Who owns Calvin Klein? PVH, which bought the brand in 2003, and what it earns

Calvin Klein is owned by PVH Corp., the American apparel group that also owns Tommy Hilfiger. PVH's annual report says it acquired Calvin Klein, Inc. and certain affiliated companies in February 2003. The brand is not private, not owned by its founder and not part of a luxury conglomerate such as LVMH or Kering. Here is how the ownership works, what Calvin Klein earns, and what changed on October 15, 2026.

The owner and the deal

PVH, which says it was incorporated in Delaware in 1976 as the successor to a business begun in 1881, describes its growth as coming from "transformative acquisitions." Its 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2026, filed on March 31, 2026, names three as most relevant to its business today: Calvin Klein in February 2003, Tommy Hilfiger in May 2010 and Warnaco in February 2013.

PVH says its "strategic focus is on building the TOMMY HILFIGER and Calvin Klein brands," and that it may let license agreements expire so it can run those businesses directly. The 10-Q describes the same direction: an in-process plan to directly operate a significant portion of the brands' licensed businesses.

The five Calvin Klein brands

PVH lists five lines: Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein Jeans, Calvin Klein Underwear, Calvin Klein Sport and Calvin Klein Collection. The products sold include men's and women's sportswear, jeanswear, underwear, swimwear, footwear and accessories. Others are made under license by third parties, covering fragrance, eyewear, watches, jewelry, home furnishings and more. PVH and its licensees share the marketing.

Collection is the luxury tier. The filings we read do not give a revenue number for it, and it is a different business from the underwear and jeans that built the brand's reach.

What Calvin Klein earns

PVH reports Calvin Klein as one of its brands. Revenue was $3,964.0 million in fiscal 2025, $3,856.7 million in 2024 and $3,914.5 million in 2023. Tommy Hilfiger was larger, at $4,770.9 million in 2025, and PVH's total was $8,950.2 million. That puts Calvin Klein at roughly 44% of the group by our arithmetic.

PVH's third reporting line, Heritage Brands, made $215.3 million in 2025, which shows how much of the company rests on the two big names. The filing also gives a bigger figure that is not PVH's revenue: global retail sales of Calvin Klein products, including licensees' products, were "approximately $9 billion in 2025." That is what shoppers spent, not what PVH booked.

The most recent quarter was weaker. In the quarter ended August 2, 2026, Calvin Klein revenue was $913.3 million against $980.0 million a year earlier, a 7% drop. PVH's 10-Q, filed September 2, 2026, says roughly 4 points of that came from the timing of wholesale shipments in the Americas, moving into the second half. Over 26 weeks, revenue was $1,808.5 million against $1,866.1 million, so the first-half trend is down about 3%. PVH's company-wide EMEA revenue fell 6% in the quarter, which it attributes to soft consumer demand linked to the conflict in the Middle East. PVH's total revenue in the quarter was $2.097 billion, down 3%.

The filing also shows tariff refunds boosting PVH's gross profit in the quarter: it says about 510 of a 530 basis point rise in gross margin was due to tariff refunds. For how those duties work, see our guide to US clothing tariffs by country.

The luxury experiment and its exit

Calvin Klein named Veronica Leoni creative director of Calvin Klein Collection in May 2024. She was the first woman in the role, and her debut at New York Fashion Week for fall 2025 marked the brand's return to the runway, per Fashionista. Her fourth and final collection was the spring 2027 season in September 2026.

On October 15, 2026, Calvin Klein confirmed that she is leaving. David Savman, the brand's global brand president, said Collection "remains an important part of our brand," and thanked Leoni for "her creative vision, commitment and partnership." No successor is named. Reports differ on timing: Fashionista says her exit is effective immediately, while FashionUnited says she leaves when her contract ends, so treat the date as unconfirmed.

The same day, Kering announced that Seán McGirr is leaving Alexander McQueen. We track each exit and appointment in our creative director changes tracker.

How ownership shapes the brand

Ownership explains a lot about what Calvin Klein is. PVH is a listed apparel group with two brands, and its filings describe a business of sportswear, jeanswear, underwear, footwear and licensed categories sold through stores, wholesale partners and websites. A luxury conglomerate such as Kering is built around prestige labels; PVH is not. The 10-Q also says over 70% of its $9.0 billion of 2025 revenue came from outside the US, so the brand is a global business, not just an American one.

None of this means Collection is a failure. It means it is judged against a different yardstick than at Kering or LVMH, where prestige is the product.

Our take

Calvin Klein is a $4 billion brand owned by a company whose core skill is running big, broad apparel businesses. The luxury Collection is the part the filings say least about, and the exit of its designer after four seasons says more about the experiment than the brand. What we would watch: the next designer announcement, PVH's third-quarter report for the wholesale timing reversal, and whether Collection stays on the New York calendar. What we would skip: claims that a creative director change tells you how the whole brand is doing.