Karl Kani

In 2002 Kani was honored with an Urban Fashion Pioneer Award for his lifetime achievements, at the Urban Fashion Awards.

A sister brand, Kani Ladies, was launched in 2001.

Black Enterprise magazine named Karl Kani Infinity Corporation the most successful Black owned firm worldwide in 1996.

The idea for the big & tall line came to Kani after numerous conversations with National Basketball Association stars, who complained that they could not fit into much of his merchandise. Big and tall people may be just as fashion-conscious as anyone else, so Kani launched his line in mid-1995 in big & tall stores around the country.

In 1994, Kani used $500,000 in profits to launch his company "Karl Kani Infinity". In addition to his old partners, Kani now faced a marketing onslaught from hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons's Phat Farm and a number of mainstream clothiers. He also had reason to worry that his involvement in Cross Colours might taint his operation in the minds of retailers. "I expected some resistance," Kani said. "A major turning point for me was when retailers accepted us back into the market."

In 1989 he went to Los Angeles, where he and a friend opened a clothing shop on Crenshaw Boulevard. They made no profit at this location, and after the shop was robbed, they moved to Hollywood, where he started selling catalogs for $2 that he and his partner had put together. They only made profit from the catalog sales and did not sell any clothes. He decided to take out an advertisement in Right On! Magazine, but that did not jumpstart sales.

Karl Kani (/k ə ˈ n aɪ / ; born Carl Williams on May 23, 1968 in San José, Costa Rica) is an American fashion designer, founder and CEO of the hip hop fashion brand Karl Kani.

Carl Williams was born in Costa Rica to a Panamanian father and Costa Rican mother. The family migrated to the United States in the late 1960s, and he grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.