Reinventing Calvins

It has been about 15 years since provocative Calvin Klein billboards over Times Square turned couture designer Klein into the underwear man. And it has been 10 years since Warnaco Group purchased Klein’s underwear business. Calvins now sit in the same corporate underwear drawer with Nautica, Polo and JLo. But only Calvins have their own stores.

A Calvin Klein Underwear store in Dallas’ NorthPark Center was recently “reinvented,” with the goal of creating a more up-to-date concept. After immersing itself in the Calvin Klein culture, RYA Design Consultancy (Dallas) identified and articulated key strategies, including a dedicated graphics program and a new fixture system that’s conducive to customers shopping without need of sales assistance.

Women’s merchandise occupies 70 percent of the selling space, much of it on a custom low-profile puck system around the perimeter of the 1800-square-foot store that’s integrated with the graphics.

The challenge for the presentation of the men’s products, which are mostly boxed, was how to display what’s inside those boxes. The units housing the boxed products along the wall were designed to take advantage of the product photography on the front of each box. Panels of acid-etched smoked glass float 15 inches off the back wall, supporting torso and butt forms for the presentation of product.

The loose fixture design has strong vertical lines created out of stainless-steel plate. The women’s panty table draws on the sculptures of Donald Judd to create a powerful surface for merchandise presentation. The same principles were applied to the cashwrap, men’s boxer tables, T-stands and other service amenities.

Client: Warnaco Inc. Calvin Klein Underwear, New York

Design/Architecture: RYA Design Consultancy, Dallas

General Contractor: McGovern & Co. LLC, New York

Outside Design Consultants: Don Penn Consulting, Grapevine, Texas (MEP engineer); The Structural Alliance Inc., Dallas (structural engineer)

Fixtures: idX Corp., St. Louis

Flooring: Stone Source, New York

Mannequins: Goldsmith LLC, New York

Wall Coverings: Xorel by Carnegie, Rockville Centre, N.Y.

Rugs: Ruckstuhl, Langenthal, Switzerland

Acid-etched smoked glass: Bendheim, New York

Photography: Courtesy of RYA Design Consultancy, Dallas