Calvin Klein was born in the Bronx, New York in 1942. As a boy, he taught himself how to sew and sketch designs. He attended the High School of Art and Design in New York. After, he attended the Fashion Institute of Technology but did not graduate. Klein jumped into the fashion scene in the late 1960s with a minimalist and classic style. Originally planning to design and sell coats, Klein broadened his company into the many areas we know of today. By the 1970s, Klein had added a sportwear collection to his coats and had launched a full women's ready-to-wear collection.

Calvin Klein's signature tight-fitting jeans were designed in 1974 and grossed $200,000 in their first week of sales. Also in 1974, Calvin Klein became the first designer to receive outstanding design in men's and women's wear from the CFDA award show. Jeans brought the brand lasting fame with the 1979 advertising campaign by Brooke Shields that embedded the phrase “Nothing gets between me and my Calvin’s” into American culture.

In 1982, Klein expanded his company into men's underwear. This was a company revolution as this was the first time that men's underwear had been marketed as desirable rather than only functional.

Today, Calvin Klein Inc. is an international business with separate divisions for Europe, Asia, and Japan. The Calvin Klein Headquarters are in New York, NY. There are three lines: The Calvin Klein Collection (men, women, and home); cK for men and for women; and cK jeans for men, women, and kids.

Calvin Klein launched their first perfume, named Calvin Klein, in 1978. In 1981, they launched a masculine fragrance simply called Calvin. In 1986 they released their hugely popular Obession for Women followed the next year with Obsession for Men. They continued to launch big-name fragrances in 1988 with Eternity, 1991 with Escape and 1994 with CK One which was one of the first fragrances marketed as unisex. Euphoria, another very popular fragrance, was launched in 2005. Calvin Klein fragrances are made in collaboration with Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Loc Dong, Carlos Benaim, Alberto Morillas, Dominique Ropion and Thierry Wasser.

Try a Calvin Klein perfume sample of Obsession, Eternity or Euphoria to experience the wide range this house has created.