Tommy started his fashion career with opening a chain of fashion and record stores in upstate New York (1970s) - He firstly designed preppy menswear for his first line in 1980s,later expanding his company in to womenswear - see his life story here .
His father was of Dutch -German descent who was a watchmaker ,while his mother Virginia was of Irish descent and a nurse.
Tommy described his childhood as happy one and praised his parents for installing work ethics and compassion for people in him .
His interests were sports,music and fashion - wich seems to be something family shared ,his brother Andy became musician and designer while other brother Billy was a guitarist.
Hilfiger opened his first store in 1971 in partnership with his two friends ,he did it with his savings of only 150$,store was named ''Peoples Place'' and was located in downtown Elmira , New York ,in summer 1969 before he opened his first store he worked in clothing store in Cape Code ,wich was usefull experience - Hilfiger and his friends would drive around New York buying clothes for their store,but Hilfiger was not quite satisfied with them so he started drawing his own designs - later he would mention how designing made him happy at that point of his life and that he knew that it will be his life .
Despite the stores succes with selling hippie clothes such as bell bottoms and leather jackets,at the time 25 year old Tommies store went bancrupt - Tommy then enroled to some commerce and buisniss clasess after wich he moved to New York and started working for severall different labels . In 1979 he set up company he named ''Tommy Hill'' - one of his first clients was ''Jordache jeans'' .
Afterwards he started companies ''20th century survival '' and ''Click point'' wich designed womens clothing.
In search for more stability after his wife Susie became pregnant Tommy was happy to be offered a designers place at Calvin Klein ,but before he started working for them,even though he accepted position, he was approached by buisnessman Mohan Murjani and propositioned the chance to design his own mens sportswear line - backed with Murjani Hilfiger established his own brand.
''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,[3][4] 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,[28] Britney Spears 1999 ...Baby One More Time Tour as main sponsor,[29][30] and Lenny Kravitz’s 1999 Freedom tour.[31] By the mid-1990s, Hilfiger's style of clothing was popular with both the American "preppy" scene and as hip hop fashion.[16] American R&B icon Aaliyah became the much-publicized spokesperson for Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1997.[5]
Hilfiger had a cameo in the fashion spoof Zoolander in 2001,[32] and from 2002 to 2006 Tommy Hilfiger INc. owned the naming rights to the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theatre venue.[33] 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.[16] 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 Lopezline,[34][35][36] was bought out by Tommy Hilfiger in 2003.[37][38] True Star, a fragrance endorsed by Hilfiger and released in 2004, featured Beyoncé as its poster girl.[39] The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation company had revenues of $1.8 approximately billion and 5,400 employees by 2004''
- from wikipedia
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