Information On Tommy Hilfiger

Born in 1951 Tommy Hilfiger made his first foray into fashion as a purveyor of hippy chic to New York campus kids in 1969.

Building on the success of his first shop, People's Place, Tommy Hilfiger had established a chain of 10 speciality stores in upstate New York by the age of 26. During the Seventies Tommy Hilfiger turned to designing and for a period worked for Jordache before launching his own label in 1985. An astute businessman with a talent for publicity Tommy Hilfiger first ad campaign which cost him $3 million (£1.8m) prompted a flurry of interest after it proclaimed Tommy Hilfiger as one of the Four Great American Designers for Sales of Tommy Hilfiger clothes had topped $25 million (£15m).

Until the early Nineties Tommy Hilfiger market profile was similar to that for Calvin Klein predominantly middle-class, middle-aged, mid-American white males. However after his designs were picked up by young Afro-Americans gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dog appeared wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt on the premier US TV show Saturday Night Live in 1994 Tommy Hilfiger sales rocketed overnight. The implications were not lost on Tommy Hilfiger. He quickly began to design baggier, more casual clothes to meet the new demand for the emergent streetwear styles. In 1995 Tommy Hilfiger was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Responding to an increasing demand from women for his designs Tommy Hilfiger launched his “tommy girl” fragrance in 1996. The success of “tommy” and “tommy girl” prompted the addition of two new scents, separate FREEDOM fragrances for men and women.

Today the growing Tommy Hilfiger fashion empire supplemented by fragrances and other merchandising spin-offs is worth more than $400 million (£240m) a year. Meanwhile Tommy Hilfiger is known to spend much of his spare time including his 50th birthday in March 2001 and money on the Caribbean island of Mustique.