PVH Corp. has tapped Donald Kohler president, Calvin Klein Americas. He will join the company on March 13 to lead the regional Calvin Klein business and will report to Stefan Larsson, chief executive officer of PVH.
Last month, PVH named Eva Serrano as Calvin Klein global president, reporting to Larsson. She begins in March.
Kohler joins Calvin Klein with three decades of retail leadership experience. Most recently, he was CEO, North America, retail, e-commerce and wholesale for Diesel, and before that was president, Ann Taylor & Loft, retail and e-commerce. Earlier, he spent four years as CEO, Americas and global chief retail officer for Salvatore Ferragamo, and has also been president, Americas and global chief merchandising operations officer for Burberry. His expertise spans direct-to-consumer and third-party-driven business models including owned and operated retail, wholesale, franchise and licensing, and e-commerce across the luxury, premium and specialty segments.
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“As we continue to build the right team to execute our PVH + Plan, I am excited to have a strong operator like Donald join PVH to lead our Calvin Klein business in the Americas,” Larsson said in a statement. “His unique experience as one of the key leaders responsible for the successful transformation of Burberry globally and in North America, together with his broad sector experience, will be critical in helping us connect Calvin Klein closer to the consumer in the Americas than any time before. Donald has deep operational experience in critical areas such as product, consumer engagement and omnichannel marketplace execution. He will be an important business partner to Eva Serrano and her global Calvin Klein brand team, and they will work closely together to unlock the full potential of Calvin Klein in the Americas.”
Kohler said, “I’m thrilled to join PVH’s leadership for the Americas at such a pivotal moment for the company. Iconic global brands like Calvin Klein are rare and to be a part of creating Calvin Klein’s next chapter of growth here in the Americas is a career-defining opportunity. I look forward to working with Stefan, Eva and the Calvin Klein teams to deliver for our consumers who have a deep love for the Calvin Klein brand.”
Larsson added, “We continue to put the pieces in place to execute the PVH+ Plan, and I’m pleased with our progress in building the team to drive long-term growth and value creation. With Eva and Donald providing brand and regional leadership for Calvin Klein, we will redouble our efforts to unlock our opportunity in the Americas and the full power of our iconic brands around the globe. We are in the process of identifying a strong regional leader for Tommy Hilfiger in the Americas to help complete the team to revitalize every aspect of our business in this region.”
As reported, Serrano spent 20 years with Inditex and its Zara business. She was most recently president of Inditex Greater China and also worked in various areas of the company and across multiple brands in product, marketing, consumer experience and supply chain.
Larsson has been running Calvin Klein directly since the departure last August of Trish Donnelly, who was CEO of PVH Americas and Calvin Klein Global. Donnelly has become president of The Row, as reported.
Both Kohler and Serrano come to PVH at a time of major change for the Calvin Klein brand. Larsson has been refocussing the company with his PVH+ Plan, which zeroes in on “hero” products, consumer engagement, online and a demand-and-data-driven operating model and efficiencies.
Larsson is currently transitioning out of the company’s long-standing licensing relationship with G-III Apparel Group and will be taking the wholesale women’s apparel businesses of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger in the U.S. and Canada in-house by 2027.
In discussing PVH’s results for the third quarter in November, Larsson said, “We are encouraged that our business is starting to show green shoots” in North America. “Although we recognize that we still have work to do to win more of the domestic consumer, we have doubled down on improving our own execution, and this quarter, we delivered double-digit growth for Tommy and Calvin, led by our d-to-c [direct-to-consumer] stores even against the soft consumer backdrop and intense promotional environment.”