G-III to Unfurl Major Relaunch of Donna Karan New York
Donna Karan New York is getting a major reboot.
G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which acquired Donna Karan International Inc. in 2016, will reintroduce Donna Karan New York with the spring collection. G-III, which developed the DKNY business first, has gone into the archives to reimagine the Donna Karan New York brand for today’s woman. It will be introduced at retail in mid-February with a major ad campaign, details of which are under wraps.
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The Donna Karan in-house studio team studied thousands of archival looks and vintage details to design the collection to meet the needs of today’s consumer. The company believes the reintroduction of Donna Karan New York “is not merely a new beginning — it’s a testament to Donna Karan’s enduring legacy [Donna Karan New York was first launched in 1985] and a beacon of sophistication for all women, everywhere.”
The new collection will be based on [original designer] Donna Karan’s innovative “Seven Easy Pieces,” which included such items as the bodysuit, a tailored jacket, a cashmere sweater, a dress, something leather, a white shirt and a skirt. The original “Seven Easy Pieces” has evolved into what the company is calling a true “System of Dressing.”
“We are repositioning and expanding the Donna Karan brand aggressively in spring 2024 with a full collection and an iconic advertising campaign,” said Morris Goldfarb, chairman and chief executive officer of G-III. “The new Donna Karan will be a modern system of dressing reimagined for today’s women who are craving accessible luxury and will address the full lifestyle needs of a new consumer and a new era. With the imminent launch, we unveil not just a collection but an extended experience, developing new licenses that embody the essence of our brand’s evolution.”
The Donna Karan brand is being elevated to the position Calvin Klein holds, Goldfarb said when releasing third-quarter results last week.
G-III’s 10-Q, released last week, noted, “Our Donna Karan product is expected to be distributed in North America and internationally through our diversified distribution network, including better department stores, digital channels and our own Donna Karan website. Donna is widely considered to be a top fashion brand and is recognized as one of the most famous designer names in American fashion. We believe that the strength of the Donna Karan brand, along with our success with the DKNY brand, demonstrates the potential for our new Donna Karan products.”
The introduction of Donna Karan New York is expected to fill a major void created by PVH Corp.’s decision in November 2022 to unwind its licensing arrangements with G-III for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger women’s wholesale apparel in the U.S. by 2027. Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger constituted 48.2 percent of sales at G-III Apparel in 2022.
The churn starts next month when PVH takes back the Tommy jeans license and G-III pushes ahead with Nautica jeans.
In addition to Donna Karan and DKNY, other owned brands in G-III’s stable include Karl Lagerfeld, Vilebrequin, G.H. Bass, Eliza J., Andrew Marc, Marc New York, Jessica Howard and Sonia Rykiel. G-III has the license for such brands as Halston, Kenneth Cole, Cole Haan, Vince Camuto, Levi’s, Dockers and Champion brands.
G-III bought Donna Karan in 2016 from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Since that point, Donna Karan remained small while the spotlight shined on DKNY, which G-III repositioned and relaunched, building a roughly $600 million business. While G-III’s original intent was to build Donna Karan as a halo business, G-III decided to step back and keep Donna Karan a small part of the business, and fully develop DKNY.
Goldfarb told analysts on a conference call in March, “We were in a thought process of creating a halo brand out of Donna Karan and doing pretty much what many companies do. They take the halo piece and create derivatives out of it in the future. And the halo generally is an expense. It’s not a profit-making situation.” After interviewing designers and considering spending $20 million to $25 million on the project, Goldfarb noted, “We stepped back and said, ‘No, we don’t need that halo. We’ll just softly launch Donna Karan, brought down from designer to the opening price points for Saks and Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. We’ve kept it alive in the small scale with the knowledge that if something happened with Calvin Klein, it would be a great brand to supplement our business and position a notch lower than it is now,” the CEO said at the time. “So that is the strategy.” It’s a strategy that he expects to pay off relatively quickly.
Goldfarb said Donna Karan would grow big enough to fill the hole left by Calvin Klein at G-III.
“We believe long-term, it’s easily a $500 million business,” said Goldfarb in March. “And that’s not even long-term. I would say that’s probably around three years from now, three to four years. And beyond that, it’s a $1 billion brand. There’s no question.”
While Donna Karan is not as big as Calvin Klein, it has the potential to be a more profitable business for G-III since it won’t have to make royalty payments to use the brand.
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