G-III's Goldfarb Maps a Path From $360 Million to $1 Billion at Marc Jacobs

G-III Apparel Group expects Marc Jacobs to reach roughly $360 million in sales this year, and chairman and CEO Morris Goldfarb says the brand can be built into a $1 billion business over the long term. He bought the label this year together with WHP Global, in what stands as G-III's most significant step yet into designer fashion.

Goldfarb, who has led the company for more than half a century and built it into a $3 billion group, laid out his thinking in an interview with WWD marking his receipt of this year's WWD Honor for Creative Leadership.

What did the PVH license pull cost — and how did G-III answer it?

The Marc Jacobs deal follows a decisive restructuring. For years G-III ran large licensed businesses for PVH's Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, until PVH moved in 2022 to pull back both licenses, walking away with what was effectively half of G-III's sales.

The seeds of the answer were planted earlier. Goldfarb recalled a conversation with former PVH CEO Manny Chirico about a possible deal that never materialized. "He said something at a meeting that stuck, that I had no chips," Goldfarb said. "The man's right. I need some chips. We went out and we bought brands."

The owned portfolio now includes Donna Karan, DKNY, Karl Lagerfeld, Vilebrequin, Sonia Rykiel, Andrew Marc, G.H. Bass and Wilsons Leather, alongside Marc Jacobs. Goldfarb is positioning the company as a brand builder rather than a licensing house, with the next chapters of Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan as the test cases.

How does he manage a designer as a partner?

Marc Jacobs has stayed on as creative director, and Goldfarb is managing the relationship with unusual directness. "Marc and I have spent a fair amount of time together," he said. "I meet because I'd like to be transparent and I'd like his involvement. Marc is welcoming that."

He acknowledged the designer's likely unease at a new owner known for moderate department stores. "He had to be rattled as to what to expect." The remedy: engagement and transparency. Fashion shows were retained, and distribution will widen across multiple channels, contrary to LVMH's approach. "He's commercial, he's very bright, and we'll see."

What does compliance look like when the vendor breaks the contract?

Goldfarb told one story from G-III's late arrival in China. By 1990, with leather production established in South Korea, the company struck a joint venture in Qingdao, a 12- to 13-hour ferry ride across the Yellow Sea. The local government built the factory, supplied about 2,000 employees, and warranted dormitory conditions — six people to a room, against a local norm of ten.

At the opening, an employee called him: 12 people in a room, no common dining room, no heat, no hot running water. Goldfarb objected; his partners told him to write off his investment and leave. Instead he stayed, and when the factory won a provincial trophy less than a year later, he moved to exit anyway, citing the unmet living conditions. The partners relented. "They built more dorm rooms and hot water and heat were provided all year long."

The episode doubles as a window into his negotiating doctrine: consider how the counterparty will feel about the deal. He credited collaborator Lyle Berman — a top poker player with whom he partnered in Rainforest Café and Grand Casino, later Hilton Gaming — with teaching him "the art of a fair deal," risk limits and delivering what is promised.

How has the operating model changed?

G-III now produces 20,000 SKUs a month in factories worldwide, supported by 400 designers whose mandate, Goldfarb said, is "to be current, to be fast, to be affordable." Hit rates have shifted accordingly: "Can I identify the winner? Possibly. But the odds were much more in my favor when I was a coat company."

He is clear about where G-III does not sit, name-checking Ralph Lauren's brand purity. "We're just not in that business. I'm not Ralph." His father Aron, a Holocaust survivor who founded the leather goods business in 1956, "cared about making a living. That's all he cared about."

The Marc Jacobs expansion, with its multi-channel distribution plan and a retained creative director, is the clearest signal yet of how far G-III intends to push beyond that founding logic — and the $1 billion target gives the trade a number to judge it by.