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Tommy Hilfiger was born in Elmira, New York, on March 24, 1951, one of nine children in an Irish Catholic family, and graduated from Elmira Free Academy. His first venture was a store called The People's Place, a draw for Elmira teenagers, selling rock and roll related clothing. After that business went bankrupt he moved to New York in 1979 to become a fashion designer. In 1984 he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, introducing his signature menswear collection; by 2004 the company had 5,400 employees and revenues over 1.8 billion dollars. He was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1995, and in August 2005 announced he was selling the company to Apax Partners for 1.6 billion dollars.
The building in which his store was located was torn down in the late 1990s to make way for First Arena, home to the United Hockey League's Elmira Jackals. Hilfiger reportedly contributed funding to the building of the arena, but declined to have it named after him, according to news reports from the time of construction.
In 1984 he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation (NYSE:TOM), introducing his signature menswear collection. By 2004 the company had 5400 employees and revenues in excess of $1.8 billion. Hilfiger was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1995. In August 2005 Hilfiger announced he was selling his company. The company was purchased by Apax Partners for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, all in cash.
In 2005, a CBS TV reality show called The Cut tracked the progress of 16 contestants as they competed for a design job with Hilfiger in similar fashion to Donald Trump's The Apprentice. In the end Hilfiger chose Chris Cortez. Tommy's daughter Ally Hilfiger produced and starred in a reality show for MTV titled, Rich Girls.
Hilfiger is married and has four children. His daughter Ally Hilfiger was featured in the reality MTV series Rich Girls.
In a January 2001 press release, the Tommy Hilfiger company denies that their founder ever made such a statement: "The facts remain simple and cannot be disputed. Tommy Hilfiger did not make the alleged comments, he has never appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and, in fact, Ms. Winfrey herself, on her January 11, 1999 program, stated Tommy Hilfiger has never been on her show nor has she ever met him.
"Most importantly, Tommy Hilfiger wants his clothing to be enjoyed by people of all backgrounds and his collections are put together with the broadest cross-section of individuals in mind. To reinforce this, he features models of all ethnic backgrounds in his fashion shows and advertisements."
Tommy Hilfiger Spring Fashions
Official Tommy Hilfiger website
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Hilfiger learned retail before he learned design, and he learned it from teenagers. He grew up one of nine children in an Irish Catholic family in Elmira, a small town near Cornell University, and his first store, The People's Place, was a big draw for the local teen crowd because it understood what teenagers actually want from a shop: a place to gather. It held live broadcasts from local radio personalities, sold rock and roll related clothing including Kiss and Aerosmith belt buckles, and had a head shop upstairs. Music, media and clothing in one room — that is the formula his later global brand would repeat at scale, with fashion shows, celebrity dressing and advertising creating the crowd atmosphere around the clothes. The store's failure taught the complementary lesson: the business went bankrupt, and the building was later torn down in the late 1990s to make way for First Arena. Hilfiger moved to New York in 1979 to pursue a career as a fashion designer, carrying both lessons with him — how to attract a crowd, and what happens when the finances underneath the crowd do not hold.
In 1984 he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, introducing his signature menswear collection. The positioning was classic American sportswear — the preppy wardrobe of shirts, chinos and sweaters — presented with a designer's name, a bold logo and marketing on a scale the established brands had never attempted. Where Ralph Lauren sold an old-money dream, Hilfiger sold an accessible, youthful version of the same American wardrobe, and the difference in tone let the two brands divide the market between them. The growth figures state the result: by 2004 the company had 5,400 employees and revenues in excess of 1.8 billion dollars, and in 1995 the Council of Fashion Designers of America named him Menswear Designer of the Year — the industry's formal recognition arriving eleven years after the founding, when the company was already a giant.
In August 2005 Hilfiger announced he was selling his company; it was purchased by Apax Partners for 1.6 billion dollars, or 16.80 dollars a share, all in cash. A founder selling the company that bears his name for cash is the end of one story — the bankrupt Elmira shopkeeper of the 1970s exiting a billion-dollar corporation — and the continuation of another, since the brand itself trades on the name regardless of who owns it. The same year showed how completely his name had become public property. His CBS reality show The Cut tracked 16 contestants competing for a design job with Hilfiger, in the format of The Apprentice; he chose Chris Cortez in the end. His daughter Ally produced and starred in the MTV reality series Rich Girls. A designer whose hiring process and whose daughter are both television programmes has passed beyond fashion fame into general celebrity, which is precisely the asset a company like Apax was buying: not a designer's next collection, but a name the public already knew from three decades of American life, beginning in a teen store in Elmira with Kiss belt buckles and a radio station broadcasting from the shop floor.
His first foray into fashion was The People's Place, a store in Elmira that drew local teenagers with live radio broadcasts and rock and roll related clothing including Kiss and Aerosmith belt buckles. The business later went bankrupt.
He founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1984, introducing his signature menswear collection. By 2004 the company had 5,400 employees and revenues in excess of 1.8 billion dollars.
In August 2005 Hilfiger announced he was selling his company, purchased by Apax Partners for 1.6 billion dollars in cash. In 2005 his CBS reality show The Cut also tracked 16 contestants competing for a design job with him.