Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger (born in Elmira, New York, on March 24, 1951) is a world-famous fashion designer best known for his eponymous "Tommy Hilfiger" and "Tommy" brands.
Tommy Hilfiger logo.
Hilfiger grew up one of nine children in an Irish Catholic family in Elmira, a small town close to Cornell University. He is a graduate of Elmira Free Academy. His initial foray into fashion was a store, The People's Place. The store was a big draw for the local teen crowd in Elmira because it often held live broadcasts from local radio personalities, sold rock and roll related clothing including Kiss and Aerosmith belt buckles, and had a discreet head shop upstairs which sold drug related paraphernalia such as bongs, roach clips, and incense. After the business went bankrupt, Hilfiger moved to New York City in 1979 to pursue a career as a fashion designer.
The building in which The People's Place 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 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 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 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.
Hilfiger is married and has four children. His daughter Ally Hilfiger was featured in the MTV reality show Rich Girls.
Hilfiger has been criticised for manufacturing clothes in sweatshop conditions in the US territory of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. As a US 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 that their working conditions amounted to indentured servitude.
Since at least 1996, a false rumour has circulated on the internet that Hilfiger had made a racist remark on The Oprah Winfrey Show along the lines that he didn't want Asians wearing his clothing. Despite this being proven false, continued negative perceptions of Hilfiger as a fashion profiteer are reflected by his being unflatteringly portrayed as "Timmi Hilnigger" in the Spike Lee feature film Bamboozled.
