How to tell if Calvin Klein is vintage: Labels, Logos and Tips

How to tell if Calvin Klein is vintage

Calvin Klein has enshrined his place in the fashion hall of fame and is one of a handful of American designers to truly find a global market, much of which reverberates through the vintage clothing market today. Humbly starting as an apprentice in a cloak and suit factory, Calvin Klein was enthusiastically chasing a place in the fashion industry, regardless of what that was. After five years of hard graft, Calvin felt like he understood how the garment industry worked, and what designs people wanted, so decided to launch his own company with childhood friend Barry Schwartz in 1968.

Through this venture, Calvin Klein would rub shoulders with already esteemed fashion designers in New York, with Baron de Gunzburg taking him on as his protégé. Because of the high regard the fashion elite had for Baron, Calvin Klein was quickly accepted as a rising star, even before he had launched his own product line. This faith in Calvin Klein was not misplaced and would be hailed as the next great designer after just his first show at New York Fashion week. From here the young Calvin Klein went from strength to strength, being adored by both critics and consumers alike. By 1977, just nine years after launching, Calvin Klein was generating over $30 million in revenue, both manufacturing products and licencing out the brand for the creation of sunglasses, shoes, scarves, belts and more. Whilst their legacy in jeans and denim is undeniable, they have also had groundbreaking success in men’s underwear, women’s underwear, and fragrances.

Although they are one of the most successful fashion companies of all time, in the late 1980s they fell upon hard times, narrowly avoiding bankruptcy after a failed sale attempt. Nevertheless, they bounced back, and the company was later sold to Phillips Van Heusen Corp for a whopping $400 million in cash alongside stock and other royalties.

How to tell if Calvin Klein is vintage from the logo

Calvin Klein became ubiquitous with denim products after launching its first slim fitting denim lines in the 1970s. It would be in the following decades that they would start to form a brand identity around the line of products that were being designed. The launching point for this was the controversial Brooke Shields campaign in 1981, where the 15 year old starred in sexually provocative ads causing uproar and even being banned from a number of TV stations. Further provocative ads with Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss advertising underwear would maintain Calvin Klein’s reputation of using sexual imagery to sell apparel.

These advertising stunts put the Calvin Klein in front of billions all over the world, even if they didn’t buy Calvin Kleins. And the value that has been built around the name Calvin Klein means that almost every item includes a Calvin Klein logo somewhere, whether it’s on the tag, design or advert, the logo is nearly always present. This makes the logo a great sign of the age of a piece of vintage Calvin Klein.

1968 to 1975 vintage Calvin Klein logo

• The very first version of the logo has a structure that has been consistently stuck with, in that it is only text and just states the name of the main man himself, Calvin Klein
• The font is thin and only the C and K are capitalised
• This logo, like all its future ones, is monochrome

1975 to 1992 vintage Calvin Klein logo

• The next Calvin Klein logo is almost indistinguishable from the last
• The only change is that the font is a little bolder

1992 to 2017 vintage Calvin Klein logo

• The third logo was once again a small change
• The font became slightly thinner and longer, as you can see with the top of the C of Calvin ending higher above the a than in its predecessor
• The dots above the i’s were also made circular instead of rectangular

2017 to 2020 vintage Calvin Klein logo

• At this time Calvin Klein had its biggest logo change
• The text became fully capitalised
• It is also evenly spaced

2020 to now vintage Calvin Klein logo

• Its most recent logo is a revival of its 1975 to 1992 logo
• The font is the same
• And the i’s have rectangular dots again
• A slight shift was then implemented, once again sticking with an emblem only logo

Vintage Calvin Klein logos through the years – The history of the Calvin Klein logo

How to tell if Calvin Klein is vintage from the tags

In recent years infamous designer Raf Simons joined the company, who attempted to revamp the image of the company with a new logo. Ultimately this collaboration ended just one year later. Other than Raf Simons’ intervention, the Calvin Klein logo has not changed all that much, and the old logo is now being used again, so it is helpful to use the logo in conjunction with tags to establish if Calvin Klein is vintage.

But before we do, there are a few general rules we can apply to start working out if your Calvin Klein is vintage or not. Only in recent years have Calvin Klein stopped completely sewing in their neck tags, so if it’s a loop tab, only sewn in on the sides, or printed on them then your Calvin Klein is likely from the last 15 years. Another thing to look out for is the cK emblem, which stopped being widely used on tags in the late 1990s, so having one of those is a good sign. A final clue is the inclusion of many extra wash tags and excessive amounts of information on them. Only newer items have two or three wash tags that have a load of information about care instructions and composition.

1970s vintage Calvin Klein tags

• Some of the very first tags simply had the name Calvin Klein in capitals and did not even use the logo
• However, most of them used the thin font logo and in some cases used a rarely seen CK emblem
• They either used a white or black tag with monochrome writing in most cases

1980s vintage Calvin Klein tags

• The logo didn’t change over this decade
• It was more common that the tags would be wider white fabric
• A limited edition tag was also in circulation at this time as can be seen on the far left
• They also started to include information about the country of production

1990s vintage Calvin Klein tags

• Early 1990s tags used the older logo with the rectangular dots on the i’s and are difficult to distinguish from some of the late 1980s tags
• But some of them can be spotted as the 1990s ones sometimes have the cK emblem
• They also include a size tab
• The new logo started to become adopted on tags, but this was over a transitional period into the mid 1990s

2000s 

vintage Calvin Klein tags

• The tags from the 2000s included both the text logo of ‘Calvin Klein Jeans’, instead of just ‘Calvin Klein’, and the cK emblem
• The design is similar to the 1990s one but is cleaner and nearly always included a size tab
• It is often a golden colour and completely sewn in

2010s vintage Calvin Klein tags

• Tabs and loop tags that weren’t completely sewn in started becoming more common place, with some tags even being printed
• They use the updated logo, in most cases with a circular dot, but some are using the new capitalised logo as well
• Similar information is nearly always included on modern tags

Vintage Calvin Klein tags through the years – The History of Calvin Klein tags

For more fashion news and updates, stay tuned to OneOff Vintage.