tommy hilfiger

www.tommy.com

Tommy Hilfiger

Thomas Jacob Hilfiger was born on March 24th, 1951 in Elmira, New York. The second of nine children, he grew up in an Irish Catholic family. When he was 18 he decided to work in retail rather than to study. He founded his own shop ‘The People` s Place’ in upstate New York. Since jeans and bell-bottom trousers were not available in his hometown was going to deliver the goods from New York. Unfortunately, his business was not successful in a way he had expected so he had to face bankruptcy at the age of 25.

He turned his interest to the designing for the rest of his shops in upstate New York and moved to New York City. He refused lucrative design assistant positions offered by Calvin Klein, or Perry Ellis because of his daring plans.

Tommy Hilfiger Corporation was established in 1984. Introducing an eponymous men` s wear collection it went in public in 1992. The prosperous company had 5,400 employees and the sale generated $1,8 milliard profit. Tommy Hilfiger was claimed to be Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1995. The same year Tommy announced he was about to sell the company. It was purchased by Apax partners for $1,6 milliard in cash.

Tommy had to face several allegations that threatened his reputation.

Firstly, the fashion designer has been criticised for manufacturing clothing in sweatshop conditions in the United States territory of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. As a result, the company settled a class action suit which was brought by Saipan employees who alleged that the working conditions could be compared to servitude.

Secondly, he was falsely accused of a racist. It was rumoured that he appeared in Oprah Winfrey show where he said ’’If I knew that blacks and Asians were going to wear my clothes, I would have never designed them.’’ Supported by Winfrey statement, these allegations have not been proven.

Tommy Hilfiger collections consist of

True Star a perfume presented by Beyonce Knowles as a spokesperson
Red Label denim-themed designs involving jeans, T-shirts, and sweatshirts
Tommy Hilfiger a company` s line sold in eponymous stores as well as in department stores
H sold mainly in boutiques devoted exclusively to this line
Tommy Sport the line introduced in 1990s brought him popularity in urban areas
Tommy Sailing is going to be released till January or February 2007