Tommy Hilfiger
Encyclopedia
Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger (born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and founder of the premium lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger.
. The second of nine children, he grew up in an Irish-American family; he claims direct descendence from Scottish poet Robert Burns
. His parents originally intended for him to be an engineer. He attended Elmira Free Academy
for high school. He also attended GST BOCES Bush Campus in Elmira, New York for Fashion Design. Rather than furthering his education, he started to work in retail at the age of 18. Hilfiger would go to New York City
to buy jeans and bell-bottom pants, which he customized and resold at a local downtown Elmira store, Brown's.
He later opened his own store, named The People's Place, around the block in downtown Elmira. Over the years, a number of stores closed in downtown Elmira as shopping traffic shifted to the new Arnot Mall
in Horseheads, New York
. After seven years, The People's Place went bankrupt, when Hilfiger was 25. The site of the original store has since been demolished to make room for First Arena, home of the Elmira Jackals Hockey team.
, and was broke, he turned them both down with greater plans in mind.
In 1984, he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, (NYSE:TOM), with support from The Murjani Group, which went public in 1992, introducing his signature menswear collection. By 2004 the company had 5,400 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 1998, Hilfiger gave singer Aaliyah
her endorsement deal, in which he honored her in his Summer 1998 fashion show in Jamaica
.
In 2005, a CBS TV reality show called The Cut tracked the progress of sixteen 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.
Largely due to declining sales, in 2006, Tommy Hilfiger sold his company for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, to Apax Partners
, a private investment company.
In March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein, bought the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $3 billion.
was featured in the MTV
reality show Rich Girls
and his son, Rich, was signed to hip hop super producer Swizz Beatz
' label Full Surface.
Hilfiger put his Greenwich, Connecticut
, mansion on the market in the summer of 2008 for an asking price of $27 million.
On December 12, 2008, he married his second wife Dee Ocleppo (née Erbug), former wife of Gianni Ocleppo
, famous Italian tennis player of the 1980s.
On February 25, 2009, the New York Post reported that Ocleppo was three months pregnant, and Hilfiger would welcome a fifth child later in 2009.
On May 4, 2009, Hilfiger and Ocleppo announced they were expecting a boy, who was born on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, and named Sebastian Thomas Hilfiger.
conditions in the United States territory of Saipan
in the Northern Mariana Islands
. As a U.S. Commonwealth, clothes made there can be labeled "Made in the USA", but federal labor laws including the minimum wage
do not apply. In March 2000, the company, along with other defendants, settled a class action suit brought by Saipan garment workers, which had alleged mistreatment by over 20 large U.S. clothing manufacturers.
television
show on "28 November" and made racist remarks, and calling for a boycott
of Hilfiger's merchandise, has circulated widely. It was first seen in 1996, seemed to disappear, but reappeared and was still in circulation . Winfrey made clear on her show and website in 1999 that Hilfiger had never appeared on her show until then, much less made the remarks attributed to him in the email; and Hilfiger paid investigators, who traced it to a college campus but could not identify the perpetrator. Allegations were reported to the Anti-Defamation League
; they wrote to Hilfiger in 2001 "We have concluded that these rumors are completely false, and it is apparent that you never made the statements attributed to you, nor did you appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show". Hilfiger appeared on the Winfrey show on 1 January 2006, where he and Winfrey repeated that he had not appeared before. Winfrey said about the email "You're supposed to say, 'That's a big fat lie.'"
Early life
Hilfiger was born in Elmira, New YorkElmira, New York
Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...
. The second of nine children, he grew up in an Irish-American family; he claims direct descendence from Scottish poet Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
. His parents originally intended for him to be an engineer. He attended Elmira Free Academy
Elmira Free Academy
Elmira Free Academy, or EFA, is a high school in Elmira, New York, USA. It is one of seven public high schools serving Chemung county....
for high school. He also attended GST BOCES Bush Campus in Elmira, New York for Fashion Design. Rather than furthering his education, he started to work in retail at the age of 18. Hilfiger would go to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to buy jeans and bell-bottom pants, which he customized and resold at a local downtown Elmira store, Brown's.
He later opened his own store, named The People's Place, around the block in downtown Elmira. Over the years, a number of stores closed in downtown Elmira as shopping traffic shifted to the new Arnot Mall
Arnot Mall
Arnot Mall is a shopping mall located in Horseheads/Big Flats, New York, in Chemung County at 3300 Chambers Road and owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. Arnot Mall is located along the Southern Tier Expressway at Exit 51A between Corning and Elmira...
in Horseheads, New York
Horseheads (village), New York
Horseheads is a village in Chemung County, New York, USA. The population was 6,461 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the number of bleached skulls of pack horses left behind by the Sullivan Expedition....
. After seven years, The People's Place went bankrupt, when Hilfiger was 25. The site of the original store has since been demolished to make room for First Arena, home of the Elmira Jackals Hockey team.
Career
After turning to the design of clothing by designing for the rest of his stores in upstate New York, Hilfiger moved to New York City with his now estranged wife, Susie. Although he was offered design assistant positions with designers Calvin Klein and Perry EllisPerry Ellis
Perry Ellis was an American fashion designer who founded a sportswear house in the mid-1970s.-The rise of Perry Ellis:...
, and was broke, he turned them both down with greater plans in mind.
In 1984, he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, (NYSE:TOM), with support from The Murjani Group, which went public in 1992, introducing his signature menswear collection. By 2004 the company had 5,400 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
Council of Fashion Designers of America
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. is a not-for-profit trade association of over 350 of America’s foremost fashion and accessory designers. As of 2009, Diane von Fürstenberg is the group's President and Steven Kolb is the Executive Director...
in 1995.
In 1998, Hilfiger gave singer Aaliyah
Aaliyah
Aaliyah Dana Haughton , who performed under the mononym Aaliyah , was an American R&B recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside...
her endorsement deal, in which he honored her in his Summer 1998 fashion show in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
In 2005, a CBS TV reality show called The Cut tracked the progress of sixteen contestants as they competed for a design job with Hilfiger in similar fashion to Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
's The Apprentice
The Apprentice (U.S. TV series)
The Apprentice is an American reality television show hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, created by Mark Burnett and broadcast on NBC...
. In the end Hilfiger chose Chris Cortez.
Largely due to declining sales, in 2006, Tommy Hilfiger sold his company for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, to Apax Partners
Apax Partners
Apax Partners LLP is a global private equity and venture capital firm, headquartered in London. The company also operates out of eight other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel-Aviv, Madrid, Stockholm, Milan and Munich. The firm, including its various predecessors, have raised...
, a private investment company.
In March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein, bought the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $3 billion.
Personal life
Hilfiger has four children with his ex-wife, Susie: Alexandria ("Ally"), Richard, Elizabeth, and Kathleen. His daughter AllyAlexandria Hilfiger
Alexandria Caroline "Ally" Hilfiger is an American heiress, socialite, model, stylist, film and television producer and former reality show star.-Early life and education:Hilfiger is the daughter of Tommy Hilfiger...
was featured in the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
reality show Rich Girls
Rich Girls
Rich Girls was an MTV reality show that aired for one season in the fall of 2003 and winter of 2004.It followed the lives of the privileged Ally Hilfiger and her then-best friend, Jaime Gleicher...
and his son, Rich, was signed to hip hop super producer Swizz Beatz
Swizz Beatz
Kasseem Dean , better known by his stage name, Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and painter. At the age of 17, he gained attention in the hip-hop world through his friendship with rapper DMX. Grady Spivey and rapper Cassidy helped launch his label Full Surface Records...
' label Full Surface.
Hilfiger put his Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
, mansion on the market in the summer of 2008 for an asking price of $27 million.
On December 12, 2008, he married his second wife Dee Ocleppo (née Erbug), former wife of Gianni Ocleppo
Gianni Ocleppo
Gianni Ocleppo is a retired professional tennis player from Italy.Ocleppo won one ATP Tour singles title and two doubles titles in his career. He played for Italy in the final of the 1980 Davis Cup, losing in a dead rubber to Ivan Lendl.Ocleppo reached a career high singles ranking of World No....
, famous Italian tennis player of the 1980s.
On February 25, 2009, the New York Post reported that Ocleppo was three months pregnant, and Hilfiger would welcome a fifth child later in 2009.
On May 4, 2009, Hilfiger and Ocleppo announced they were expecting a boy, who was born on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, and named Sebastian Thomas Hilfiger.
Criticisms
Hilfiger has been criticized for manufacturing clothes in sweatshopSweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
conditions in the United States territory of Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
in the Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
. As a U.S. Commonwealth, clothes made there can be labeled "Made in the USA", but federal labor laws including the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
do not apply. In March 2000, the company, along with other defendants, settled a class action suit brought by Saipan garment workers, which had alleged mistreatment by over 20 large U.S. clothing manufacturers.
Libelous hoax email
An email saying that Hilfiger appeared on the Oprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show on "28 November" and made racist remarks, and calling for a boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
of Hilfiger's merchandise, has circulated widely. It was first seen in 1996, seemed to disappear, but reappeared and was still in circulation . Winfrey made clear on her show and website in 1999 that Hilfiger had never appeared on her show until then, much less made the remarks attributed to him in the email; and Hilfiger paid investigators, who traced it to a college campus but could not identify the perpetrator. Allegations were reported to the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
; they wrote to Hilfiger in 2001 "We have concluded that these rumors are completely false, and it is apparent that you never made the statements attributed to you, nor did you appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show". Hilfiger appeared on the Winfrey show on 1 January 2006, where he and Winfrey repeated that he had not appeared before. Winfrey said about the email "You're supposed to say, 'That's a big fat lie.'"
Product lines
- Hilfiger Denim, a premium-upscale denimDenimDenim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
collection for men and women. Designs are inspired by American classics and finished with a modern edge. - True Star Gold, fragrance created by Hilfiger and spokeswoman Beyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
- True Star, another fragrance created by Hilfiger and with spokesperson Beyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
& True Star Men, a fragrance created by Hilfiger and with spokesperson Enrique IglesiasEnrique IglesiasEnrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa... - Tommy Girl, fragrance for women
- Red Label, a line of denim-themed products including jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts
- H by Tommy Hilfiger, an upscale line which was ended after Tommy Hilfger sold his company, the same sort of style is now carried on under the Tommy Hilfiger label in their specialty stores
- Tommy Hilfiger, the company line of clothes sold in department stores, company stores, and specialty stores
- Tommy Sport, a defunct line that came out in the 1990s and capitalized on Hilfiger's popularity in urban areas.
- Tommy Hilfiger for the Home, a line of bedding and bath products
- Tommy Sailing, was due to be released in January or February 2007.
- Tommy, a brightly colored casual line.
- Tommy Jeans, a denim inspired clothing collection and corresponding fragrance
- Hilfiger Athletics, a sport inspired clothing line and fragrance