Donna Karan

August 16, 2007 at 10:58 am · Filed under Brand History

 

Donna Karan fashion designer and the creator of the DKNY (Donna Karan New York) clothing label. She was born Donna Ivy Faske on October 9, 1948 in Forest Hills, New York. She grew up in Hewlett, Long Island with her step-father who was a tailor and her mother who was a model. She graduated from Hewlett High School in 1966 and then went on to Parson’s School of Design for two years. She left to work for Anne Klein. Eventually she became head of the Anne Klein design-team and remained in this position until 1989. At that time, she launched the Essentials line. She married Mark Karan in the early 1970s. The day she gave birth to their daughter Gabriel in 1974, it was announced that Karan’s employer, Anne Klein, had died. Karan’s daughter Gabby is married to Gian Paolo De Felice, an Alitalia airline pilot. They have one daughter, Stefania. She has been reported as being involved in the Kabbalah Centre.

Donna Karan International

Karan, nicknamed The Queen Of Seventh Avenue, began working for Liz Claiborne at a very young age. In the 1970s, she then got a job through her mother as an intern with Anne Klein, where she was eventually promoted to associate designer in 1971. When Anne Klein herself died in 1974, Takihyo Corporation of Japan became the new owner and Karan, together with her former classmate and friend Louis Dell’Ollio, became head designer of the house. In 1984 Donna Karan left Anne Klein and, together with her husband Mark Karan and Takihyo Corporation she started her own business “to design modern clothes for modern people”. She showed her first Donna Karan women’s collection in 1985.

What made her initially famous in the industry was her line of elastic bodysuits. She also became known for her very successful Essentials line, initially offering seven easy pieces which could all be mixed and matched, and created a fully integrated wardrobe. At a time when more and more women in America entered the business world and were looking for sophisticated and elegant, yet simple and functional clothing, preferably in black, white or grey, the company experienced tremendous success with its ‘power dressing’ outfits and was loved by the critics in the 1980s. Ms. Karan always insisted that she would only design clothes, like jersey dresses and opaque Lycra tights, that she would also wear herself. Donna Karan was so New York that the New York Times described her as “Ed Koch in a stretchy black dress” in the early nineties, referring to the then mayor of New York City.

In 1988 Karan extended her women’s Signature Collection by a less expensive line, called DKNY, for younger women. The line was such a hit that Karan can be regarded as the first designer to successfully establish a bridge collection. Two years later she created DKNY Jeans and DKNY for men was launched in 1992, one year after the Signature collection line for men had been presented. The portfolio was later complemented by a kid’s collection, beauty products, accessories and furniture. Sales rose up to 510.1 million in 1995 from $96.6 in 1991. More than half of the sales are attributed to the DKNY lines, couture contributes 15% and about 30% of the sales are generated by men’s clothing, accessories, cosmetics and other products. Almost a third of the sales are made in exports.

The European DKNY business was damaged in the early 1990s by poor quality and flawed logistics which resulted in the creation of a European supply center in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company later announced to show their collection at the Milan fashion week in 1996 but later backed out again.

Donna Karan, Inc. and LVMH

In mid-1997 Donna Karan quit as CEO of the company but has officially remained chairwoman and designer in charge of the Donna Karan line. Actually, the line these days is designed by Peter Speliopoulos, a talented former Cerruti designer, with Karan contributing little subtleties or even entire new creations. The DKNY line is entirely designed by Jane Chung, a Karan employee since the days at Anne Klein. Most merchandise is licensed. Liz Claiborne markets the DKNY Jeans and Active brands lines, Estée Lauder is in charge for the cosmetics business. In 1997, Donna Karan signed licensing deals with Wacoal America for men’s and women’s DKNY intimate apparel, Esprit for DKNY children’s apparel, Phillips Van Heusen for DKNY men’s dress shirts, Mallory & Church for DKNY men’s ties and hosiery, Peerless Clothing for DKNY suits and sport coats, and Max Leather for belts and small leather goods.

In 1998, things had turned for DKNY: a men’s dress shirt sells now for up to $125 while a Calvin Klein sportswear dress shirt is almost half. The couture Donna Karan Signature line for men, which was comparable to the men’s line of Calvin Klein Collection, has been pulled from the market.

As of October 2006, Mark Weber is CEO of Donna Karan International.

Donna Karan stores

The first DKNY flagship store opened in 1999 at Madison Avenue and 60th in New York. According to the company’s web site there are Donna Karan stores in New York, Manhasset, Boston, Costa Mesa, London, Singapore, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dubai. The Donna Karan store in Berlin was closed in December 2001. The DKNY label has its own stores, located predominantly in retail shopping malls. Apart from DKNY stores in New York, Costa Mesa, Short Hills, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Denver, there are international outlets in London, Antwerp, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dubai, Tel Aviv and Montreal as well as at more unusual locations such as Cancún, Barcelona, Ankara, Manchester, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Beirut, Athens among others. In addition, there are so-called Donna Karan Company stores, predominantly located within outlet malls, which sell the merchandise at reduced prices.

Since 2005, Donna Karan has offered online shopping of its DKNY lines at the label’s web site. Products range from womenswear, accessories, shoes, baby clothing, the PURE collection to menswear. The latter, however, is not being offered anymore for the spring 2007 season.

The company maintains retail and office space at 550 Seventh Avenue (headquarters) and 240 W. 40th St. in New York City.

Donna Karan fragrances

• Donna Karan (women, 1992; in limited distribution)
• Cashmere Mist (women, 1994)
• DK Men Fuel (men, 1994; discontinued)
• DK Men Unleaded (men, 1995; discontinued)
• Chaos (women, 1996; discontinued)
• DKNY Women (women, 1999; no longer sold in North America, but still sold in Europe and Asia)
• DKNY Men (men, 2000; no longer sold in North America, but still sold in Europe and Asia)
• Black Cashmere (women, 2002; currently in limited distribution)
• DKNY Energy Women (women, 2002; sold outside North America only)
• DKNY Energy Men (men, (2002; sold outside North America only)
• Pure Cashmere (women, 2004; limited edition)
• DKNY Be Delicious Women (women, 2004)
• DKNY Be Delicious Men (men, 2004)
• DKNY Red Delicious Women (women, 2006; limited edition)
• DKNY Red Delicious Men (men, 2006; limited edition)
• Donna Karan Gold (women, 2006)

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TAG Heuer

August 16, 2007 at 10:56 am · Filed under Brand History

TAG Heuer (pronounced: täg-hoi-er) is a Swiss watchmaker known for its mid - high range sports watches and chronographs. It is a division of leading luxury goods company LVMH. The company motto is “Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860″.

TAG Heuer focuses primarily on chronographs with some less expensive models in each line with non-chronograph features. The lines include Monaco, Carrera, Link, Aquaracer, Kirium and others. Automatic (self-winding) movements and water resistance are the norm, as well as sapphire crystals and sometimes also windows on the back of the watch to view the movement.

At the end of 2003, TAG Heuer ended its association with F1 as the official timekeeper, allowing the way the graphics are displayed to undergo a facelift in 2004 where Siemens replaced TAG as the timekeeper. It signalled the end of the large black overlays which were an icon during the late 90s and early 2000s.

Some of the more recently announced models include the Monaco V4 (the movement of which is driven by belts rather than gears); the Carrera Calibre 360 (the first mechanical wrist chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100th of a second); and the Monaco 69 (featuring both a digital chronograph accurate to 1/1000th of a second and a traditional mechanical movement, with a hinged mechanism allowing wearers to flip the watch between its two separate dials).

History

1800s

Edouard Heuer founded a watchmaking company in 1860.

Some early highlights of the company’s early history include the following: In 1869, Edouard Heuer patented the first crown-winding mechanism for pocket watches. In 1889, during the Universal Exhibition in Paris, the Heuer company won a silver medal for its collection of pocket chronographs. In 1911, the company received a patent for the “Time of Trip”, the first dashboard chronograph.

Early 1900s

Ed. Heuer introduced its first wrist chronograph in 1914. The crown was at the twelve o’clock position, as these first wrist chronographs were adapted from pocket chronographs. In 1916, Heuer introduced the “Micrograph”, the first stopwatch accurate to 1/100th of a second. In 1933, Heuer introduced the “Autavia”, a dashboard timer used for Automobiles and Aviation (and thus the name “Autavia”). The companion “Hervue” was a clock that had an 8-day movement (meaning that it could run for eight days without being wound).

Mid 1900s

In the early 1950s, Heuer produced watches for the American retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch. The “Seafarer” and “Auto-Graph” were unique chronographs produced by Heuer to be sold by Abercrombie & Fitch. The “Seafarers” had special dials — with blue, green and yellow patterns — that showed the high-tide and the low-tide. This dial could also be used to track the phases of the moon. Heuer introduced its own version of this chronograph in the late 1960s, known as the “Mareographe”. The “Auto-Graph” was produced in 1953 and 1954, and was designed to compute the speed of an automobile over a measured mile.

In 1958, Heuer introduced a new line of timepieces, designed to be mounted on the dashboard of an automobile — or an airplane or boat. Leading models of these dashboard timers included the Master Time (8-day clock), the Monte Carlo (12-hour stopwatch), the Super Autavia (full chronograph), Sebring (60-minute, split second timer) and Auto-Rallye (60-minute stopwatch). Heuer continued to manufacture this line of timepieces, into the 1980s.

During the period from the 1950s through the 1970s, Heuers were popular watches among automobile racers, both professionals and amateurs. The Autavia chronograph was introduced in 1962 and featured a rotating bezel, marked in either hours, minutes or with a tachymeter scale. The Autavia name had previously been used on Heuer’s dashboard timers (described above). The Carrera chronograph, designed by Jack Heuer, was introduced in 1963, and became a design icon, known for its clean lines. Most of Heuer chronographs from this period used movements manufactured by Valjoux, including the legendary Valjoux 72 movement (for a 12-hour chronograph).

Heuer acquired the “Leonidas” brand in the early 1960s, with the combined company marketing watches under the “Heuer-Leonidas” name. One of the designs that Heuer acquired from Leonidas was the “Bundeswehr” chronograph, used by the German air force. These “BWs” feature a “fly-back” mechanism, so that when the chronograph is reset to zero, it immediately begins running again, to time the next segment or event.

In 1969, Heuer was part of a partnership (with Breitling and Hamilton), that introduced the first automatic chronographs. Heuer’s first automatic chronographs were the Autavia, Carrera and Monaco. These chronographs were powered by the Cal 11 and Cal 12 movements (12-hour chronograph); Cal 14 movement (12-hour chronograph and additional hand for GMT / second time-zone); and the Cal 15 movement (30-minute chronograph). An unusual feature of these chronographs was that the winding crown was on the left, with the pushers for the chronograph on the right. The earliest of Heuer’s Cal 11 chronographs (from 1969) used the Chrono-Matic name; soon after that time, Heuer discontinued its use of that reference.

Late 1900s

In the early 1980s, Heuer introduced a series of chronographs powered by the Lemania 5100 movement. These chronographs have the minute hand for the chronograph on the center pinion (rather than on a smaller register), greatly improving legibility. This series of chronographs was considered to be very rugged and durable.

TAG Heuer was formed in 1985 when TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde), manufacturers of high-tech items such as ceramic turbochargers for Formula 1 cars, acquired Heuer. Together they modernized the product line and became one of the biggest names in Swiss watches.

On September 13, 1999 TAG Heuer accepted a bid from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. of 1.15 billion francs ($739 million) contingent upon a transfer of 50.1% of stocks.

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