Brief History

Calvin Klein was born in 1942 in the Bronx, New York. Inspired by his mother’s tailoring shop he decided to enter the fashion industry, graduating with an education at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York in 1963.

In 1968, Klein opened his first business specializing in casual coat wear and suits. With time, his sportswear line became popular as well. He won many awards and became well known for his advertisements featuring famous male and female models wearing his designs. Between the 1980’s and 90’s, he branched out into menswear, underwear, jeans, fragrances, jewelry, watches, and even home goods.

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Although his company made him millions of dollars, Klein decided to sell his business in 2003 for 400 million dollars, 30 million dollars in stock, and 300 million dollars in royalties, to Phillips Van-Heusen, the world's biggest t-shirt maker. He also owns brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Warners, and many more. While the new owner has invested many millions into the Calvin Klein luxury collections, the company has failed to connect with customers who prefer the older lines in denim and underwear over their new conceptual fashion ideas.

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Business Model

• Sells directly from their website and storefronts, as well as wholesale to various department stores such as Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Bloomingdales.
• In 2020, Calvin Klein was said to have a net worth of nearly $6.2 billion
• Currently selling their products in over 110 countries
• Majority of sales come from their underwear and fragrance lines, however, they also sell clothing, furniture, jewelry, shoes and accessories.

Social Media

• Stopped print ads completely in 2019 to focus on social media- specifically working with influencers and celebrities on campaigns.
• Their digital #MyCalvins campaign starring various celebrities blew up in 2015 and continues to do so today, encouraging their audience to post photos of themselves with the popular hashtag.
• There is currently over 912K posts using the #MyCalvins hashtag on Instagram.
• The Calvin Klein Instagram page has amassed 21.7 Million followers.
• In general, Calvin Klein is really good at keeping up with trends and popular celebrities- which I think really sets them apart marketing wise.

The Audience

Calvin Klein has a specific target audience which primarily consists of men and women in their early 20’s to late 40’s.

Calvin Klein is known as a luxury clothing brand that focuses in quality undergarments, but they also make t-shirts, pants, suits, loungewear, socks, etc.

Calvin Klein markets provocative images to their audience on purpose to “ignite their senses”. The brand has made their name a staple in the fashion industry, and caters to a massive audience worldwide.

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The Audience

Calvin Klein recruits influencers, celebrities, musicians, etc. to model for most of their campaigns. This is great marketing, because not only is Calvin Klein offering a platform for celebrities, but all of their fans will engage in the campaign. That leads to sales, and more brand recognition.

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Shawn Mendes 2019

Past & Current Campaigns

• Using celebrities to market their clothes while being specifically jeans and underwear has been a staple of their brand.
• Some notable campaigns using celebrities has been Brooke Shields in 1980, Mark Wahlberg in ‘91, Kate Moss in ‘93, and both Justin & Hailey Bieber in 2019.
• The hashtag #MyCalvins started in 2015 and encourages people to share photos of themselves wearing their Calvins on social media.

Brooke Shields 1980

1992 Mark Wahlberg & Kate Moss Commercial

2020 Calvin Klein Commercial

Persona

Sean is a 31 year old man that is determined to be successful in his career, but also willing to have fun and not take everything so seriously. He currently works a 9-5 job and has a girlfriend who he has been dating for 3 years. Sean played football and soccer in high school, so all he has known is fitness, and working hard to achieve his goals. Sean likes to relax on the weekdays after work, and go out with friends on the weekends.

SEAN

Marketing SWOT

Strengths:

• Modern and minimalistic brand with good reputation.
• Great marketing by using celebrities and influencers to promote their products in campaigns.
• The brand has products available to most demographics. They carry perfumes and underwear in higher end stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom, but also have clothing, bedding, and underwear in stores like TJ Maxx. This makes the brand accessible to many different demographics.

Weaknesses:

• Allegations of Copying - Calvin Klein has been involved in multiple lawsuits accusing the brand of infringing on the designs of copyright protected products belonging to competing companies. This trend of allegations creates distrust in existing and potential customers.
• Sexualized Products - The brand is known to have controversial advertisements that have sexual tones and using models in compromising positions to sell their products. This type of ad campaign limits customers to anyone that does not take offence to the overtly sexual representation of their products.
• Products are Expensive - The exclusive nature of designer clothing limits the target audience to people at or above the Upper-Middle class. Potential customers that cannot afford their products will turn to and fund other imitation brands, reducing sales for Calvin Klein.

SWOT Continued…

Opportunities:

• Environmentally Friendly Products - Following the popularity and ethics behind the effect of products on the environment, Calvin Klein could gain more customers that are attracted to low carbon-footprint companies.
• Digital Development, Digital Clothes AR - Calvin Klein should invest into online tools for customers to try on clothing before they purchase it. One possibility could be the use of Augmented Reality on a smartphone.
• More inclusive ads- Creating ads that would be more inclusive to all demographics will increase the target audience and in turn, produce more sales.

Threats:

• Brands like GUESS, Michael Kors, and Armani offer most of the same things, and can be found in the same places as Calvin Klein. You can find all these brands in high end stores, but also discounted stores like TJ Maxx as well.
• Trends are always changing, so creating products that will always be relevant can be difficult, even with a reputation like Calvin Klein.
• Partnering with Celebrities that later get involved with scandals. In 2022, many celebrities have faced backlash from accusations, to old vulgar tweets resurfacing. If Calvin Klein partners with a celebrity for a campaign, but then they get involved with a scandal, Calvin Klein is directly involved with that celebrity if they are a face on their campaign.

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