Innovation

Calvin Klein is big on gender equality, promoting quality education and reducing any inequalities between different socioeconomic backgrounds. Calvin Klein offers online training and classes through what they call PVH University. This is a company website that allows associates to hone their leadership, technical skills, and many other skill sets that may help them advance in their career. In addition to these online classes, Calvin Klein also offers executive training programs and also partners with Columbia University to provide associates with leadership rotational programs. These leadership programs allow associates to either learn a new craft and move laterally within the company to an area that interests them more, or helps associates move up the ladder within the company. Calvin Klein also offers a tuition reimbursement program for any associates that would like to further their education. Calvin Klein has also formed approximately twelve different resource groups to promote diversity and inclusion. Several of these groups include BE BRAAVE, which supports the black community, LOLA, supporting the Latino community, and ACE, supporting Asians.

Inspiration

There has always been a fight for equal treatment and pay throughout the world. Over the past decade or so, we have seen great strides by companies to push for equal treatment of employees no matter what race or sex an individual identifies as. Calvin Klein recognizes this and continues to make strides to balance the amount of women and men as well as people from different socioeconomic backgrounds they hire. Furthermore, PVH has fostered a company culture based on collaboration and co-creation that is based on soft skills, making collaboration and communication vital aspects needed for the company to succeed. Ms. Eder, who works as Director in Talent Acquisition, said that it is an important part of her hiring process to make sure candidates display strong soft skills so they will be able to work cross-functionally with other teams to help accomplish company goals.

Overall impact

It is very difficult to quantify the impact of Calvin Klein's different programs on their associates in regards to equality. As Ms. Alison Eder mentioned in the interview, Calvin Klein has an almost equal number of males as females employed, even though the fashion industry is predominantly female. Calvin Klein continues to try to push for more male representation at the executive level. Calvin Klein assesses their metrics quarterly to see the alignment of the amount of males and females in the company. Ms. Eder brought up an interesting scenario where the talent acquisition team noticed a low representation of females within the technology departments and are making strides to rectify that.

Furthermore, the leadership rotational programs have helped employees that are not happy in their current position to grow or move into a different sector of the business that they would be more inclined to work in. They also implement various training programs that were set forth by the Amsterdam Tommy Hilfiger team about 10 years ago. They built numerous training programs that have been used by new hires in the Amsterdam company branch. PVH has begun integrating those training programs within Calvin Klein North America over the last 2 years. The training programs primarily focus on certain departments such as supply chain, tech design, and raw materials.

Business benefit

In regards to equality, the different educational programs accessible for all associates through PVH University help employees hone their skill sets, no matter their education level. This will encourage associates to push for promotions and allow them to pursue their passion within the company. Having associates that can develop their skills will significantly benefit the company as a whole by making associates more knowledgeable and better leaders. Developing strong leaders is always important in the growth of a company.

Regarding sustainability, sustainable fashion is a trend that is gaining more strength every day in companies dedicated to clothing production. Moreover, working sustainably guarantees the survival of the company over time. Being sustainable entails carrying out actions such as caring for the environment, using renewable energy, respecting workers' rights, and minimizing the use of resources from the environment. Generating a minimal impact on the environment creates a change in the organization's environment and the way it operates. For society, a sustainable company means peace of mind when using its services or products.

Calvin Klein can use its sustainable image to reach more customers by offering products that generate consumer engagement. Barron’s ranked Calvin Klein #1 in retail and in the top 5 overall for sustainable companies. Each department has certain goals that need to be met. Primary ways they go about achieving sustainable practices are KPI metrics and scorecards to better track the progress of these goals. The largest department within the company tracking and using KPI metrics is the supply chain department at Calvin Klein. Scorecard metrics must be filled out by supply chain partners and vendors to help better understand products waste usage and how to accomplish the sustainability goals put forth by the company.

Social and environmental benefit

The social and economic benefit to these initiatives is creating a stronger and more resilient workforce that adds to the economic value of a corporation. When people at a company have access to tools to strengthen their work skills, it is in the best interest of the company because it generates a strong workforce. It also capitalizes on making humans better in their skills set. More opportunities for higher education in the population allows for personal growth, which leads to overall growth in the economy and quality of life. Men, women and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have had historical and economic obstacles on their way to success in work, life, and education. However, these programs create pathways to lead them into the industry and succeed with support and knowledge.

Interview

Alison Eder, Director of Talent Acquisition

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