Fashion designer Jil Sander was born on November 27, 1943, in Hamburg, Germany. She was a pioneer of minimalism. After graduating from the Crefeld School of Textiles in Hamburg, she worked as a textile engineer. She then moved to the United States to study at the University of California, where she worked for a publishing company in New York and worked as a fashion journalist. She returned to Germany in 1965 and opened a select shop in Hamburg in 1968. She carried brands such as Sonia Rykiel and also sold her own designs. She entered the Paris Collection in 1973, but withdrew in 1980 due to poor reception. She relaunched in Milan in 1985 and quickly gained attention. After merging with the Prada Group in 1999, she frequently clashed with the parent company, Prada, and withdrew from the company in 2000. He returned as creative director in 2003, but resigned again in 2004 due to continued disagreements with Prada.

In 2009, he launched the collaborative line "+J" with UNIQLO. From the 2013 Spring/Summer collection, he returned as creative director of Jil Sander, succeeding Raf Simons, but last month it was announced that he would be stepping down again.

The brand "Jil Sander" is currently under the umbrella of Onward Holdings.