(1952-)
Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
Overview
Tommy Hilfiger is the man whose name has become synonymous with urban fashion. His fashion label is one of the most recognizable in the world, and he has turned his company into a multi–billion dollar empire that designs and markets clothing, jewelry, and accessories for men, women, and children. Hilfiger's designs—primarily classic styles with a contemporary flair, helped him and his partners build a fashion company rivaling the success of designers Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.
Personal Life
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger was born March 24, 1952, into an Irish Catholic family in Elmira, New York, a small town near Cornell University. His father, Richard, was a jeweler, and his mother, Virginia, is a former nurse. When Hilfiger discusses his inspiration for designing such a popular line of clothing, he often mentions his "Leave–it–to–Beaver" upbringing in Elmira. As one of nine children, he grew up in a middle–class five–bedroom home collecting sports equipment, guns, cowboy hats, and wearing Billy–the–Kid brand jeans—all things he views as part of the "American" image. He also recalls how at 16 he loved to wear his service station uniform, which had a large automobile graphic on it. This may have had some impact on his prolific use of large graphics and logos in his designs. Also around age 16, he became interested in clothing, especially the Ivy League look of chinos, madras, and oxfords.
Hilfiger started his first clothing business during his senior year in high school, selling bell bottoms and candles in a small shop he opened in Elmira named "The People's Place." The merchandise was bought in New York City, and then brought back to his small town for resale. Tired of this setup, he eventually began designing his own merchandise, and expanded the business to include 10 shops across upstate New York. He found a manufacturer that would make clothing according to his specifications, and began his design career. Unfortunately, his first business venture ended in bankruptcy in 1979, but Hilfiger continued the pursuit of his design career.
By the end of the 1990s, Tommy Hilfiger was a multi–millionaire. The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation posted 2001 sales of $1.88 billion, and had some 4,000 employees. Everyone from teenagers to rock stars to grandmothers could be seen sporting Tommy Hilfiger merchandise. The designer claims he never doubted his eventual success, and was only surprised it took him so long.
Now an established fashion celebrity, Hilfiger has written two books. All American: A Style Book was published in 1997. Rock Style: How Fashion Moves to Music, which focused on the clothing choices of rock musicians, was published in 1999. The book accompanied a major exhibit of the same name at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tommy Hilfiger was the major sponsor of the exhibit, which openedin New York City in December 1999 and included 100 costumes, accessories, and other items belonging to such stars as Elvis, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, David Byrne, and Sean "Puffy" Combs. "It's so appropriate that at the end of the century we look back at 50 years of outrageousness and excess," the Daily News Record reported Hilfiger said about the show.
In addition to his fashion influence, Hilfiger supports several charities, including Race to Erase MS, which focuses on finding a cure for multiple sclerosis; City of Hope, a hospital providing cancer treatment and research; the American Jewish Committee; and the Fresh Air Fund, to which he donated $2.5 million in 1999 to renovate Camp Pioneer in Fishkill, NY. The camp was renamed Camp Tommy during a rededication in 2001. In November 2001, Hilfiger and photographer Anne Menke announced a joint creative limited–edition book featuring photographs of the American flag taken in New York City following the September 2001 terrorist tragedy, with proceeds donated to the Twin Towers Fund.
Hilfiger was married to the former Susan Cirona in 1980, whom he met when she applied for a job at his first store, People's Place. Together they have four children, Abby, Richard, Elizabeth, and Kathleen. Hilfiger resides in a 22–room mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, and also owns a home on Mustique in the Caribbean's Grenadine Islands.
Career Details
Following the failure of Hilfiger's first business venture, he and his wife moved to New York City to look for design work. By 1985, he was being offered design assistantships for Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein, but declined them both. Eager to start his own label, he needed extensive financial backing, and found it from Mohan Murjani, owner of Gloria Vanderbilt blue jeans and Coca–Cola clothes licenses. Hilfiger and Murjani formed a partnership in which Hilfiger's job was to design men's sportswear similar to Ralph Lauren's, but appeal to a slightly younger clientele and be more modestly priced. As he states in All American, "Picturing a more New England, outdoorsy, and classic campus look that I knew would last, I launched Tommy Hilfiger."
When Hilfiger first launched his clothing line, he decided to "self–proclaim" himself a top designer. With the help of a publicity agent, he announced his arrival on the fashion scene in 1985 as one of "the 4 great designers for men," along with Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, and Ralph Lauren. Critics thought he was incredibly presumptuous and "tasteless." Hilfiger was an unknown who had never attended design school. Analysts were resentful that Hilfiger ads proclaimed Tommy a new star. But Hilfiger continued his aggressive marketing campaigns, commenting in an Advertising Age interview "To be successful in this business, you have to be both a designer and a marketer. I am proud to think I have both sides of the brain working at all times."
In 1989, Hilfiger left Murjani International. He began searching for money to expand his own private label. He teamed up with Silas Chou, who had the financial resources to build a company but needed a brand name to sell. The two signed up former Ralph Lauren executives Lawrence Stroll and Joel Horowitz and formed Tommy Hilfiger, Inc. Capitalizing on Polo's success with the "preppy" look, Hilfiger designed men's and boys' sportswear in brighter colors with a more casual, loose fit.
Chronology: Tommy Hilfiger
1952: Born.
1971: Opened People's Place in Elmira, New York.
1981: Founded 20th Century Survival.
1982: Started to design women's clothing.
1985: Hired by Mohan Murjani to oversee design of Coca–Cola clothing line.
1986: Launched Tommy Hilfiger clothing line, backed by Murjani.
1989: Formed Tommy Hilfiger, Inc. with Silas Chou.
1992: Tommy Hilfiger Corp. is made public.
1997: Opened Tommy Hilfiger store on Rodeo Drive.
1997: Published All American: A Style Book.
1999: Named in class–action law suit charging manufacturers of violating workers' rights.
1999: Published Rock Style: How Fashion Moves to Music.
1999: Sponsored Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of rock music fashion.
Hilfiger admits it was Silas Chou that pushed the company toward such rapid expansion and success. Tommy Hilfiger, Inc. went public in 1992. In 1995, they licensed Pepe Jeans USA. In late 1997, Tommy Hilfiger opened his first store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and a second store in London in early 1998. Soon thereafter, Tommy Hilfiger clothing became available in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico,Japan, Central and South America, Europe, and the Far East. In November 2001, the company announced the opening of its first specialty store, Soho, in Manhattan, New York —dedicating four stories and 11,000 square feet exclusively to the best of Tommy Hilfiger. Also in 2001, Hilfiger announced that software giant IBM had been chosen to launch Hilfiger's e–business Web sites.
In his book, All American, Hilfiger explains his success in foreign markets by saying, "When I started to travel the world, I saw the fruits of American labor everywhere I went, the products and logos that are the trademarks of our industry and our culture. In the most exotic places in the world, you will see people wearing Levi's and drinking Coca–Cola, obsessing over 1950s cars, and sporting cowboy shirts and boots, or wearing the rugged clothes we made for the great outdoors. No matter how different the customs, the world is tuned in to the signature emblems of the American lifestyle."
No longer limited to his men's line, in the mid–to late 1990s Hilfiger began expanding clothing lines to include products for women, children, and teenagers. His company also manufactured its own clothing and was able to keep marketing and distribution costs down. Because of this, Hilfiger was able to offer high quality clothing, comparable to Polo, but at prices more accessible to the American public. He also added a range of accessories, bedding and other home furnishings, cosmetics, and fragrances. Many of these additional product offerings were made possible through licensing agreements. For example, Tommy and Tommy Girl colognes were manufactured by Aramis, to whom he licensed the Tommy Hilfiger name. Hilfiger did not exclude customers seeking more specialized, high–end alternatives. To address that market, Hilfiger designed dressier, more expensive product lines that were marketed through specialty shops.
Hilfiger kept his hand in promoting his designs as well. He hosted fashion shows and autograph sessions, and conducted briefings for sales personnel via satellite. He educated retailers about Hilfiger products and how to display them. Hilfiger also solicited feedback directly from consumers and used that to influence future clothing lines. He was quick to incorporate changes to make his line attractive to teens, African Americans, and Hispanics. Noticing that these young people liked to wear oversized clothes, Hilfiger designed garments in "extra–extra–extra" large sizes. Billed as a "cross–over" artist, Hilfiger's designs were seen on everyone from Bill Clinton to Snoop Doggy Dog to the Spice Girls.
For the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Hilfiger was approached by the Olympic Committee to create a new look for athletes at the formal parade ceremonies at all events through the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece. When the Committee rejected his proposed design as too casual, the deal fell through, but not before a multi–million dollar lawsuit was filed by the Committee against Hilfiger in July 2000. Hilfiger's lawyers defended that a final agreement had never been reached. Meanwhile, U.S. athletes wore Adidas designs for the opening ceremony in Sydney, and were to wear apparel by a different designer for the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Social and Economic Impact
Hilfiger has been particularly successful in merging fashion, media, and entertainment. He has sponsored concerts by the Rolling Stones, Jewel, Britney Spears, and Lenny Kravitz, and designed many of the outfits for the Stones' "Bridges to Babylon" tour. In an unusual move, he signed a deal with cable network VH–1 to produce commercials. Hilfiger designs clothes for many top rap artists, including Salt–N–Pepa, Snoop Doggy Dog, and TLC. "We pushed certain buttons within the music world," he said in Women's Wear Daily. "Rock and rap stars started wearing my clothes. We dress a lot of athletes and actors. These people send a message of what is hip and what is allowed."
Long before September 2001, Hilfiger believed the nation's colors of red, white, and blue were hip. In early spring of that year, the Hilfiger company conducted a poll on its Website and found that 69 percent of Americans who did not own a flag wished that they did. Hilfiger launched his Stars & Stripes event that offered a top–quality full–sized American flag for $15 with any $50 purchase. The campaign also created a $25,000 opportunity for persons to submit a 20–50 second video that demonstrated what the American flag meant to them; over 700 videos were received, and the winner's was aired on national television in November 2001.
Sources of Information
Contact at: Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
25 West 39th St.
New York, NY 10018–3805
Business Phone: (212) 840–8888
URL: http://www.tommy.com.
Bibliography
"Designer Tommy Hilfiger and Photographer Anne Menke Join Forces to Publish 'Our New York.'"PR Newswire, 04 December 2001.
Doebele, Justin. "A Brand Is Born." Forbes, 26 February 1996.
Donnally, Trish. "Hilfiger Rocks." San Francisco Chronicle, 21 September 1999.
Donovan, Aaron. "The Fresh Air Fund: Designer's $2.5 Million to Improve Camps." New York Times, 27 June 1999.
Goldstein, Lauren. "Tommy Sings America." Fortune, 6 September 1999.
Greenhouse, Steven. "Suit Says 18 Companies Conspired to Violate Sweatshop Workers' Civil Rights." New York Times, 14 January 1999.
Hethco*ck, Bill. "USOC Seeks Millions From Tommy Hilfiger." The Gazette, 30 September 2001.
Hilfiger, Tommy. Current Biography Yearbook. H.W. Wilson Company, 1996.
Hilfiger, Tommy with David A. Keeps. All American: A Style Book by Tommy Hilfiger. New York: Universe Publishing, 1997.
Hilfiger, Tommy with Richard Martin, James Henke, and Anthony DeCurtis. Rock Style: How Fashion Moves to Music. New York: Universe Publishing, 1999.
"IBM to Provide Technology Behind Tommy Hilfiger e–business Web sites." M2 Communications, 11 December 2001.
Knight, Molly and Annmarie Dodd. "Long Live Rock Style: Costume Institute Exhibit to Include 100 of Rock–and–Roll's Greatest Looks." Daily News Record, 15 September 1999.
Lockwood, Lisa. "Tommy Hilfiger: Crossing Over; Hilfiger Charts His Course in Women's Wear." Women's Wear Daily, 13 September 1999.
Lockwood, Lisa and Anne D'Innocenzio. "The Hilfiger Enigma: An Empire in Search of Its Latest Identity." Women's Wear Daily, 30 September 1999.
"Tommy Hilfiger Announces Winners of the 'Earn Your Stripes and be a Star' Contest."PR Newswire, 14 November 2001.
"Tommy Hilfiger Corporation Capsule." Hoover's Online. 2001. Available from http://www.hoovers.com.
