Tommy Hilfiger

Born on March 24, 1951, and raised in Elmira, New York, Fashion Designer Tommy Hilfiger or Thomas Jacob Hilfiger grew up in an Irish Catholic family. The second of nine children, Hilfiger knew from a young age that he wanted to pursue a career in fashion design.

Rather than furthering his education, 18-year-old Hilfiger decided to work in retail -- according to many people, he had an innate business sense, even early on his life. Always aiming to work with a product "for the people," (as seen in his present ads), he opened a shop which he appropriately named "The People's Place", which was located in upstate New York.


Hilfiger would trek down to New York City from then onwards to get his hands on jeans and bell-bottom pants that weren't available in his hometown, and then put them for sale in his shop. Well, the people didn't respond as well as the budding entrepreneur would have hoped, and The People's Place quickly went bankrupt when Hilfiger was 25. It seems that he learned the hard way.

Hilfiger then met Mohan Murjani the license owner of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, who offered to back his business. Murjani went bankrupt, but Hilfiger bought back his company with the help of two partners. A year afterwards Tommy Hilfiger, Inc. was founded, and the company went public and built itself into the great empire of fashion that it has become today.

Tommy Hilfiger was President of the company from 1982 until 1989, but has designed clothes under the Tommy label since 1984. Presently Director of the Company since 1992, Honorary Chairman of the Board since 1994 and Principal Designer, Hilfiger took what started off as men's jeans and sportswear, up to a half-billion-dollar empire encompassing menswear (including tailored suits), women's wear, children's wear, footwear, eyeglasses, fragrances, and home furnishings.

Although Hilfiger claims to have always targeted his clothing "for the people," he was embroiled in controversy after a story made its way through the media rumor mill, accusing Hilfiger of racist remarks. The racist comments have been denied by media personalities and Hilfiger himself, and his line continues to be worn by everyone from yuppies to rappers.


Hilfiger, who names music as one of his inspirations, ran an ad campaign that presented Tommy as the sponsor of the 1999 Rolling Stones "No Security" tour -- the ad campaign bombed, although his alliance with Britney Spears is known to have worked far better, as it remained more in line with his target market.


Hilfiger's very casual approach to fashion, more clearly demonstrated through the use of his nickname Tommy has helped place his label in a league of its own, in what he describes as "traditional, with a twist". Whatever it is, his ads, which are inspired by Americana and good old rock 'n' roll, as well as his clean-cut, simple and recognizable designs, have led towards an empire that is considered as one of the most highly-ranked publicly traded clothing companies.

 

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