Antthony Mark Hankins (born November 10, 1968) is an American fashion designer who founded Antthony Mark Hankins Inc. in 1994. By his mid-twenties he had built his own $40 million business and was named by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' as one of the top 100 people to watch in America.

Early life

Antthony has been featured in

Business Week Magazine ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

(November 1997), ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' (October 1995) and numerous other publications as a success story of a poor, African-American boy from a New Jersey factory town. He was born in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. He attended art classes and sewing classes at Roosevelt Middle School in Roselle. In his free time he designed clothing for friends and colleagues. His first sewing machine cost $150 which he had loaned from a friend at the Elizabeth's Union County courthouse where he worked part-time as an administrative assistant.

Education and career

Early life

His portfolio of pieces was the key to securing an interview to attend the Pratt Institute's School of Design in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, from 1986 to 1988. Shortly after he graduated, at the age of nineteen, he was accepted at the École de la chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne in Paris, France as the second American and first African-American student. To earn the $10,000 tuition and secure a plane ticket to Paris, Antthony contacted Christy Ferer, a fashion correspondent with the Today Show to help get him exposure. They agreed to do a two part piece the latter of which was shot in Paris and aired December 9, 1988. The national exposure opened doors for Antthony and from it an anonymous donation came in the mail which allowed him to secure a plane ticket to Paris. From 1988 to 1989 Antthony continued to expand his education in fashion in Paris at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and is numbered among alumni including

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld also called Kaiser Karl (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, photographer, and creative director. Lagerfeld began his career in fashion in the 1950s, working for several top fashion hous ...

and Yves Saint Laurent. The Chambre Syndicale governs the Paris fashion houses, setting the standards and rules of the industry. The school was founded in 1929 by the Chambre Syndicale to provide talent and skilled labor for the Paris design houses. As a student, Anthony Mark Hankins apprenticed with Yves Saint Laurant in Paris (1988–1990). Later, he also apprenticed for

Adrienne Vittadini Adrienne Vittadini (born October 9, 1943, in Győr, Hungary) is an American fashion designer. Biography When she was 13, her family fled Győr during the 1956 Hungarian revolution. In 1979, she got into fashion design as a hobby, which later tur ...

Willi Smith Willi Donnell Smith (February 29, 1948 – April 17, 1987) was an American fashion designer. At the time of his death, Smith was regarded as one of the most successful African-American designers in the fashion industry. His company, WilliWe ...

(1986), Michael Paris, and Homer Layne (1987). During that time it was at an interview with

Bob Mackie Robert Gordon Mackie (born March 24, 1940) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of numerous entertainment personalities for television, movies, concerts, and live stage shows. He was the costume designer f ...

, an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

winning designer for shows like

Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey K ...

and

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' is an American variety show starring American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ca ...

, which pointed him towards the ready-to-wear mass market.

Antthony Originals

At the age of 21, returning to the United States in 1992, Anthony Mark Hankins joined JCPenney Corporation in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

as the Quality Assurance Manager. Leveraging his fashion expertise, Hankins quickly advanced within the company. Within two months, he was promoted to the position of in-house designer in the Minority Supplier Development Division at JCPenney's corporate headquarters in Dallas. Antthony left

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

in 1994 when he founded Ramone Moya Ltd. which was the umbrella company for the AMH Group and Antthony Mark Hankins Inc. JCPenney agreed to carry his initial line. The first article about the company ran in the July 2, 1994, issue of the Dallas Morning News headlined "Breaking Out of the Pattern" written by Maria Halkias. Once his exclusivity with

expired he also marketed to Target with his line called "Authentics" and

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

with "Anjalise." His ready to wear collections were also featured in

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

. By 1996 he had revenues of $40 million in annual sales. All of Antthony's designs are created in the United States. He has had success selling worldwide in PX stores for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES). He was next approached by

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

to do a home-shopping program called BET Shop which had a direct connection to the

Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...

. On March 31, 1996, he had his first appearance on

HSN HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...

. He is now in his 30th year as a designer on the

for ready-wear-fashions.

Fashion labels

* ''

'' In addition to

The Antthony Design Studio collection is sold in department stores and boutiques across the nation. * ''Couture Collection'' :This is a collection of social dresses and separates. All designs are all handcrafted in the United States. * ''Band of Artists'' :A limited series of accessories launched in 2010.

Fashion labels

* Antthony Originals –

* Anthtony – Couture Collection * The Signature Collection of Anthony Mark Hankins – major department stores * Authentics by Anthony Mark Hankins – target department stores * Butterick Patterns launched July 1995 * TonyWear – Hudson Bay Stores / Canada * Shopping with Anthony –

* The "A” Label for Antthony Mark Hankins * Band of Artists

Recognition

Awards

* "Young Star Award"- 1997: Trumpet Awards/Turner Broadcasting :Designed a couture item for the 1995 recipients * 100 Top People to Watch in the Millennium – 1997: ''

'' * Entrepreneur of the Year – 1997:

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

* Linden New Day Associates – 1996 * Black Retail Action Group (BRAG) – 1996 :Non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the acceptance of African-Americans and other minorities at all levels of retail and related industries. * City Proclamations :Dallas, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Tulsa, Oklahoma

References

Bibliography

Fabric of Dreams: Designing My Own Success
By Anthony Mark Hankins with Debbie Markley Published March 1998

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hankins, Antthony Mark American fashion designers Clothing brands American companies established in 1994 Clothing companies of the United States