Minimalist, sexy, and subversive of fashion, an American icon
Calvin Klein was founded in New York in 1968 and rose to fame with its minimalist design, sexy marketing and light luxury positioning. In its early days, it focused on simple women's wear. In the 1970s, it ventured into jeans, and in the 1980s, it became a global sensation with its underwear advertisements.

An interesting fact: In the 1980s, it hired 15-year-old model Brooke Shields to shoot a jeans advertisement with the line "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins," which caused a huge controversy. The advertisement was banned, but the brand became an overnight sensation and its jeans sales increased tenfold. In the 1990s, it used muscular male models like Mark Wahlberg for its underwear line, featuring a minimalist black, white and gray color scheme with large logo belts, setting a global benchmark for men's underwear and achieving annual sales of over one billion US dollars.

CK has always adhered to a "high-end minimalist" approach: T-shirts cost $40–80, jeans $90–150, and its perfumes are best-sellers worldwide. After 2000, the brand was split into a main line that leans towards high-end and a more youthful casual line, CK Jeans. Today, CK is synonymous with American sexiness and minimalism, leading the world in underwear, jeans and perfumes, and is the most recognized second-tier light luxury brand in the United States.