In what year was the Calvin Klein brand founded?

The Calvin Klein brand was founded in 1968.

Designer Calvin Klein started the company with his childhood friend Barry K. Schwartz in New York City. Klein supplied the design vision, while Schwartz became the business partner and manager who helped establish the young label. The first business was a coat shop located in the York Hotel, reportedly begun with $10,000.

The label initially focused on understated coats and dresses with clean lines. Its early placement at the department store Bonwit Teller helped bring Klein’s minimalist style to influential American shoppers. The company later expanded into jeans, underwear, fragrances and accessories, turning the designer’s name into a broad lifestyle brand.

A common mix-up is confusing the company’s founding with later milestones. Calvin Klein’s famous designer-jeans expansion came in the 1970s, while the company was acquired by PVH in the early 2000s. Neither event changes the founding year: the brand’s origin is 1968.