Calvin Klein coming
Line set for High Point
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, September 28, 2008
NEW YORK — Calvin Klein, one of the top brands in apparel, plans to launch a major furniture collection at the fall High Point Market and will roll out a separate collection exclusively for Macy's.
Slated to hit retail early next year, the High Point rollout will feature about 120 SKUs, including about 30 in upholstery.
The High Point launch, named the Curator Collection by Calvin Klein Home, will include 65 case goods and occasional SKUs using whitewashed oak, dark hand-rubbed walnut veneers and teak veneers. Other materials include parchment, smoked glass, travertine marble, burnished stainless steel, gold leaf and high-gloss finishes.
Pricing in the Curator line will range from $1,100 for a cocktail table to $5,000 for a walnut sleigh bed with hand-applied gold leaf.
The Macy's line will have about the same number of starting pieces and will be eclectically merchandised into three key groups inspired by their ultimate use — City, Weekend and Destination — each using its own wood species. Items in the Macy's line will range from $850 for a glass end-table to $2,600 for a canopy bed.
Tom Murry, Calvin Klein Inc. president and CEO, and Amy Mellen, creative director, said the design theme of the collection is modern and sculptural, conveying the typical clean look of the CK brand.
“We keep referring to it as very quiet,” Mellen said.
The collection, including upholstery, will be made overseas, according to Murry.
“We looked at the labor costs and costs of materials and so on,” he said. “We needed to engineer the pricing to work within the Macy's matrix and. To be able to do that it required offshore manufacturing.”
All the pieces are designed by an in-house team lead by Mellen and will be manufactured in China by Calvin Klein licensing partners Alexandre International (case goods) and Shayne Inds. (upholstery).
Mellen said the new line will coordinate with other Calvin Klein home products such bedding, bath and accessories.
Furniture has been on the company's wish list for some time.
“For many years we've been wanting to get into the furniture business to really round out our home lifestyle product,” said Murry. “This is a little more complex business to get into than some of the others. But we're there now and we're going to start shipping product the first of the year.”
“This business is not about huge volume for us,” Mellon added. “We deal with over $6 billion globally today. This is more about rounding out that lifestyle, and whatever optimal volume it achieves based on proper channels of distribution is what we're going to be satisfied with.”
In High Point, the new collection will be shown on the eighth floor of the Commerce and Design Building, a floor that will be dedicated to Calvin Klien.
The company also plans to complement the Curator Collection with a line of decorative pillows designed to coordinate with the furniture.
“I think we're going to satisfy a pretty wide audience but the core is going to be the typical Calvin Klein customer,” said Murry. The Curator Collection will be sold in what Murry described as “fine furniture” stores nationwide.
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