvin Klein (pictured above) attended the Fashion Institute of Technology before launching his own brand in the late 1960s. In 1980, Richard Avedon photographed and directed a Calvin Klein Jeans campaign featuring 15-year-old Brooke Shields. CK was Calvin Klein's cheapest fashion and lifestyle line, and CK fragrances were aimed at a younger audience. The Calvin Klein fragrance license is in the hands of Coty, and new fragrances are being introduced under the Calvin Klein and CK brands.
Among the most prominent retailers in the United Kingdom offering Calvin Klein are stores such as John Lewis, Debenhams and KJ Beckett. Calvin Klein products are also found online, with a particular focus on the Internet on selling Calvin Klein underwear and fragrances. During his time from 1990-1995 as director of menswear design at Calvin Klein, John Varvatos pioneered a type of men's underwear called boxers, a hybrid of boxers and briefs. Financial problems increased pressure from all sides, disagreements with the licensee of the men's clothing line and its disappointing sales, as well as the enormous employee turnover both at Calvin Klein and its licensing partners, gave rise to the first rumors that Calvin Klein Industries, as the company was known at the time, was for sale.
Klein's design assistant at the time, Jeffrey Banks, took credit for the garments with the logo, stating that he had the logo of a press kit screen-printed on the sleeve of a brown t-shirt as a gift for Klein. Some high-end department stores, such as Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, also offer the Calvin Klein collection. Calvin Klein hired Kate Moss at the beginning of her career, in the early 1990s and in 2002, after being accused of using cocaine. In Asia, there are also exclusive ck Calvin Klein stores that offer the Diffusion line, also known as the gray brand, which includes women's clothing, men's clothing and accessories.
In the late 1990s, the company opened elegant Calvin Klein Collection stores in Paris, Seoul and Taipei and high-end cK Calvin Klein stores in Hong Kong, Milan and Kuwait City. Calvin Klein was one of several design leaders raised in the Jewish community of the Bronx, along with Robert Denning and Ralph Lauren.
