CALVIN KLEIN — FALL/WINTER 2021

CLIENT
Calvin Klein

PROJECT
Fall/Winter 2021. Brand Repositioning & Collection Development

SERVICES
Brand Strategy / Fashion Design / Collection Development / Creative Research / Colour & Fabric / Knitwear / Print / Fit Development / Pattern & Block Development

THE BRIEF

18.01CREATIVE was engaged to work with Calvin Klein on the repositioning of the brand for the Asian market.

Fall/Winter 2021 marked the beginning of a multi-season partnership and the opportunity to establish the foundations for a new product direction.

The challenge was not simply to design a new collection. It was to understand how the established codes of Calvin Klein could be interpreted for a specific market and consumer while retaining the clarity, modernity and product focus associated with the brand.

OUR ROLE

Our involvement began at brand level.

We researched the Calvin Klein identity, existing product language, market and consumer before developing an initial creative and product proposition for the collection.

From there, 18.01CREATIVE worked across concept, collection development and design, helping translate the wider brand direction into colour, fabric, silhouette and individual product ideas.

Alongside the visible elements of the collection, we worked on the foundations beneath the product including fit, pattern and block development.

This was particularly important. Establishing the right fit and underlying product architecture created a framework that could be developed not only for FW21, but across the seasons that followed.

ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATIONS

For an established global brand, repositioning does not mean starting again.

It means understanding what should remain, what should evolve and what needs to be introduced.

Our approach was to identify the essential Calvin Klein codes and use them as the foundation for a collection that could feel recognisable while moving the product forward.

BRAND → CONSUMER → RESEARCH → PRODUCT

Rather than treating strategy and design as separate exercises, we developed them together.

Ideas established through research informed the collection; the realities of product, fit and fabrication informed the strategy.

THE COLLECTION

Fall/Winter 2021 became the first expression of this evolving product language.

The collection established a framework for subsequent seasons: a clearer understanding of the consumer, a developing approach to product and a set of design and fit principles that could continue to evolve.

Rather than designing a single season in isolation, we were beginning to build a system.

THE RESULT

FW21 established the creative and product foundations for what became a four-season partnership between Calvin Klein and 18.01CREATIVE.

The project demonstrates how we approach brand repositioning through product—combining strategic thinking, research, design and technical development to create a foundation capable of evolving over time.

EXPERTISE
Fashion Brand Repositioning / Collection Design / Fashion Research / Product Development / Fit Development / Pattern & Block Development / Colour & Fabric