BUSINESS DONNA KARAN

DRESS FOR SUCCESS

From fashion assistant to global super-brand—how Donna Karan built her fashion empire.

According to Donna Karan, everything she does is a matter of “heart, body and soul.” As the multimillionaire chief designer and cofounder of the company that bears her name, she says designing is “the freedom that allows an expression of who I am as a woman with all the complications, feelings and emotions.” No wonder, then, that much of her design ethos is based on fulfilling her family’s, her friends’ and her own personal fashion needs. After all, if Karan needs a particular style to round out her wardrobe, millions of other women probably will, too.

Karan credits these instincts for the success of her legendary 35-year career, which saw her begin as a humble fashion assistant and progress to being the head of a world-famous super-brand.

Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske on February 10, 1948, in Forest Hills,

NY. She came from a fashion family: her stepfather Gabby Faske was a tailor while her mother Helen was a showroom model. Karan’s design prowess first appeared at an early age, with her first collection staged in high school. Such passion for design led to acceptance at New York’s prestigious Parsons School of Design. She got her first real break into the exclusive fashion industry after her second year there, when she was taken on by Anne Klein as a summer intern. It was an association that would shape the rest of Karan’s life. She was subsequently hired by Klein and promoted to assistant designer. When Klein died in 1974, Karan was named her successor.

In 1982, Karan created “Anne Klein II,” outlining the concept of lifestyle in fashion styling. And in 1985, with the support of her husband Stephan Weiss and partner Takihyo, Inc. (owner of Anne Klein & Co), Karan finally felt ready to go it alone. She introduced her first Donna Karan Collection, largely inspired by the ideas behind Anne Klein II. From the moment the collection hit runways, the press and fashion buyers hailed Karan as a superstar. However, it was the public—thankful for Karan’s trademark sophisticated yet practical styles—who truly brought the designer to prominence.

From the moment the first collection hit runways, the press and fashion buyers hailed Karan as a superstar. However, it was the public—thankful for Karan’s trademark sophisticated yet practical styles—who truly brought the designer to prominence.

“I’m designing for an international man and woman; a creative person who never knows where the day is going to take them,” enthuses Karan, who believes that an entire wardrobe can be based around seven easy pieces that go from day to evening, weekday to weekend and season to season. “That’s why New York is on the label; it sets the pace, the attitude,” she says. It can be a never-ending quest to find “the right bra, T-shirt, shoes and accessories; everything you need to pull yourself together,” she states.

It was Karan’s quest for the perfect jeans, as well as the desire to clothe her daughter Gabby, that resulted in the birth of DKNY in 1989, which she describes as, “pizza to the Collection’s caviar.”

The brand grew so popular that it spun off into other labels including DKNY Jeans, DKNY Active, City DKNY, DKNY Underwear, DKNY Juniors and DKNY Kids. Just like the original Collection, DKNY has accessory and shoe collections that underpin the New York City street-smart look.

With the youth market and trendsetters catered for, it was time to look to the notoriously difficult men’s market. As with her previous collections, Karan started by trying to find practical clothing for those close to her; this time her husband acted as inspiration. The menswear collection was founded in 1992, and DKNY Men emerged a year later to cover the sport/casual base. As with the other clothing lines, the menswear lines were accentuated with bespoke dress shirts and tailored collections soon after.

With Karan’s clothing receiving ever more accolades, and DKNY retail sales exceeding $700 million annually throughout the ’90s, she decided it was time to conquer yet another market. Determined to seduce all the senses, in 1992 Karan took on the world of beauty. With Weiss designing the bottles, jars and ancillary products, the beauty division went on to introduce several bestselling fragrances, including Cashmere Mist and Black Cashmere, as well as DKNY scents for both men and women. In 1996, the company began trading publicly.

The opening of the uptown New York City store, located at 60th Street and Madison Avenue, followed in 1999. The DKNY flagship opened its doors on West Broadway in SoHo in 2001, bringing the brand back to downtown Manhattan, where it all began. The year 2001 also heralded the Donna Karan Premiere Collection Showcase at 819 Madison Avenue. Designed as “a serene escape from the city’s chaos,” the store comes complete with a dramatic indoor/ outdoor water rock garden that runs through the townhouse’s ground floor.

Last year, sources estimated retail sales of Donna Karan’s businesses to be about $700 million, with 70% of that figure coming from DKNY. Although this is a significant decline from DKNY’s heyday in the ’90s, the designer and her company are not worried. Mary Wang, president of DKNY, muses, “Whenever you have a brand that is 15 years old, you will have unique challenges. For us, the early years were incredibly explosive and the growth was in leaps and bounds because Donna was the first to do this. Here we are, 15 years later, and there are a lot more people in the competitive marketplace.”

Having learned from the mistakes of designers who ventured into the mass market in the ’80s, the Karan empire took a different route to dealing with competition. Instead of lowering prices, those at Karan decided to win the fashion wars by increasing them. Wang explains, “DKNY has upped its quality, raising the average retail price point from $50 to $200, and thereby slashing the lower-tier distribution that had hurt the brand’s image. We upgraded the fabrics; we went back to some of our original factories, which are the more expensive factories in Asia and Italy; and, we went back to the more luxurious materials. We added cashmeres from Italy rather than from Hong Kong. We stabilized, and our orders show that.”

The move seems to have worked, with future prospects looking bright, and the accessories lines leading the way. Jeffry Aronsson, chief executive officer of Donna Karan International, says, “We are planning a conservative growth of 100% for ready-to-wear in five years, and we are looking at tripling to quadrupling the size of the accessories. Our own freestanding stores, in addition to specialty store distribution, are and will become increasingly important while accessories emerge as the growth engine of the company.”

With a combination of instinct and business savvy, Karan continues to dominate in one of the most highly competitive industries. By focusing on those around her, Karan has been able to see the gaps in a crowded marketplace. “I created this company for people like me and my friends; passionate and creative, striving to make a difference in whatever way we can.”

© 2002 Mikael Jansson