PVH is getting an unexpected boost from television.
On Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Stefan Larsson pointed to the cultural impact of “Love Story”, the Hulu series that has reignited interest in Carolyn Bessette Kennedy-era style and, with it, Calvin Klein’s 1990s aesthetic. “It’s almost impossible to have a conversation about Calvin right now without ‘Love Story,’” he said on the call.
And the timing of the series launch couldn’t be better for the brand’s results. PVH beat its fourth-quarter guidance across revenue, operating profit and EPS, reporting $2.49 billion in revenue for the quarter, and entered 2026 with what Larsson described as “positive momentum” across both Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
Calvin Klein is emerging as the clearest driver of that momentum. According to Larsson, the show’s release prompted a shift in how customers viewed the brand. “When the show launched, we could see the search increase for Calvin Klein. E-commerce traffic is positive. The consumer is looking for iconic Calvin, starting with iconic underwear and iconic denim,” he said. “The most sold denim style right now is the ’90s fit.”
The scale of the response even caught PVH off guard. “I don’t believe anyone could have anticipated the magnitude of the hit it has become globally and across generations,” Larsson said. “The interest we see spans generations.”
For PVH, the moment is landing on top of several years of brand repositioning. On the call, Larsson pointed to the work done to rebuild Calvin Klein around its core identity. “We have gone back to the DNA of what made Calvin collide with culture back in the 1990s and taken 100% of that iconic DNA and worked hard to make it 100% current,” he said. “When something like ‘Love Story’ hits, it’s a really nice sync-up with where we are with the brand.”
The changes in strategy are showing up in how consumers are shopping across the brand’s categories. Demand is concentrated in underwear and denim, categories PVH has been prioritizing across product and marketing in the last few months. The company has leaned into the moment with a dedicated ’90s edit on calvinklein.com, which Larsson said is “driving above average social engagement and click-through rates.”
Retail activations are adding to the momentum for the brand, as well. A March New York Magazine pop-up at Calvin Klein’s Soho store delivered the highest daily sales and traffic the location has seen to date, according to Larsson. The brand is also extending the ’90s aesthetic through cultural touch points. That has included styling actress Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in the series, for the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
The brand is also putting money behind its recent star-studded campaigns, which are translating well into sell-through.
PVH said items featured in its spring campaign featuring K-Pop star Jungkook saw sales rise more than 50% after launch, with the jacket worn by the K-pop artist reaching 60% sell-through in two weeks. A March campaign with Barcelona footballer Raphinha lifted social engagement 62% and drove an 11% increase in sales of featured products compared to a similar campaign last year. A separate campaign from March 9 starring actress Dakota Johnson pushed Europe website traffic up double digits, while key items sold at four times their previous rate.
PVH is backing that demand with increased marketing investment, particularly in the first half of the year, as the company looks to build on current engagement and support direct-to-consumer growth. Conversely, this comes as the company works to offset a 215-basis-point tariff headwind expected to weigh on its margins in 2026.
Larsson was also surprisingly explicit about who PVH is building its brands for on the call. The company is focused on Gen Z and younger millennial consumers, particularly “the status-oriented shoppers and the style-driven consumer segments,” he said. “They shop more often, they spend more, and they’re more loyal.”
PVH’s second biggest brand, Tommy Hilfiger, is contributing to the parent company’s results through a different strategy, centered on sports partnerships and product visibility. The brand’s new January deal with U.K.-based Liverpool Football Club generated its most engaged social post to date and drove an immediate spike in e-commerce traffic. “Liverpool became the No. 1 most engaged post ever to go out on Tommy’s social channels,” Larsson said on the call.
According to Larsson, when players wore Tommy Hilfiger for match arrivals, sales of the featured products in Europe increased 200% compared to the prior week, mainly because they were directly shoppable in digital channels. Going forward, the brand will dress Liverpool players for match arrivals several times each season, using tunnel walk moments to showcase key looks and again linking them directly to shoppable products across digital channels, according to Larsson.
Its partnership with Formula 1 from February is producing similar results. Activations tied to the Cadillac F1 partnership, including driver appearances and localized campaigns, helped lift Tommy Hilfiger’s direct-to-consumer sales in China by double digits in March. In the U.S., products worn by Mexican racing driver Sergio “Checo” Pérez have driven consistent demand, with items such as the cable knit polo posting double-digit sales increases.
The brand is continuing to build out its athlete-led approach. PVH named Travis Kelce as a global ambassador and creative collaborator for Tommy Hilfiger on March 30, adding another athlete with broad cultural reach as it develops upcoming campaigns and product launches.
