inc. type privately held industry fashion founded 1962 founder robert gray and marie gray headquarters irvine california united states area served worldwide key people robert gray marie gray products womenswear perfume jewelery fashion accessory revenue us 325 million number of employees 1 300 website stjohnknits.com st. john knits international inc. commonly referred as st. john is an upscale american fashion brand that specializes in women s knitwear founded in 1962 by robert and marie gray . 1 the company is best known for its classic wool and rayon yarn knits chanel inspired jackets and extensive use of primary colors . contents 1 history 2 st. john today 3 references 4 external links history edit st. john was founded in 1963 by former model marie st john and her husband robert gray . while working in los angeles as a model st john hand knit simple straight knit skirts and matching short sleeved tops for her own use . her designs proved popular among her fellow models and she began designing and producing samples . her fianc at the time robert gray showed the designs to local retailer bullocks who ordered 84 dresses . st john and gray hired their mothers and another knitter and quickly set about production . the couple now married divided duties over the fledgling irvine ca business . st john designed the clothes and oversaw production while gray handled the marketing and sales . their collections included tailored suits and dresses as well as casual sportswear . in 1990 escada formed by another husband and wife team margaretha and wolfgang ley purchased an 80 % stake in st john knits for 45 million . 2 st john knits used the funding to launch its own boutique stores . st john became a publicly owned company in 1993 with st john and gray retaining 20 % of the company . 3 st john continued to manage the creative direction of the company while gray served as ceo and chairman of the board . their daughter kelly gray was appointed president of the company in 1996 ascending to the ceo position after her father s retirement in 2002 . 4 the grays left st john knits in 2005 when the company was purchased by a private equity firm . 5 the pair were brought back only two years later as creative consultants after a series of disappointing collections and declining sales . 6 the original face of the brand was model kelly gray the daughter of the founders . following gray supermodel gisele b ndchen became the new face of st. john in 2005 . 7 beginning in 2005 angelina jolie became the face and spokeswoman for st. john . 8 the campaigns were all shot by mario testino . in 2010 st. john announced that they were replacing jolie with british supermodel and musician karen elson after her three year campaign as the face of the company because jolie s fame had overshadowed the brand . 9 in 2011 kate winslet was named the face of st john a position she continues to hold as of 2015 . 10 st. john knits carved a lasting place for itself in the business world by selling to large established retailers such as jacobson s and lord & taylor cultivating a relationship that would propel its growth for decades . underpinning its respected standing among retailers were the company s distinctive lines of clothing which began to attract a devout clientele drawn to marie st. john s classically conservative fashion style . as one retail consultant explained for ladies who lunch a st. john knit is almost like a uniform a status symbol which neatly described the company s typical retail customer and conveyed the essence of the clothes success generations of women made the inclusion of a st. john knit in their wardrobe a must . 11 a st. john s garment can be identified by its knit in hem most companies use sewn in hems and the tightly woven wool and rayon double knit fabric developed by marie st john in 1962 . the st. john sport line contains more on trend styles . st. john today edit headquartered in irvine california the brand has its collections and styles sold in specialty stores in 29 countries and 27 company owned retail boutiques in the united states . the company has an estimated 1 300 employees and 2010 sales of 325 million . 12 references edit stjohnknits.com gallante mary ann december 2 1989 . german apparel maker buys 80 % of st. john knits . los angeles times . antilla susan september 12 1993 . wall street ; the gray family s rewarding i.p.o. . new york times . earnest leslie october 15 2002 . kelly gray to succeed dad as ceo of st. john knits . los angeles times . http articles.latimes.com 2005 jul 26 business fi stjohn26 magsaysay melissa may 6 2007 . long live the queen . los angeles times . http articles.latimes.com 2005 aug 09 entertainment et stjohn9 wilson eric may 25 2006 . act your age st. john . new york times . http omg.yahoo.com blogs a line angelina jolie replaced in ad campaign 337 nc kate winslet really does love st john . elle.com . elle magazine . international directory of company histories vol . 14 . st. james press 1996 . weisburg emily june 6 2011 . apparel companies . orange county business journal . 34 23 30 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title st. john clothing & oldid 728034565 categories clothing brands of the united stateshigh fashion brandscompanies based in irvine californiacompanies established in 1962 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 2 july 2016 at 18 23 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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