Fashion is about affordable luxury ... To succeed, designers need to be affordable, wearable, accessible, and aspirational. - Tommy Hilfiger.
Birth :
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger was born on March 24, 1951 in Elmira, New York. He was second of nine children born into an Irish-American working class family. His father Richard is a watch mechanic and his mother, Virginia, worked as a nurse. He attended Elmira Free Academy high school. He suffered with Dyslexia.
First Entrepreneurial Step :
He spent the summer of 1969 working in a clothing store on Cape Cod. He amassed his pay at that clothing store and all his life savings which was a total of $150. He graduated from Elmira Free Academy high school in 1970. In the year 1971, with all the money he saved ($150), he drove to New York city and bought 20 pairs of Landlubber jeans. He brought them to Elmira and opened a hippie clothing store called "The People's Place". It was a huge hit and at the age of 26, he had a chain of nearly 10 clothing stores. In 1976, he fell in love with Susie Carona, an employee at one of his stores.In the year 1977, the retail market slumped, which resulted in Tommy going bankrupt. He married Susie and the couple moved to Manhattan after bankruptcy.
Founding Tommy Hilfiger Inc. :
After bankruptcy, Tommy realized that creativity itself is not enough and forced himself to study commerce to learn about the nuts and bolts of the business and to track his company expenses. He learnt to read a balance sheet. He learnt how to control expenses and figured out a way on how to build a business on a shoestring budget.
In the year 1979, he formed a design team with his wife and set up a company called "Tommy Hill". He landed Jordache Jeans as his first client.
Mohan Murjani, an Indian Entrepreneur approached Tommy Hilfiger in 1984 to work as a designer for his men's sportswear line. Murjani allowed Tommy to design the label under his own name which sealed the deal between the two. In 1985, he founded the Tommy Hilfiger corporation with support from Murjani group. The Murjani and Tommy pair announed the arrival of Tommy's name into the fashion world with a blitz marketing campaign by setting up a large billboard in Times Square designed by George Lois which cost them $3 million.
Under Murjani's management, the Tommy Hilfiger men'swear collection grossed $5 million in the first year and $10 million in the second year. In the year 1989, Tommy left Murjani and joined Silas Chou for financial backup. Tommy brought former executives of Ralph Lauren on board as executives of newly formed Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. By 1988, his brand sales of $25 millions. Tommy sponsored the tours of Britney Spears, The Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crowe. The Tommy brand also collaborated with Beyoncé on fragrance campaigns. His company went public in 1992.
Tough Time :
In the year 2000, Tommy split with his wife. The sales crumbled, his fortune decreasing day by day. Neither the middle class nor the hip hop people were interested in buying his clothes. The main reason for this was, too much of brand appearance. His logo was everywhere which made losing sense of uniqueness among public. In 2007, he signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to sell the company's best selling lines only at their stores. Hilfiger married his second wife, Dee Ocleppo, in December 2008. In May 2010, his company was sold for a price of $3 billion to conglomerate Phillips-Van Heusen. Hilfiger remains the company's principal designer, providing leadership and direction. Today, the brand has an extensive distribution network spanning over 100 countries and have more than 1600 retail stores.
