Case Study

calvin klein underwear

I was recruited to Calvin Klein after the $2.9B acquisition of Warnaco Group to drive sales and strategy for the $225M men’s underwear & women’s intimate apparel division

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Intro

How We Shifted Online Penetration 175% In Two Years

Calvin Klein was over distributed in the department store channel of business and we needed to diversify this exposure to e-commerce. By aggressively creating strategic partnerships with B2B e-commerce websites and leveraging our award winning marketing campaign #mycalvins, we accelerated digital growth to elevate the brand while driving sales & profitability.

 

Mergers & Acquisition Detail

Scaling Growth Post-Acquisition

Challenge

Any M&A post-acquisition will face the challenge of integrating the cultures of two different companies.  Additionally we had to re-energize a sleeping giant, which had been declining in sales for years before our acquisition, with an incredible brand name in Calvin Klein.  The goal was to drive growth and profitability for two very different product categories – men’s underwear and women’s intimate apparel.  Success required cross-functional alignment with sales, design, marketing, finance and supply chain.  Failure was not an option after investing $2.9B to bring this product category in-house for Calvin Klein Underwear, a $225M business in the USA and $1B globally. 

Solution

People + Product + Partnerships

To integrate one culture with another, we created transparency of expectations and clear accountability. Secondly, I right-sized the team based on skill set and business growth potential.  In product development, we created a GTM (go to market) strategy of relaunching a massive men’s basics underwear program with new packaging and accelerating sales of a key item called “modern cotton” in the women’s division.  Lastly, we successfully executed a digital transformation strategy to e-commerce and launched the brand in new premium channels of business with Saks 5th Avenue, Urban Outfitters and Dick’s Sporting Goods driving +$3M in EBITDA to a total of $40M.

Sales Increase

$16M

CAGR

7.1%

Market Share

+550 bps

EBITDA

$40M

I had the great pleasure of working with Jeremiah at Calvin Klein. His leadership of the sales team was absolutely transformative to the brand – from growing existing accounts to creating new channels for both men’s and women’s. A true partner and collaborator – Jeremiah is someone who thinks big, plans strategically, and delivers results.

Matthew Congdon

Global Design Director, Calvin Klein

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