What you didn’t know about the man behind the brand:

1. Klein acquired his love of sewing from his seamstress grandmother.

2. He attended the High School of Art and Design in New York City and later went on to graduate from the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology in 1962.

3. He spent five years as an apprentice in a coat and suit house on Seventh Avenue before starting his own company with his childhood friend and financial backer, Barry Schwartz.

4. The first order for his outerwear line was obtained purely by accident when a coat buyer got off on the wrong floor of a hotel and stumbled upon Klein’s workroom. She ended up placing a $50,000 order, and the rest, as they say, is history.

5. TIME magazine named him one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1996.

Our Calvin Klein Boutiques open Thursday, March 7, at 11AM ET.