Phillips-Van Heusen

Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (NYSE|PVH) is an apparel company, and the world's largest shirt company. It owns brands such as Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, Speedo, Izod, Arrow, Bass and licenses brands such as Geoffrey Beene, BCBG Max Azria, Chaps, Sean John, Kenneth Cole New York, JOE Joseph Abboud and MICHAEL Michael Kors.

Organization

Phillips-Van Heusen's main headquarters are located in Manhattan, with administrative offices in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, California.

Additional distribution facilities in the United States are located in Brinkley, Arkansas; Austell, Georgia; Jonesville, North Carolina; Breinigsville, Reading and Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Phillips-Van Heusen has several sourcing facilities worldwide. These facilities are located in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, The Philippines, and Taiwan. Cite web|url=http://www.pvh.com/JoinOurTeam_WorldLocations.html|title=Join Our Team :: World Locations|accessdate=2008-03-14]

The corporation employs over 12,000 people worldwide.

History

The history of Phillips-Van Heusen can be traced back to 1876, when G. H. Bass began his shoe manufacturing company in Maine.Separately, John M. Van Heusen and Isaac Phillips met and formed the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, and Vin Draddy acquired the rights to the Izod name in the early 1900s.

In 1881, Moses Phillips and his wife Endel began sewing shirts by hand and selling them from pushcarts to local Pottsville, Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners. This grows into a shirt business in New York City that places one of the first ever shirt ads in the Saturday Evening Post.

The Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation received a patent for a self-folding collar in 1919, which was released to the public in 1921 and was successful. The first collar attached shirt was introduced in 1929.

The Bass Weejun was introduced in 1936. Geoffrey Beene shirts were launched in 1982.

In 1987, Phillips-Van Heusen acquired G.H. Bass. In 1995, the corporation acquired the Izod brand, followed by the Arrow brand in 2000, and the Calvin Klein company in 2002. Cite web|url=http://www.pvh.com/OurComp_History.html|title=Our Company :: History|accessdate=2008-03-14]

After acquiring Superba, Inc. in January 2007, PVH now owns necktie licenses for brands such as Arrow, DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Perry Ellis, Ted Baker, Michael Kors, JOE Joseph Abboud, Original Penguin and Jones New York. Cite web|url=http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/fullDescription.asp?rpc=66&symbol=PVH|title=Phillips-Van Heusen Corp (PVH) Full Description | Stocks | Reuters.com|accessdate=2008-03-14]

The corporation will begin making men's apparel under the Timberland name in 2008, with women's apparel to follow in 2009, under a licensing agreement. Cite web|url=http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/fullDescription.asp?rpc=66&symbol=PVH|title=Foolish Forecast: Phillips-Van Heusen Buttons Up|accessdate=2008-03-14|publisher=The Motley Fool|year=2007|author=Rich Duprey]

Distribution

Phillips-Van Heusen provides products to many popular department stores, such as Macys, Kohls, and Dillards, both through its own labels and private label agreements.

Phillips-Van Heusen also sells its products directly to customers through about 700 outlet stores under the brand names Van Heusen, Geoffrey Beene, IZOD, Bass, and Calvin Klein. The outlet stores provide product not available through other retailers, such as the clothing available at Bass clothing stores.

These stores will sell the full range of Calvin Klein product at full price, differing from existing outlet stores. The stores will be about 10,000 square feet. Cite web|url=http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070625005687&newsLang=en|title=Calvin Klein, Inc. Announces the Opening of 'Calvin Klein' Branded Freestanding Retail Stores in U.S.|accessdate=2008-03-14|publisher=Business Wire|year=2007]

Phillips-Van Heusen today announced on May 28, 2008 that it has decided not to renew its license agreements to operate Geoffrey Beene outlet retail stores and will close its Geoffrey Beene outlet retail division by the end of fiscal 2008. The expiration of the retail license agreements will not affect the Company's license agreement for Geoffrey Beene brand dress shirts and men's sportswear, which has been renewed for an additional term ending December 31, 2013.

Marketing

Historically, Phillips-Van Heusen has not had a strong advertising presence of its own, preferring to let its department store customers market their products within its stores.

On October 4, 2007, Phillips-Van Heusen announced that it was taking over naming rights to the Meadowlands arena currently known as Continental Airlines Arena. The new name will be IZOD Center. The name became effective on October 31, 2007.Fact|date=September 2008 The corporation will pay about $1.3 million a year over the next five years for the naming rights, and will handle marketing for arena events.Fact|date=September 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.pvh.com/ Corporate website]
* [http://www.van-heusen.co.uk/ Van Heusen website]