Nicholas Graham

Nicholas Graham (born February 25, 1958) is a Canadian fashion designer, marketer and entrepreneur. Graham founded Joe Boxer in 1985, and is the founder and CEO of the Nick Graham menswear line, and of the SpaceOne lifestyle brand. Early life and education Nick Graham was born in Calgary, Alberta, to English immigrants Ewen and Monica Graham. Graham is the third of four siblings. He attended Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario and finished high school at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School in Okotoks, Alberta. At 16, he bought a sewing machine and taught himself to sew. After high school graduation, he spent time traveling in Europe, including six months sewing dresses in Greece; he then moved on to Sweden, where he met and married his first wife, Maria Goldinger. Joe Boxer In 1980, Graham and Goldinger moved to San Francisco and began making unique neckties under the name Summ. Macy's was a client and a buyer there suggested that they put their designs on men's underwear; Macy's sold out the first boxer short design in three days and the company Joe Boxer was born. Graham became well-known for marketing concepts, such as sending Bill Clinton 100 pairs of boxer shorts on his 100th day in office, creating glow-in-the-dark underwear, and running afoul of the United States Department of the Treasury when he silk-screened $100 bills on boxer shorts. In 1991, Graham was accepted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America. To facilitate expansion, Graham sold 20% of the company and began licensing its name and designs to other companies, for use on other products. By 1996, Graham stated that annual sales were $50 million. However, after licensing the Joe Boxer name to the New York women's lingerie company Van Mar Inc., Graham launched a competing line of underwear. Van Mar sued and won; the $3.2 million judgement threatened to bankrupt Joe Boxer.