Ralph lauren fashion designer

A can-do attitude - fashion designer Karl Kani - Inside Track

Growing up in a Brooklyn ghetto, Carl Williams dreamed of becoming "the Ralph Lauren of the streets." Not content with popular styles, he would sketch his own designs and take them to a tailor to be custom-made. A few of his friends took notice and asked him to design clothes for them.

By 1990, Williams had turned his hobby into a blossoming business that grew through word of mouth and self-promotion. "My immediate goal was to buy a BMW," he says. Every day, the young entrepreneur would load up his car with merchandise and hawk his fashions at local basketball tournaments and in front of Manhattan nightclubs.

Williams kept thinking about his big dream: Could he really become the Ralph Lauren of the streets? "I would wake up every morning and ask myself, `Can I do it?'" he recalls. He was so driven by the question that he legally changed his name to Karl Kani.

Today, his Los-Angeles based Karl Kani Infinity Inc. is one of the hottest sportswear companies in the country. His line of jeans, shirts, footwear, and leather goods rang up 1995 sales of $69 million. His designs are sold in 300 stores domestically, including Macy's, Nordstrom, and Marshall Fields.

In his climb to the top, the 27-year-old wunderkind has rebounded from man;, disasters. In 1990, he moved to Los Angeles and opened up a small store where he lived and worked. One day, a thief broke in and stole his samples. Nearly penniless, he created mail-order catalogs filled with his designs and sold them for $2 each. "The money from the catalog sales enabled me to eat and pay rent," he says.

Determined to make a name for himself, he developed a new line of clothes and headed for Las Vegas to attend MAGIC, the fashion industry's biggest trade show. "I didn't have a booth," says Kani. "So, I handed out my business card and invited potential buyers to my hotel room to see my collection."

A few months after the show, a friend introduced him to the owners of Cross Colours -- at the time, the largest African-American clothing firm. Kani's potential was so apparent, the company offered him the opportunity to run his own division. His designs boosted the firm's revenues from $15 million to $89 million in just two years.

A Fresh Start

But by 1993, Kani had grown dissatisfied with the relationship. "I was frustrated because I couldn't make the final decisions," he explains. "I realized I wasn't the type of person who could work for somebody else." Also, there were internal management problems at Cross Colours, says Kani. The company had overextended itself and often failed to ship merchandise to retailers, according to Kani.

Kani left the business in 1994 and, with $500,000 in savings, struck out on his own. At first, he feared the Cross Colours debacle had ruined his good name. "I met with store owners and major department stores and convinced them to give me a chance," says Kani. "They started with small orders, and I gradually won back their trust. It helped that all my stuff sold well."

Kani is broadening his brand's appeal beyond the young black consumers who first wore his clothes. He recently placed ads in GQ magazine to reach more mature customers. "We're now selling in suburban stores, which proves we have mainstream appeal," he says.

Kani involves himself in every aspect of the business, from choosing fabrics to spearheading marketing efforts. The most important part of the job, he says, is listening to customers. Every two months, he returns to his old Brooklyn neighborhood to hear what people are saying on the street. "I get valuable feedback," he says. "I let people know there is real person behind the brand."