Women's
Splits59: Activewear by Fashion Scion Jonathan Schwartz
Splits59, Spring 2012
During grad school at the University of Southern California, Jonathan Schwartz took a life-changing trip to Hawaii where he witnessed his first Ironman competition. Captivated by the elements that comprise this test of human endurance, he decided to take up triathlon training himself.
“I would hear this constant theme from my female training partners,” Schwartz says of his fellow triathletes’ desire for innovative activewear with intelligent design. “They felt marginalized and there wasn’t a voice for them in the marketplace. A friend once said to me ‘people think they can just throw a flower print on a fuschia top and call it women’s.’”
Splits59, Spring 2012
Schwartz never intended to go into the fashion industry, but growing up as the son of Barry Schwartz, the cofounder and longtime CEO of Calvin Klein Inc., it almost seemed innate considering dinner table talk often centered around brand building on a monumental scale.
“It’s sort of in my DNA,” he says. “There has always been such a design sensibility in my household. I always sensed that I wanted to do something creative, but it was not a specific call out to the world of fashion.”
Splits59, Spring 2012
His father’s extraordinary lessons in entrepreneurship and his newfound passion for triathlons paved the pathway for Schwartz to launch Splits59, a women’s activewear collection that answered his female training partners’ need for functional and fashionable fitness attire.
Splits59, Spring 2012
The name of the label, Splits59, signifies the power of a single second and the burning desire to beat the tick of a stopwatch to a minute.
“It speaks to the woman who lives an active lifestyle pre, during, and post workout,” Schwartz says of the designs that meld performance and lifestyle fabrics. “What you’re wearing before you go to the gym, trainer, race, what you’re wearing during the workout, what you’re wearing post workout at Starbucks or wherever life might take you.”
Meet Jonathan Schwartz and take a morning yoga class at NM Topanga Saturday, March 10. Shop stylish activewear and weekendwear during the On the Go Event, March 8-11. There’s a gift with purchase.
