The company Kitty Black Perkins was Chief Designer of Fashions and Doll Concepts for was founded in what year?
Kitty Black Perkins Louvenia (Kitty) Black Perkins was Chief Designer of Fashions and Doll Concepts for Mattel's Barbie line for over twenty-five years. Her designs include "Shani and Friends" (1991) a line of African-American dolls, "Holiday Barbie" (1988, 1989, 1990, 1996), "Fashion Savvy Barbie" (1997), "Bathtime Barbie" and "Brandy" (1999). Brandy Barbie became one of Mattel's biggest sellers An African-American woman, Kitty was born February 13, 1948 in racially segregated Spartanburg, South Carolina. The daughter of Luther Black and Helen Goode Black, she is one of seven children. She graduated from Carver High School, Spartanburg's black High School, which closed when the school system was desegregated in 1970. In 1967 she moved to California, attending Los Angeles Trade Technical College. Black graduated with an associate degree in fashion design in 1971. She worked in non-doll fashion for six years before responding to a blind classified ad from Mattel. She reports never having had a Barbie doll until she purchased one to prepare for the interview. She became principal designer for Barbie in 1978. In 1991 The Los Angeles Times reported that Black-Perkins was responsible for over 100 designs a year, amounting to over one fifth of all of the designs for Barbie. She has received the doll industry's highest honor, the Doll of the Year (DOTY) award.
Tommy Hilfiger (company) Tommy Hilfiger, formerly known as Tommy Hilfiger Corporation and Tommy Hilfiger Inc., is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures upper market apparel for men, women and children, and a wide range of licensed products such as footwear, accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1985, and today is sold in department stores and over 1400 free-standing retail stores in 90 countries. In 2006, private equity firm Apax Partners acquired Tommy Hilfiger for approximately 1.6 billion, and in May 2010, PVH Corp. (NYSE: PVH) (then known as Philips van Heusen) bought the company. Daniel Grieder was appointed CEO in July 2014, while founder Tommy Hilfiger remains the company’s principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process. Global sales in retail through the brand in 2013 were US $6.4 billion, and $6.7 billion in 2014.