Calvin Klein’s Record Jung Kook Collab Could Not Lift Sales

PVH Corp. posted $2.097 billion in second-quarter sales, down 3% from a year earlier, as Calvin Klein fell 7% even after its biggest product collaboration on record. Tommy Hilfiger was about flat at $1.1 billion. The group still landed at the high end of its own sales range and beat the constant-currency guide.

Chief executive Stefan Larsson told investors the Jung Kook for Calvin Klein capsule was the brand’s most successful product collaboration in its history, with more than 90% global sell-through. That heat did not refill wholesale, and it did not offset Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Calvin Klein Fell 7% After Its Biggest Collab

The quarter ended August 2, 2026. PVH reported the print on September 2 and held the call the next morning. On a constant-currency basis, sales also fell 3%, better than the 4% to 5% drop the company had flagged in June.

The company’s second-quarter revenue of $2.097 billion compared with $2.167 billion a year earlier. Calvin Klein contributed $913.3 million. Direct-to-consumer sales were about flat, with owned stores down 1% and owned digital commerce up 4% (3% in constant currency). Wholesale fell 6% in every region.

Asia-Pacific was the only region that grew, up 3% as reported and 1% in constant currency, to $343.7 million, as stores and other DTC trade offset a wholesale decline. Americas sales slipped 1% to $680.1 million. EMEA, still the largest slice, fell 6% to $986.3 million. Licensing dropped 13% to $86.9 million as planned North America license moves run through the end of 2026.

Q2 SALES BY BRAND AND REGION

PVH is not a small house. It employs about 28,000 people in more than 40 countries and booked over $8.9 billion in fiscal 2025 sales. The second-quarter print is a channel story more than a brand-death story, and the channel that failed is wholesale.

Four Points of the Drop Were Shipment Timing

Strip one calendar quirk and Calvin Klein’s headline looks less brutal. PVH said about 4 percentage points of the 7% decline came from a shift in Americas wholesale shipments into the second half, versus the year-ago quarter. The residual drop is closer to 3 points, not a collapse of the logo.

That timing cut both ways. Americas wholesale was down, a slight DTC gain in the region was not enough to offset it, and some of the delayed product is meant to show up later in the year. Larsson still said Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger came in on plan once you exclude that shipment shift and Tommy’s move of previously licensed women’s lines in-house.

Inventory ended at $1.738 billion, down 3%, which gives the second half a cleaner stockroom if those delayed wholesale units actually ship. It does not repair EMEA demand, and it does not make department-store buyers braver.

The Capsule Sold and Wholesale Still Fell

Jung Kook, the BTS singer and Calvin Klein global ambassador since 2023, put his name on product rather than only on a campaign film. Calvin Klein, Inc. opened a 20-style capsule priced $29 to $699 on May 19, 2026, on calvinklein.com/CKJK, with stores and wholesale the next day. Alasdair McLellan shot the biker-themed pictures. Limited underwear sat in the Harajuku, SoHo and Champs-Élysées flagships, with pop-ups from Los Angeles to Shanghai.

On the September 3 call, Larsson said the work drove $5 billion in social media reach, triple-digit growth in e-commerce traffic versus the spring campaign, and over 90% global sell-through. He also pointed to a sharper consumer focus and 360-degree marketing, and said the first-half spend lift produced low-single-digit e-commerce growth at both brands plus a better share of online search.

WHAT THE JUNG KOOK CAPSULE DELIVERED

• Launch window: The line went live on May 19, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, inside the second quarter, not after it.
• China Tmall: Sell-through hit 99% on that platform, per figures Larsson cited after the early weeks.
• Hero outerwear: The campaign leather jacket, the dearest piece in the line, reached 60% sell-through within two weeks of launch.
• Halo on core: Sales of related Calvin Klein product rose more than 50% after the campaign, and the company tagged a Jung Kook effect in underwear and denim.
• Media value: Launchmetrics logged $3.4 million in media impact value in the first 48 hours after the announcement.

Calvin Klein denim grew at a double-digit pace in DTC, according to the call. E-commerce traffic rose by a double-digit rate at Calvin Klein and a high-single-digit rate at Tommy Hilfiger. That is real demand. It is also a reminder that a capsule can clear a website and still leave the wholesale ledger down 6%.

In the second quarter, we delivered revenue in line with our guidance and profitability exceeding expectations, reflecting our disciplined execution of the PVH+ Plan across our two iconic brands, Calvin Klein and TOMMY HILFIGER. We continued to build momentum in DTC, with growth in both Americas and APAC and improved performance in EMEA compared to last quarter.

Stefan Larsson, Chief Executive Officer, PVH second-quarter 2026 earnings call

Brand heat and a bigger order book are not the same fact. European wholesalers stayed cautious after a hard spring, and Spring 2027 order books were down mid-single digits on the call. A sold-out K-pop line can fill owned channels and search. It cannot force a buyer in Düsseldorf or Dubai to reorder.

Why Adjusted Profit Jumped While Sales Fell

Non-GAAP earnings were $3.70 a share, above the company’s $3.00 to $3.10 range and above the $2.52 earned a year earlier. Non-GAAP operating margin was 11.1%, versus guidance of about 9.5% and 8.2% a year earlier. Both figures include an about 510 basis-point, $1.80-a-share lift from $107 million in tariff refunds.

Take those refunds out and the adjusted margin is about 6%, below last year’s 8.2%. Gross margin was 63.0%, up 530 basis points from 57.7%; 510 of those points were the refunds, and the other 20 came from lower product costs, currency and mix, partly offset by heavier promotions in EMEA, net tariff costs, and the North America license shifts. SG&A rose to 51.9% of sales, up 240 basis points, on higher marketing and the deleverage of a smaller top line.

GAAP VERSUS ADJUSTED Q2

• GAAP earnings: A loss of $2.23 a share, versus a profit of $4.63 a year earlier, and a net loss of $102.9 million versus net income of $224.2 million.
• Adjusted earnings: $3.70 a share, including about $1.80 from tariff refunds, versus a $3.00 to $3.10 company guide.
• EBIT: A GAAP loss of $191 million versus a $133 million profit; non-GAAP EBIT was $233 million versus $178 million, again including the $107 million refund.
• Cash: Cash and cash equivalents were $965.9 million as of August 2, 2026, versus $248.8 million a year earlier.

Interim chief financial officer Melissa Stone said the company met or beat guidance on every key metric and expanded gross margin year over year excluding the refunds. Those refunds were not a surprise. When PVH cut full-year sales to about flat on June 3, it already folded the refunds into the 8.8% operating-margin outlook as an offset to the Middle East drag. The second quarter collected the check.

The company also said it has about $45 million of annualized cost savings in motion for 2026 and 2027. Marketing is still going the other way. Stone said PVH will step up year-over-year brand spend again in the third quarter.

License Math Kept Tommy Hilfiger Level

Tommy Hilfiger’s about-flat quarter is not a second Jung Kook. PVH said the print includes an about 3% lift from bringing previously licensed Tommy women’s categories in-house in the Americas. Without that shift, the brand would have been down on a like-for-like view.

The brand still had product that moved. Tommy sweaters grew at a double-digit pace, and the house leaned on Liverpool Football Club and the Cadillac Formula 1 team in the quarter, then put NFL star Travis Kelce in the new fall campaign. Larsson said consumer response to Kelce, and to singer Tate McRae at Calvin Klein, was very positive as the fall season opened.

Soccer player Raphinha also appeared for Calvin Klein. The talent stack is doing what the PVH+ Plan asked for: hero product, cut-through names, a better store. Over 120 stores were refurbished and 130 new stores opened year to date, per the call. Owned digital still only grew 4% on a 3% group sales decline, so the stores and the wholesale door remain the volume machine.

The $439 Million Charge Beside the Beat

GAAP operating margin was (9.1)%, crushed by a $439 million pretax noncash goodwill impairment. PVH said the charge was driven mainly by changes in valuation assumptions tied to geopolitical and macroeconomic factors. It is excluded from the non-GAAP figures investors used to call the quarter a beat.

The geography of the problem is not a mystery. Direct Middle East trade (excluding Turkey) was only about 1% of 2025 sales, but about 7% of income before interest and taxes. The wider hit is the one management keeps naming: softer spending in Turkey and greater Europe, higher fuel costs, weaker store traffic, a more promotional street, and cautious wholesale partners. EMEA DTC fell by a low-single-digit rate in constant currency, as digital gains failed to offset stores.

PVH still wants at least $300 million of share repurchases in 2026 after $560 million in 2025. It bought nothing in the first six months. Net interest expense fell to $12 million from $22 million, helped by higher cash. The balance sheet is liquid. The buyback is a promise, not a second-quarter fact.

New York Fashion Week and a Guided Dip

Full-year guidance did not move. PVH still sees sales about flat as reported and down slightly in constant currency, a non-GAAP operating margin of about 8.8%, and non-GAAP earnings of $11.80 to $12.10, versus $11.40 last year. Americas and Asia-Pacific are still expected to grow for the year. EMEA e-commerce is expected to keep rising and wholesale is not.

Third-quarter sales are guided to a low-single-digit decline, with a non-GAAP operating margin of about 7.5% and non-GAAP earnings of $2.50 to $2.65. Larsson said the fall season had a positive start across both brands and all regions, and that Calvin Klein’s fall talent list is the strongest yet. Both brands were also set to show at New York Fashion Week after the call.

FROM THE JUNE CUT TO FASHION WEEK

1. May 19, 2026: Jung Kook for Calvin Klein launches online, then in stores and wholesale the next day.
2. June 3, 2026: After first-quarter results, PVH cuts the full-year sales outlook from a slight increase to about flat, citing the prolonged Middle East conflict, and keeps the 8.8% margin target with tariff refunds as an offset.
3. September 2, 2026: Second-quarter sales print at $2.097 billion, down 3%, with a $439 million goodwill charge and $107 million of tariff refunds.
4. September 3, 2026: Larsson and Stone host the call; Alexis Rollier, former global CFO and COO of Sephora for more than eight years, is welcomed as CFO and is slated to lead the third-quarter call.

Rollier inherits a group that can sell a capsule at 90% and still print a 3% sales decline. Third-quarter earnings are guided to $2.50 to $2.65 as marketing spend steps up again, and the $300 million buyback is still sitting on the calendar after a first half with no repurchases.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of PVH Corp.’s published results and outlook, and it is for information only. It is not investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell PVH shares, or a forecast of future returns. Readers should consult a qualified financial adviser or licensed broker before making any investment decision. Figures, guidance ranges and operating statuses are those stated in company filings and management remarks and may change with later reports, restatements or market conditions.