Karl Kani
| Private | |
| Industry | Fashion |
| Founded | Los Angeles, United States (1989) |
| Founder | Carl Williams |
| Products | Apparel and Accessories |
| Website | www.karlkani.com |
Karl Kani (/kəˈnaɪ/; born Carl Williams on May 23, 1968 in San José, Costa Rica) is the fashion designer, founder and CEO of the Hip Hop fashion brand Karl Kani.
Carl Williams was born in Costa Rica to a Panamanian father and Costa Rican mother. The family migrated to the United States in the late 1960's.
At age 16, Williams started designing clothes after learning the essential handcraft at his father's company. He never studied tailoring or design, but he had flair for coming up with unusual concepts. He would buy material and tell a tailor exactly how he wanted his garments to look. "For a relatively small sum", as he put it, "I had a fresh outfit that nobody had."
After seeing him on the scene in local clubs, men started asking for a Carl Williams' outfit of their own. Soon he was taking his first orders in his car. The death of one of his close friends inspired some deep contemplation. "It made me think about life differently", he added " I thought I should really do something positive."
In 1989 he headed to Los Angeles where he and a good friend opened a clothing shop on Crenshaw Boulevard. They made no profit at this location and after the shop was robbed, they moved to Hollywood where he started selling catalogs for $2 that he and his partner had put together. They only made profit from the catalog sales and did not sell any clothes. He decided to take out an advertisement in Right On! Magazine, but that did not jumpstart sales.
After watching The Today Show, he had the idea of paying a friend in New York to make a sign with his label's name on it and hold it up during the taping of the show. The idea worked as people started calling and orders began to come in.
In addition to working with a mainstream color selection Williams modified the baggy pants that had become the basis of street fashion. According to Williams black people never liked tight fitting jeans. They would always buy a bigger size but then the waist would be too big, so he decided to increase the pant size.
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