DKNY was founded in 1989 by Donna Karan as a younger and more affordable secondary line to run alongside the existing Donna Karan New York label. The label passed into the hands of French conglomerate LVMH in 2001, which bought the Donna Karan business.
The mainline brand was eventually shelved and buzzy design duo Maxwell Osbourne and Dao Yi Chow of Public School were drafted in to try to revive the brand in 2015, when Karan herself stepped away from the business to focus on her lifestyle brand Urban Zen.
Sales under the new duo were said to have been disappointing and the brand was eventually sold to GIII Apparel Group in 2016 in a $650m deal. GIII is also home to Andrew Marc, Marc New York, Bass, GH Bass and Weejuns, and holds licenses for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld.