Hello again hiho1-ga,
Here is what I?ve found about Karl Kani aka Carl Williams. His career
is quite spectacular. I hope that you will be able to reach him
through his company so that you can interview him for you project.
Good luck.
~ czh ~
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KARL KANI AKA CARL WILLIAMS -- BIOGRAPHY
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http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/bbios/biograph/kkani.htm
Karl Kani-Infinity
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Williams found his niche
for fashion at a young age. Coming from a modest family who could not
afford what was considered designer clothes. Consequently he began his
own small garment making business in his neighborhood. As a young
entrepreneur his dream was to start up his own fashion empire. Soon
after realizing that his dream could not be achieved in New York due
to it?s high cost effective clothing manufacturing, Williams followed
the ideas of such companies as Guess and Carl Jones (Cross Colour)
moving his operations westward to Los Angeles, California.
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http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:iG5sScAxa-sJ:africanpubs.com/Apps/bios/0312KaniKarl.asp%3Fpic%3Dnone+%22carl+williams%22+biography+kani&hl=en
Karl Kani
c. 1968-
Also Known As: Carl Williams
Kani's hunger began on the streets of the Flatbush neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up as Carl Williams. He and his
friends were preoccupied with style, as he related to Vibe's Scott
Poulson-Bryant: "We'd make a little bit of money, then run out and buy
clothes. You know, going to Delancey Street and buying the new leather
this or suede that, new Ballys, Adidas [shoes], whatever. At the end
of the week, nobody had any money," since it all went out of the
community to the "other nationalities" who dominated the clothing
industry.
Young Williams--who went by the nickname Naquan in his Brooklyn
neighborhood--never studied tailoring or design, but he had a flair
for coming up with unusual, stylish concepts. He would buy material
and tell a tailor exactly what he wanted his garments to look like;
for a relatively small sum, as he put it, "I had a fresh outfit that
ain't nobody had."
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KARL KANI AKA CARL WILLIAMS ? CONTACT INFORMATION
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http://www.hoovers.com/karl-kani-infinity/--ID__60435--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
Karl Kani Infinity Inc.
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/60/60435.html
Karl Kani Infinity Inc. Company Profile
Contact Information
Address: 500 Molino St., Ste. 215, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 213-626-6076
Fax: 213-626-8434
Key People
? President, CEO, and CFO: Karl Williams
Karl Kani (born Carl Williams) bought the label from Cross Colours
co-founder Carl Jones in 1994. Kani founded his own record label
called Kani Life in 2001 and added Life as a new clothing logo in
2003.
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KARL KANI INFINITY, INC ? BUSINESS SUCCESS
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http://www.blackamericatoday.com/article.cfm?ArticleID=521
Karl Kani: Changing clothes -- April 12, 2004
Karl Kani has always had a flair for fashion. As a young man growing
up in Brooklyn, Kani, along with his friends, never wore what everyone
else wore. ?When we were growing up, all of my friends [and I], used
to get a lot of our clothes tailor-made,? he explains.
Not content to just be the best dressed cat at a party, Kani, born
Carl Williams, took it a step forward. ?[I] realized that this [could]
become a business because a lot of people were paying me compliments
on the clothes that I was wearing. I decided that I wanted to come out
with my own line instead of wearing other people?s stuff,? he recalls.
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http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/2/prweb104010.htm
Urban Fashion Honors Its Own Urban Fashion Design Icon Karl Kani
The Second Annual Urban Fashion Awards Show will present Karl Kani
with the "Living Legend" Award at its 2nd Annual Urban Fashion Awards
Show at the Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV on February 25,
2004.
New York, NY (PRWEB) February 11 2004--The Urban Fashion Awards Show
takes great pleasure in announcing that Karl Kani, Urban Fashion
Extraordinaire will receive the prestigious Living Legend Award at the
Urban Fashion Awards Show, taking place on February 25, in Las Vegas
at the Thomas and Mack Center. The ?Living Legend Award? is given to
those whose accumulative life?s work puts them head and shoulders
above anyone else in their field. This certainly pertains to Urban
Fashion Trailblazer Karl Kani.
Karl Kani has been leading the way designing and selling his apparel
throughout the world. Mr. Kani entered the fashion business over a
decade ago when in 1989 he opened his own storefront boutique in Los
Angeles. His evolution of companies such as Seasons Sportswear,
Threads 4 Life and his own company founded in 1994, Karl Kani Infinity
has demonstrated that Mr. Kani, like Morpheus, is ever changing. While
at Threads 4 Life Karl Kani?s designs turned Cross Colours clothing
into an overnight international sensation. Now he?s doing the same
thing with his own line and company. With sales topping $76.9 million,
Infinity proved the staying power of Karl Kani?s fashion sense and
designs. While never having studied design or tailoring, he had a
flair for the unusual, stylish concepts. His stylistic innovations
helped Urban Fashion reach a wider consumer base. And, Karl Kani is
again expanding his consumer base by designing for the Wall Street
crowd.
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http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_12_30/ai_63323472
Hip-Hop On Top - the popularity of urban fashions
Black Enterprise, July, 2000
Karl Kani (No. 32 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list) has come a
long way since starting a fashion apparel business in a small
storefront on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1989.
After merging with Carl Jones and T. J. Walker of the Cross Colours
designer clothing company (also formed in 1989), the Karl Kani line
became a part of one of the world's largest black-owned companies of
the early 1990s. The company posted sales in excess of $97 million in
1993, but went bankrupt the following year because it had grown too
quickly and its founders couldn't keep pace with the demand.
Karl Kani set out on his own in 1993, and today can be credited with
pioneering the emergence of the fashion upsurge known as hip-hop or
urbanwear. With sales of $78 million in 1999, he features men's suits
in his Karl Kani Black Label line that retail from $200 to $1,000, and
also manufactures jeans, golfwear, the KK2 women's line and men's
leather that are sold in major department stores.
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http://www.harlemlive.org/arts-culture/fashion/top5/top5index.htm
"Top 5 Hottest Clothing Line"
4. Karl Kani:
Karl Kani has been out since 1992 and the urban community has
continued to support him. With his new jean outfits it will raise
sells for him. He was one of the first black clothing designers and
blazed it up with his sweaters and jeans. Every rapper from EPMD to LL
Cool J wore his clothes in their videos. Now with hip-hop artist like
Redman doing commercials for his company, I know he will make it hot
this summer.
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http://rap.about.com/cs/gear/tp/mensclothingpix.htm
Top 10 Hip-hop Clothing Lines For Men
8) Karl Kani
Featuring classic hip-hop gear, Kani is one of the oldest hip-hop
clothing lines. Peep the color ring and carpenter jeans.
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