Kani, Karl

B. 1969

Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York

Awards: Entrepreneur of the Year, Inc. Magazine, 1995
         Company of the Year, Black Enterprise , 1996

When Carl Williams (Karl Kani) started selling his designs to his friends in Brooklyn he could not have imagined the cross-cultural impact he would have on fashion. Kani’s street-inspired fashions transcend the African-American, urban, hip-hop niche. They have been widely adopted by white suburban teens who want to be part of big city culture. Suburban malls and national retailer’s such as Merry Go Round, Coda, Macy’s, Nords-troms, Dayton Hudson, and Marshall Field’s prominently display Kani as an attestation to their fashion-forward direction.

Carl Williams worked as a newspaper carrier while he was growing up in the Brooklyn projects. The shirts and pants he designed for himself and his friends were sewn by a local tailor, and he placed mail-order ads for his designs in rap magazines. As Kani’s business grew, the cost of manufacturing in New York forced him to relocate to Los Angeles in 1988 to open Seasons, an apparel store, and establish production facilities in South Central Los Angeles. Business was slow, but Kani’s designs came to the attention of Cross Colours, a subsidiary of Threads 4 Life, who funded the full-scale launch of the Karl Kani label in 1990. Kani’s association with Cross Colours was plagued by manufacturing and distribution problems which delayed shipments to retailers. In 1993 Kani ended his three-year relationship with Cross Colours to found his own company, Karl Kani Infinity.

Kani originally debuted on the fashion scene pioneering hip-hop baggy jeans and oversized tops. As his twenty-something customer base aged, Kani developed new lines of fashion-conscious clothing aimed at young professionals. He also expanded into athletic wear, couture, big and tall, and women’s casual wear. The manufacturing problems that affected Kani’s early career prompted him to sign licensing agreements rather than produce his own collections. Beginning with the fall 2000 collection, Neema Clothing, Ltd., holds the licenses to manufacture and market the Kani line (tailored), the Karl Kani Black Label (sportswear), and the Karl Kani line (business casual). Kani retains creative control over all the lines he licenses including footwear lines for both Skechers and Summit Footwear, a boys’ line for Siegfried and Parzifal, leather apparel for G-III, and an underwear line for Checkmate. He will also be adding fragrance, eyew-ear, neckwear, socks, girls’, infants’ and home furnishing licenses throughout 2000.

The fact that Karl Kani operates the twenty-fifth largest African American-owned business in America is a testament to his ability to combine street-smart fashions with marketing genius. Kani draws on the celebrity cachet of his friends in the National Basketball Association, including Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson, and rap artists, such as Snoop Doggy Dog, Puff Daddy, and Heavy D, to endorse his products. As the market for street wear grows, Kani will have to continue to distinguish his designs in the highly competitive arena which he created.