G-III Files Lawsuit Seeking $250M Over Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger Licensing Conflict

Tensions between the two companies began in 2022, following PVH's CEO's decision to regain control over the women's lines of both brands, which would affect almost half of G-III's business.

The escalation of the conflict on the part of G-III responds to the weight of both brands in the company's turnover.

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24 jun 2025 - 07:16

Duel of giants in the United States. The U.S. group G-III, owner of brands such as Dkny, Donna Karan and Karl Lagerfeld, has filed a complaint against the U.S. giant PVH for breach of contract. The lawsuit follows several years of tensions between the two companies over the distribution of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

The conflict first began in late 2022, after Stefan Larsson, the CEO of PVH, the company that owns both brands, announced plans to regain control over their North American distribution. Now, G-III has escalated the confrontation, after filing a lawsuit for more than $250 million against PVH for breach of contract, WWD reported.

Although the details of the text have not yet been made public, G-III had the license to distribute Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger items until 2027. PVH, however, has assured that it will respond through the legal process “in due course” and expects to resolve the dispute in court.

G-III and PVH have been in dispute since the end of 2022

The escalation of the conflict on the part of G-III responds to the weight of both brands in the company's turnover, which could account for up to half of the group's business. G-III ended fiscal 2024 with total sales of $3,1 billion, 2.6% more than in 2023.

Although it does not break down the turnover by brands, the company highlighted the double-digit growth of the brands in its portfolio at the end of the year, which mitigated the poorer performance of sales due to the licensing of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Over the years, however, the agreement between PVH and G-III has generated sales of more than $15 billion in two decades.

Since 2022, when PVH announced its intentions to regain control over its brands, G-III has been engaged in a strategy of repositioning its own brand portfolio. In parallel, the group has also diversified its portfolio with the acquisition of other licenses, most recently Nautica, owned by Authentic Brands Group.