Tommy Hilfiger Charity work Did Tommy Hilfiger start any charity organizations? In 1995 Hilfiger launched The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation. What does this foundation focus on? With an emphasis on health, educational and cultural programs, Are there any other charities that Hilfiger is involved in? In 1998 Hilfiger was one of several sponsors along with Moet and Chandon, Christie's Auction House, and The Advocate of the charity LIFEbeat - How did the charities respond to Hilfiger's involvement with them? The Fresh Air Fund's Camp Pioneer program was renamed Camp Tommy in 1999, in honor of Hilfiger's patronage. Did Hilfiger make a personal monetary investment in any charity? A portion of the handbag sales proceeds are donated to BHI's Fund For Living program, Are there any other charities that Hilfiger was involved in? Since 2008, Hilfiger has designed limited-edition handbags in support Breast Health International (BHI), Did Hilfiger work with anyone in designing the handbags? In 2013, Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell modeled the BHI bag in a photo shoot with photographer Patrick Demarchelier. How did some of the charities that Hilfiger invested in benefited other people? Millennium Promise, a non-profit organization focused on eradicating extreme poverty, hunger and preventable disease in impoverished regions, What country did the Millennium Promise help? The donation went towards relief efforts in a Ugandan city,
What charities does Hilfiger still support today?
What charities does Hilfiger still support today?
In 1995 Hilfiger launched The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation. With an emphasis on health, educational and cultural programs, the organization supports charities that focus on at-risk American youth. In 1998 Hilfiger was one of several sponsors along with Moet and Chandon, Christie's Auction House, and The Advocate of the charity LIFEbeat - The Music Industry Fights AIDS. He is also personally involved in charities and causes such as Autism Speaks and the MLK, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, and he has served on the board of directors for The Fresh Air Fund, a New York-based group that helps underprivileged children attend summer camp. The Fresh Air Fund's Camp Pioneer program was renamed Camp Tommy in 1999, in honor of Hilfiger's patronage.  Since 2008, Hilfiger has designed limited-edition handbags in support Breast Health International (BHI), an international organization focused on finding a cure for breast cancer. A portion of the handbag sales proceeds are donated to BHI's Fund For Living program, with celebrity ambassadors appointed for each seasonal campaign. In 2013, Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell modeled the BHI bag in a photo shoot with photographer Patrick Demarchelier.  Millennium Promise, a non-profit organization focused on eradicating extreme poverty, hunger and preventable disease in impoverished regions, classifies Hilfiger as a Millennium Promise MDG Global Leader, and in 2009 Hilfiger made a five-year $2 million commitment to Millennium Promise. The donation went towards relief efforts in a Ugandan city, with the aim of improving residents' access to necessities like clean water, education, and farming techniques. In 2012, all philanthropic activities of The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation were renamed Tommy Cares, a wider-reaching global initiative that further integrates the brand's non-profit partnerships, charitable contributions, and employee involvement. On a global scale, Tommy Cares continues to support organizations such as Save the Children, the World Wildlife Fund, War Child, and Millennium Promise. Hilfiger and his wife are on the board of Autism Speaks as of 2012, and through the organization, Hilfiger became a sponsor of the Golden Door Film Festival in September 2014. CANNOTANSWER
Hilfiger became a sponsor of the Golden Door Film Festival in September 2014.
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger (/hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.

After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upstate New York in the 1970s, he began designing preppy clothing for his own eponymous menswear line in the 1980s. The company later expanded into women's clothing and various luxury items such as perfumes and went public in 1992.

Hilfiger's collections are often influenced by the fashion of music subcultures and marketed in connection with the music industry, with celebrities such as American R&B artist Aaliyah in the 1990s. In 2005, contestants in the CBS reality show The Cut competed for a design job with Hilfiger in a similar fashion to The Apprentice. In 2006, Hilfiger sold his company for $1.6 billion to Apax Partners, who next sold it in 2010 to Phillips-Van Heusen for $3 billion. He remains the company's principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process. In 2012, Hilfiger was awarded the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Business and fashion career
Hilfiger graduated from the Elmira Free Academy high school in 1969. His parents wanted him to get a college education and pursue a traditional career, and for a time he attended GST BOCES Bush Campus in Elmira.

People's Place and early lines (1970s–1983)
Hilfiger spent the summer of 1969 working in a clothing store on Cape Cod, and afterwards he decided to use his life savings of $150 to open a clothing store in 1971 as People's Place. The first store was located in downtown Elmira in what is now the site of First Arena and had a hair salon, a record shop, and rock concerts in the basement. To stock the store, Hilfiger and a friend drove to New York City to buy clothing such as bell-bottoms, peasant blouses, and leather jackets. Unsatisfied with this, he began sketching his own designs, and would later write that "designing made me happier than anything I'd ever done. I knew from that early work that designing would be my life."

The People's Place went bankrupt in 1977. Hilfiger enrolled in classes on commerce and the business side of the fashion industry. After then moving to New York City and working for several different labels, he set up a company called Tommy Hill in 1979. One of his first clients was Jordache Jeans, and as Hilfiger's company expanded beyond denim, he spent time in India, learning more about his trade: "I would sit in the factory with my pile of sketches and watch them being made, tweaking as I went. There's no better design school in the world." In 1981 he founded the company 20th Century Survival, and the following year he founded Click Point, which designed women's clothing.

Founding Tommy Hilfiger Inc. (1984–1990s)

In 1984, Hilfiger was approached by businessman Mohan Murjani, to pursue his goal of designing and heading a men's sportswear line. Murjani backed the necessary investment for Hilfiger to establish his own brand. Later Hilfiger oversaw the design of the Coca-Cola clothing line for Murjani.

In 1985, he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation with support from The Murjani Group. The new clothing line made its debut with a high-profile marketing campaign, for example setting up a large billboard in Times Square designed by George Lois. Hilfiger left Murjani International in 1989, with Silas Chou instead providing financial backing to the Hilfiger brand, and former executives of Ralph Lauren brought on board as executives of the newly formed company Tommy Hilfiger, Inc. The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation went public in 1992, introducing Hilfiger's signature menswear collection. Hilfiger was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1995.  After licensing Pepe Jeans USA in 1995, in 1996, Tommy Hilfiger Inc. began distributing women's clothing. By the end of the next year Hilfiger had opened his first store in Beverly Hills, which was followed by a store in London in 1998. Hilfiger was serving as the company's co-chairman by 1997, and that year he published his first book, titled All American: A Style Book.

Increased brand exposure (1990s–2004)

A professed lifelong fan of rock and roll, Hilfiger's collections are often influenced by the fashion of music subcultures. The clothes are also marketed in connection with the music industry, and as early as 1993 Hilfiger was an official sponsor for Pete Townshend's Psychoderelict tour. Hilfiger has also sponsored several musical events, including Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy tour in 1997, Britney Spears 1999 ...Baby One More Time Tour as main sponsor,  and Lenny Kravitz's 1999 Freedom tour. By the mid-1990s, Hilfiger's style of clothing was popular with both the American "preppy" scene and as hip hop fashion. American R&B icon Aaliyah became the much-publicized spokesperson for Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1997.

Hilfiger had a cameo in the fashion spoof Zoolander in 2001, and from 2002 to 2006 Tommy Hilfiger Inc. owned the naming rights to the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theatre venue. Largely due to declining sales in the early 2000s, Hilfiger began reworking the brand, striving to retain the designer brand exclusivity of the Hilfiger label by signing a deal to distribute the best-selling Hilfiger lines at Macy's only.  The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation continued to work closely with musicians into the 2000s, focusing on fragrances as well as clothes. Sweetface Fashion, which owns the J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez line, was bought out by Tommy Hilfiger in 2003. True Star, a fragrance endorsed by Hilfiger and released in 2004, featured Beyoncé as its poster girl. The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation company had revenues of approximately $1.8 billion, and 5,400 employees by 2004.

Media appearances and sale of clothing brand (2005–2011)

In 2005, a CBS reality show called The Cut tracked the progress of sixteen contestants as they competed for a design job with Tommy Hilfiger and their own fashion line under Hilfiger's label. The show progressed in a similar fashion to Donald Trump's The Apprentice. After a final competition that involved setting up the display window for Macy's Herald Square location in New York, Hilfiger chose Chris Cortez as the "next great American designer."

In December 2005, Tommy Hilfiger sold the clothing brand for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, to Apax Partners, a private investment company. The transaction was completed in May 2006. In 2008 Hilfiger, Rives, and Bar Refaeli co-hosted the Bravo special program Tommy Hilfiger Presents Ironic Iconic America. Based on the book Ironic Iconic America written by Hilfiger and designer George Lois, the program examined how pop culture has influenced American tastes and styles. In 2009 Hilfiger was a guest judge on an episode of Project Runway, and he presented the Best African Artist award to Akon at the 2010 World Music Awards.

In March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein and Izod, bought the Tommy Hilfiger brand from Apax Partners for $3 billion. The Tommy Hilfiger online and in-store ad campaign called "Meet The Hilfigers" began in August 2010 and ran through August 2011. In 2011, Hilfiger and a partner signed a contract to buy the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower building for $170 million, planning to transform it into Hilfiger's first hotel, with luxury condos. Hilfiger backed off the project in September 2011. A guest judge on the finale of Project Runway: All Stars along with Ken Downing in 2012, shortly afterwards he served as a fashion consultant to contestants on season 11 of American Idol.

Recent years and memoir (2012–2016)

Hilfiger was instrumental in the creation of the Marc Anthony Collection in 2012, as Marc Anthony had never been interested in the fashion business until Hilfiger called him and convinced him a line was worthwhile. In 2012, Hilfiger was awarded the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Global sales in retail for the brand in 2013 were US$6.4 billion, and $6.7 billion in 2014. Hilfiger remains the company's principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process. In 2016, he collaborated with model Gigi Hadid on clothing designs launching the TommyXGigi clothing collection. On February 8, 2017, the brand will hold its ready-to-wear show in Los Angeles, in the first time the brand will not be part of New York Fashion Week.

In January 2015, Hilfiger announced that he was working on his memoirs. The book was written chronologically over a year, with Hilfiger explaining "I was hesitant to write it, but thought I better do it now because someday I may forget." Co-writer Peter Knobler had full access to interview friends and family, with Hilfiger citing the candor of Diane von Furstenberg's memoirs as an inspiration. Calling the writing process "great therapy" and "interesting," Hilfiger asserted that he "wanted to give people a sneak peek of what goes on behind the curtain [of] how the fashion industry works." He read selections from the book in June 2016 at the Literacy Partners Evening of Readers and Gala Dinner Dance. Hilfiger's memoir, American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business, co-written with Peter Knobler, was published November 1, 2016. In a statement, Hilfiger described it as "a roadmap of the moments that have defined both my [40-year fashion career] and my personal life," and the book covers his childhood, his early business ventures, and his later life in fashion. With Kirkus Reviews calling it "an honest, straightforward, mostly entertaining autobiography," Hilfiger made an appearance for the book at the Miami Book Fair shortly after its release. American Dreamer appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List in December 2016

Charity work

In 1995 Hilfiger launched The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation.  With an emphasis on health, educational and cultural programs, the organization supports charities that focus on at-risk American youth. In 1998 Hilfiger was one of several sponsors along with Moet and Chandon, Christie's Auction House, and The Advocate of the charity LIFEbeat – The Music Industry Fights AIDS. He is also personally involved in charities and causes such as Autism Speaks and the MLK, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation,  and he has served on the board of directors for The Fresh Air Fund, a New York-based group that helps underprivileged children attend summer camp. The Fresh Air Fund's Camp Pioneer program was renamed Camp Tommy in 1999, in honor of Hilfiger's patronage.

Since 2008, Hilfiger has designed limited-edition handbags in support Breast Health International (BHI), an international organization focused on finding a cure for breast cancer. A portion of the handbag sales proceeds is donated to BHI's Fund For Living program, with celebrity ambassadors appointed for each seasonal campaign. In 2013, Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell modeled the BHI bag in a photoshoot with photographer Patrick Demarchelier.

Millennium Promise, a non-profit organization focused on eradicating extreme poverty, hunger and preventable disease in impoverished regions, classifies Hilfiger as a Millennium Promise MDG Global Leader, and in 2009 Hilfiger made a five-year $2 million commitment to Millennium Promise. The donation went towards relief efforts in a Ugandan city, with the aim of improving residents' access to necessities like clean water, education, and farming techniques.  In 2012, all philanthropic activities of The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation were renamed Tommy Cares, a wider-reaching global initiative that further integrates the brand's non-profit partnerships, charitable contributions, and employee involvement.  On a global scale, Tommy Cares continues to support organizations such as Save the Children, the World Wildlife Fund, War Child, and Millennium Promise. Hilfiger and his wife are on the board of Autism Speaks as of 2012, and through the organization, Hilfiger became a sponsor of the Golden Door Film Festival in September 2014.

Hilfiger has continuously cited the important role inclusivity, diversity and self-expression have had in the brand's development and contributions to pop culture. 

In 2016, Hilfiger also echoed his support for dressing Melania Trump, telling WWD that "any designer should be proud to dress her."

In 2020, Hilfiger sold his 22.4 acre estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, for $47.5 million.

Recognition

The following is a selected list of awards and recognitions for Tommy Hilfiger:

1995: Council of Fashion Designers of America – Menswear Designer of the Year
1996: American Academy of Achievement – Golden Plate Award
1997: FiFi Awards – Men's Fragrance of the Year – Luxe, for the fragrance "Tommy"
1998: Parsons School of Design – Designer of the Year Award
1998: GQ Magazine – Designer of the Year for 'Men of the Year' issue
2000: FiFi Awards – Best Marketing Innovation of the Year, for Toiletries for Tommy's (American running series)
2002: GQ Germany – International Designer of the Year
2002: Drug Abuse Resistance Education – Future of America Award, for philanthropic efforts for American youth
2006: GQ Spain – Designer of the Year
2006: Harvard Foundation – Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian of the Year
2006: We Are Family Foundation – Visionary Award
2007: Hispanic Federation – Individual Achievement Award
2008: Women's Wear Daily – No. 1 Designer and No. 16 Brand in annual "100 List"
2009: UNESCO – UNESCO Support Award, for philanthropic efforts
2009: Marie Claire Magazine – Lifetime Achievement Award
2010: Pratt Institute – Legends Award
2012: Council of Fashion Designers of America – Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Anna Wintour
2015: Race To Erase MS – honored for commitment to finding a cure for MS

Style and impact

While Hilfiger's earliest designs drew on 1960s counterculture and fashion, since the 1980s his designs typically draw from classic American New England styles. His initial lines for the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation were primarily designed to appeal to young men looking for designer clothing, and Tommy Hilfiger became one of the most prominent brands in 1990s sportswear, with Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Nautica, DKNY, and Donna Karan also popular. Each of these companies created distinctive wardrobes based upon stylish but wearable, comfortable and interchangeable multi-purpose clothes, all with a focus on luxury.

Hip hop fashion at large began incorporating the Hilfiger brand in the 1990s, and when Snoop Doggy Dogg wore a Hilfiger sweatshirt during an appearance on Saturday Night Live, it sold out of New York City stores the next day. Moreover, Hilfiger courted the new hip hop market, and rappers like Puffy and Coolio walked during his runways shows. Specific items like Tommy Hilfiger carpenter jeans became particularly popular, with the trademark logo displayed on the hammer loop. Hilfiger continues to maintain multiple fashion lines, some focused on wearable "casual" clothes while others take on various haute couture commissions. Aside from the preppy styles of his youth, Hilfiger has also always been influenced by the style of a wide variety of American icons, including Grace Kelly, James Dean, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Farrah Fawcett, Steve McQueen, Jackie and John F. Kennedy, and Andy Warhol. Many of his designs draw prominently from the styles of hard rock and the pop music industry.

Personal life
Hilfiger was born on March 24, 1951, in Elmira, New York, the second of nine children. Both of his parents were practicing Catholics. His father Richard was a watchmaker of German-Swiss descent, and his mother Virginia (née Gerrity) was a nurse of Irish descent. Hilfiger also claims direct descent from Gilbert Burns, brother of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Hilfiger has described his upbringing as very happy. He credits his parents with instilling a good work ethic and compassion for others. He has dyslexia. Hilfiger had an early interest in sports, fashion, and the music industry, a trend that ran in his family. One of his brothers, Andy Hilfiger, went on to work as a musician and designer, while Hilfiger's other brother Billy Hilfiger would join King Flux as a guitarist.

In 1976 Hilfiger met Susan Cirona, an employee at the People's Place in Ithaca; they married in 1980. Together they had four children: one son and three daughters. In 2003 Hilfiger's daughter Ally was part of the MTV reality series Rich Girls. His son, Richard ("Ricky Hil"), is a musician. The Hilfigers divorced in 2000.

On December 12, 2008, he married Dee Ocleppo; the couple had a son in 2009.

Publishing history

Filmography

See also

List of fashion designers
List of footwear designers

References

External links

 Tommy.com
 TommyCares.com

Tommy Hilfiger (company)
American fashion businesspeople
American fashion designers
1951 births
Living people

Menswear designers
Businesspeople from New York City
Irish-American history
People from Elmira, New York
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
Catholics from New York (state)
American people of Irish descent
American people of Swiss-German descent
Tommy Hilfiger B.V. (), formerly known as Tommy Hilfiger Corporation and Tommy Hilfiger Inc., is an American premium clothing brand, manufacturing apparel, footwear, accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1985, and the brand's merchandise is sold in department stores and over 2000 free-standing retail stores in 100 countries. In 2006, private equity firm Apax Partners acquired the company for approximately $1.6 billion. In March 2010, PVH Corp. (then known as Phillips-Van Heusen) bought the company. Daniel Grieder was appointed CEO in July 2014, while founder Tommy Hilfiger remains the company’s principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process. Global sales in retail through the brand were US $6.4 billion in 2013, and $6.7 billion in 2014. Of PVH's preppy-styled brands Tommy Hilfiger is the higher priced of the two, slotting above Izod in the lineup.

History

Background and founding (1960s–1990s)
Tommy Hilfiger’s career in fashion began in 1968, when he co-founded a clothing and record store named People’s Place in upstate New York. Using $150 he had saved from working at a petrol station as startup money, he oversaw the expansion of the company into a chain of ten stores. Despite meeting with initial success, People's Place filed for bankruptcy in 1977. In 1979, Hilfiger moved to New York City to pursue a career as a fashion designer, working on several different labels including Jordache Jeans.

In the early 1980s, he met Mohan Murjani, an Indian textile magnate hoping to launch a line of men’s clothing. With Murjani’s backing in 1985, Hilfiger debuted his first signature collection, which featured modernized versions of button-down shirts, chinos, and other classic preppy styles. The casual and youthful attitude of these first designs would remain a trait of the company's later collections. The new clothing line made its debut with a high-profile marketing campaign, which included a large billboard in Times Square by advertiser George Lois.

The Tommy Hilfiger brand left Murjani International in 1989, with Silas Chou instead providing financial backing. That year, Lawrence Stroll and Joel Horowitz, both former executives of Ralph Lauren, were hired as executives of the newly formed company Tommy Hilfiger, Inc., which had an initial focus on casual male sportswear.

Growth of popularity and product lines (1990s)

The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation went public in 1992. After licensing Pepe Jeans USA in 1995, in 1996 Tommy Hilfiger Inc. began distributing women's clothing as well. By the end of the next year, Hilfiger had opened his first store in Beverly Hills, which was followed by a store in London in 1998. The company launched its bed and bath line in 1998.

Throughout the 1990s the company's marketing division worked in tandem with the popular music industry, and as early as 1993 Hilfiger was an official sponsor for Pete Townshend's Psychoderelict tour. In the early 1990s a baggier, less tailored menswear look came into fashion, and Hilfiger gave his clothes a more relaxed fit. As roomier styles with oversized logos became popular with hip-hop artists in the mid-to-late 1990s, Hilfiger's style of clothing became both increasingly popular with the American "preppy" scene and as hip hop fashion, and when Snoop Dogg wore a Hilfiger sweatshirt during an appearance on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, it sold out of New York City stores the next day. Moreover, Hilfiger courted the new hip hop market, and rappers like Puffy and Coolio walked during his runways shows. With collections often influenced by the fashion of music subcultures, the clothes are also marketed in connection with the music industry, and American R&B icon Aaliyah became the much-publicized spokesperson for Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1997. The company would later sponsor Sheryl Crow's "If It Makes You Happy" tour in 1997, Britney Spears 1999 ...Baby One More Time Tour, and Lenny Kravitz's 1999 Freedom tour.

Overseas growth and Apax Partners acquisition (2000s)
Women's intimate apparel was introduced in 2001. After sales and net income faltered in 2001, the company's sales in 2002 totaled $1.87 billion. Overall between 2000 and 2009, sales slipped from around $1.9 billion to $700 million. During the same time period, however, Hilfiger’s European sales steadily rose to $1.13 billion. In 2003, Hilfiger executive Fred Gehring and Hilfiger decided to further invest in the brand's growing overseas audience by re-focusing on the brand’s original style, “classic American cool,” and designing the clothes out of New York City. Gehring also adapted the business model to suit European retail culture, pursuing partnerships with European department stores and with smaller boutiques, signing 4,500 of them in 15 countries. Hilfiger also strove to retain the designer brand exclusivity of the Hilfiger label by signing a deal to distribute the best-selling Hilfiger lines at Macy's only. 

Hilfiger has endorsed products such as True Star is a fragrance, which was released in 2004 with Beyoncé Knowles as poster girl. True Star would go on to win a FiFi Award for Best New Commercial Fragrance. By 2004, the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation company had revenues of $1.8 approximately billion and 5,400 employees. In 2006, Tommy Hilfiger sold Tommy Hilfiger Inc. for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, to Apax Partners, a private investment company. After the acquisition Gehring assumed control of the American headquarters of Tommy Hilfiger as well as Europe. Gehring and Hilfiger narrowed their focus in the United States to the profitable core sportswear line, and U.S. sales began to rise in 2010.

Phillips-Van Heusen acquisition and recent years (2010s–2020s)

In March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH Corp.) bought the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $3 billion, in a deal that was nearly seven times what PVH had paid for Calvin Klein in 2003. Fred Gehring, who launched Hilfiger’s European division in 1996, assumed the role of Hilfiger's CEO. Global sales in retail for the brand in 2013 were US $6.4 billion, and $6.7 billion in 2014. Daniel Grieder was appointed CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Group in July 2014. Former CEO Gehring was made executive chairman of Tommy Hilfiger Group and was appointed vice chairman of PVH.

In January 2015, Tommy Hilfiger debuted a digital sales showroom at its New York City headquarters, which the publication WGSN opined would "transform the traditional buying process." With plans to open showrooms in other cities, Hilfiger described the showroom as "an innovation of the order process with cost saving potentials along the whole value chain." Gehring stepped down as Tommy Hilfiger Group’s chairman in August 2015, though he retained his role at PVH. Tommy Hilfiger remains the company’s principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process.

In 2020, PVH announced that as part of their animal welfare policy, the company does not use exotic skins and would be banning their use in Tommy Hilfiger collections when "our annual update of that policy is released."

In 2021, Tommy Hilfiger released their first genderless collection in collaboration with Indya Moore.

Product lines
Tommy Hilfiger delivers its products worldwide under the Tommy Hilfiger and Hilfiger Denim brands, and also has a breadth of collections including Hilfiger Collection, Tommy Hilfiger Tailored, men’s, women’s and kid’s sportswear, denim, accessories, and footwear. In addition, the brand is licensed for a range of products such as fragrances, eyewear, watches, and home furnishings.
Tommy Hilfiger – the main line of the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, like the company's other lines it is influenced by classic American fashion, or more specifically what the company dubs "preppy with a twist". It targets customers in the 25 to 40-year-old range.
Hilfiger Denim – more casual than the Tommy Hilfiger label, it targets both men and women in the 18 to 30-year-old range. Beyond jeans, the line also includes denim separates, footwear, bags, accessories, eyewear, and fragrances.
Hilfiger Collection – intended for women, the clothing line blends classic American influences with contemporary styles. The clothes are marketed towards women age 25 to 40. The designs periodically debut during New York Fashion Week.
Tommy Hilfiger Tailored – an American menswear line meant to the 25 to 40-year-old demographic. Styles vary from formal suits to casual wear, with a focus on what the Tommy Hilfiger Group website describes as "precision fit, premium fabrics, updated cuts, rich colors, and luxe details.”

Worker conditions

In the late 1990s, Tommy Hilfiger and other large American textile companies such as Calvin Klein and Sears were defendants in a class-action lawsuit alleging that luxury clothes were being manufactured in sweatshop conditions in Saipan. After a group settlement that admitted no liability, in March 2000, Tommy Hilfiger volunteered to allow independent oversight of their manufacturing on the island. In March 2012, ABC aired a report that 29 workers had died in a factory fire in 2011 in Bangladesh, with the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation included among the factory's clients. PVH Corp. issued a press release in response, stating they would commit $1 million to a two-year program to help facilitate safety programs. The company, however, announced they would not abandon their manufacturing in Bangladesh, with PVH CEO Emanuel Chirico stating that the brand was instead "trying for a global solution" and staying at the factories to affect change, as "you need to have a voice at the table to get changes made as you go forward." Tommy Hilfiger later signed a Bangladeshi safety accord along with eighty other Western retailers, with the goal of protecting unionizers.

In 2014, PVH was consulting about investing in Ethiopia in relation to Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, with labor rights among the key talking points. In 2016, the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) reported that textile workers in Bangalore were working in conditions akin to slavery. Clothing companies H&M, Inditex, C&A and PVH publicly committed to "improving the lives of workers in Bengaluru" after the report, while PVH also announced it would independently investigate and establish new guidelines for its suppliers.

Marketing and advertising
In 1985, to help him launch his first collection, Hilfiger hired advertiser and graphic designer George Lois to make a billboard for the center of Times Square in New York City. Instead of models, the ad featured the initials of three well-known fashion designers—“PE” (Perry Ellis), “RL” (Ralph Lauren), “CK” (Calvin Klein), and announced that “TH” (Tommy Hilfiger) was the next great menswear designer. The billboard created a stir in the fashion press and succeeded in creating awareness of the Hilfiger name. In subsequent years Hilfiger and Lois collaborated again on other ads for the Hilfiger brand. One campaign, in 1990, compared Hilfiger’s American style with other “iconic American” classics, such as the 1955 Thunderbird and the 1940 Harley-Davidson bike. Hilfiger courted the new hip hop market in the 1990s, and rappers like Puffy and Coolio walked during its runways shows.

From 2002 to 2006, Tommy Hilfiger owned the naming rights to the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theatre amphitheater on Long Island, one of the more popular music venues in the United States. Starting in 2010, in collaboration with New York advertising firm Laird & Partners, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation launched the advertising campaign “The Hilfigers.” The campaign features a fictional family of Hilfigers wearing the brand's clothing in fun preppy venues. The first campaign, for fall 2010, was a photoset of a college football tailgate, followed by photoshoots at a tennis court, a rustic holiday party, a camping trip, an Ivy League college, and the beaches of Malibu. The spring and summer collections of 2015 were displayed at a wedding in Sonoma, California, followed by an American football stadium for fall and winter.

The brand created the publicity tour "Prep World” in 2011, which featured specialty pop-up shops in Paris, New York, London, Stockholm, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, the German island Sylt, and the Belgian town of Knokke. Hilfiger made personal appearances with author and preppy expert Lisa Birnbach, as well as designing a special clothing collection to support the initiative. The brand's 30th anniversary was in 2015, and the company celebrated the occasion with a fashion tour. Among other events, in Beijing in May 2015 the brand recreated their New York Fashion Week runway show internationally for the first time. The couple Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl were also brought in as guest editors for the summer 2015 women's and men's collections. For the fall of 2015, Rafael Nadal is the brand ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger underwear and Tommy Hilfiger Tailored collections.

Zendaya was the global women’s ambassador for the spring of 2019. She also designed a Tommy x Zendaya capsule collection.

William Chan is the new global brand spokesperson for menswear in 2021.

Locations

With a head office in Amsterdam, the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation has global flagship stores in the following seven locations:
Fifth Avenue, New York (opened September 2009)
Champs-Élysées, Paris (opened November 2010)
Brompton Road, London (opened August 2011)
Omotesando, Tokyo (opened April 2012)
Regent Street, London (opened November 2012)
Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles (opened February 2013)
Schadowstraße, Düsseldorf (opened August 2013)
In addition to the flagship stores, anchor stores are located in the cities of Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cannes, Cologne, Dublin, Florence, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Prague, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Mauritius, Mexico City, Miami, Milan, Montréal, Moscow, Mumbai, Munich, New York City, Osaka, Panama City, Punta del Este, Santiago, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Vancouver, Vienna, Marbella and Zurich. The company often operates hundreds of stores in the larger countries, and the subsidiary Tommy Hilfiger Japan Corp., for example, operates 170 stores with 1,000 employees as of 2014. In 2015, the brand launched its first store in Thailand.

Tommy Hilfiger has 48 stores in Turkey. They are located in the cities of İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Antalya, Aydın , Muğla, Adana, Kocaeli, Afyonkarahisar, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Kayseri, Mersin, Gaziantep, Konya, Samsun, Trabzon and Diyarbakır.

Recognition

The following is a selected list of awards and recognitions won by the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation:
1997: FiFi Awards – Men's Fragrance of the Year - Luxe, for the fragrance "Tommy"
1998: Parsons School of Design – Designer of the Year Award
1998: GQ Magazine – Designer of the Year for 'Men of the Year' issue
2000: FiFi Awards – Best Marketing Innovation of the Year, for Toiletries for Tommy's (American running series)
2002: GQ Germany – International Designer of the Year
2002: Drug Abuse Resistance Education – Future of America Award, for philanthropic efforts for American youth
2006: GQ Spain – Designer of the Year 
2008: Women’s Wear Daily – No. 1 Designer and No. 16 Brand in annual “100 List”
2009: UNESCO – UNESCO Support Award, for philanthropic efforts

See also

List of fashion designers

References

External links

 tommy.com 
 global.tommy.com 
 pvh.com/brands/tommy-hilfiger

 
Clothing brands of the United States
High fashion brands
Clothing retailers of the United States
Shoe companies of the United States
Underwear brands
Watch manufacturing companies of the United States
American companies established in 1985
Clothing companies established in 1985
Retail companies established in 1985
Eyewear brands of the United States
PVH (company) clothing brands
1990s fashion
2010 mergers and acquisitions
American corporate subsidiaries Andrew Charles Hilfiger is an American businessman in the fashion industry and a musician. He is the creative director and namesake of Andrew Charles, a rock 'n' roll inspired fashion line, of which Steven Tyler is the face.

Hilfiger's first job was at 12 years when he began selling jeans in his brother Tommy Hilfiger's store. Hilfiger’s other love is music and he has been playing bass guitar since he was a teen. In 1982, Hilfiger moved to Manhattan from upstate New York where he began to further pursue music. Andy toured with members of the Ramones, Kid Rock, and Blue Öyster Cult.
 
In the 1990s, Hilfiger started a division at Tommy Hilfiger USA, Inc. styling and dressing some of Hollywood’s movie stars and rock and pop musicians and sponsoring concert tours. Hilfiger also started the accessories division for Tommy Hilfiger USA, Inc., where he designed hats, bags, and outerwear, creating a multimillion-dollar business.

After a decade of work at Tommy Hilfiger, Hilfiger started a new company called Sweet Face Fashion where Hilfiger played a major role in launching the JLO by Jennifer Lopez brand. Hilfiger eventually helped to build the company to gross $250 million in sales and launched the fragrance Glow by J.Lo. Currently, Hilfiger is a partner in Star Branding, along with Tommy Hilfiger, Bernt Ullmann, and Joe Lamastra. Star Branding is a partner with Li & Fung USA in a company called MESH, under which the Andrew Charles fashion line was developed.

Andrew Charles launched in the Impulse department of select Macy's stores and on macys.com in Fall 2011. It consists of a menswear line, inspired by Steven Tyler, and a women's collection inspired by 1970s bohemian styles. Steven Tyler and his daughter, Chelsea Tyler, are the faces of the Andrew Charles advertising campaign and have made appearances at select Macy's stores to promote the brand. Hilfiger has also developed a line of scarves with Steven Tyler for Andrew Charles called Rock Scarf.

During the 1980s, Hilfiger played bass guitar in the band King Flux, which consisted of his brother Billy Hilfiger, Richie Stotts of the Plasmatics, and Marky Ramone. Other lineups for this band included Tony Petri from Twisted Sister and Albert Bouchard of Blue Öyster Cult. Hilfiger currently plays bass for the X Brothers along with Joe Bouchard of Blue Öyster Cult. The X Brothers have released two albums to date and are currently recording their third.

References

External links

Andrew Charles' official website.
The X Brothers MySpace.

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American businesspeople
Musicians from New York (state)