Hilfiger's line of preppy clothes with his trademark red, white and blue logo soon became wildly popular. By the early s, the hip-hop world embraced oversized versions of Hilfiger's clothes, and the brand assiduously courted rap stars and celebrities.
Snoop Dogg's choice of a giant Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt during a Saturday Night Live performance in March brought sales figures to an all-time high. Despite Hilfiger's commercial success, however, the fashion elite still snubbed him. They, later relented, and gave it to him in In , Hilfiger split with his wife of 20 years, with whom he had four children. His professional fortunes crumbled as well.
His clothes fell off in popularity among the hip-hop set, and sales plunged by as much as 75 percent. Worse than bad sales, the Tommy Hilfiger brand wasn't cool anymore. In , he signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to sell the company's best-selling lines only at their stores.
Hilfiger married second wife, Dee Ocleppo, in December , and the couple welcomed son Sebastian in August Today, Hilfiger continues to be the principal designer of his brand, and there are more than 1, of his stores in 90 countries. In , he took his "classic American cool" looks in a new direction. He partnered with Runway of Dreams to create a line of adaptive clothing for children with disabilities.
We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! The designer acknowledged that he had taken on too much too soon, and womenswear was dropped. It was a logical extension of the brand's popularity, however, and potentially enormously profitable.
In March , Tommy Hilfiger Corporation hired Jay Margolis as its new president and vice-chairman, with the specific task that he develop a womenswear line. Little over a year later, however, the company announced that it would not develop the women's line, and Margolis resigned. The company declared that bringing out its own womenswear would be prohibitively expensive, and the new plan was to find a competent licensee.
The company eventually licensed womenswear to Pepe Jeans International. Hilfiger chairman Silas Chou owned the Pepe Jeans brand, and the company already produced a men's jeans line for Hilfiger.
The women's line came out in the summer of at more than major department store shops. Like Hilfiger menswear, the women's line was mostly sportswear and aimed for the same casual wear-to-work niche. The company also put out a women's perfume, "Tommy Girl," through a licensing agreement with Estee Lauder. In other expansions, the line of boyswear was extended down into toddler and infant clothes. Hilfiger stocks had at times been the highest traded apparel stocks on Wall Street, and investors seemed to love the company's strong growth.
The danger to investors, of course, was that the enormously popular Hilfiger brand would suddenly turn stale. Fashion stocks tended to be unpredictable because apparel's success was mostly dependent on a fickle public. Still, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation still seemed capable of continued expansion.
Profit margins were widening, something investors looked at as an indicator of soundness. Moreover, the trend toward casual work clothing that Hilfiger had first taken advantage of was still running. One industry survey indicated that over 20 percent of offices were casual every day, not just on Friday. Workers were spending money on nice casual clothes such as Hilfiger designs, and so there did not seem to be a looming end to the clothing's popularity. Also, though Hilfiger Corporation had brought out its women's line, its staple was still menswear, traditionally more stable than women's apparel.
Hilfiger designs were also priced well. Nevertheless, Hilfiger was perceived as high quality. The company had not watered down its appeal by making the brand available at lower-end chains such as Penney's and Sears.
By , the company was just beginning to expand into European markets. A huge flagship store was under construction in London, and presumably there was much market potential overseas. Tommy Hilfiger Corporation had taken a virtually unknown designer and declared him a dean of menswear on par with industry leaders Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Perry Ellis. Remarkably, consumers bought the idea and bought the clothing.
A dozen years after the company's brash inaugural ads, the clothing was selling more strongly than ever, not only in the United States but in Japan, Europe, and Central and South America. The combination of guileful advertising, shrewd management, and a truly appealing and useful product brought the company to a strong global level by the mids.
In fact, Hilfiger's success would continue throughout the late s before coming to an abrupt halt in It also launched a series of new products including a home furnishings line, the Hilfiger Athletics Fragrance for men, and an infant and toddlers line. During , the company moved into the bath and body products market, and also began offering a girls' line, color cosmetics, the Freedom fragrances, and also came out with a line of women's handbags.
The competitive nature of the fashion industry, however, caught up with Hilfiger in Stock price plummeted as the company announced that its profits for the fiscal year would fall. A Fortune magazine article summed up the company's problems, commenting that "Tommy rested on its red, white, and blue laurels too long.
New trendier brands think Fubu dominate urban fashion, while Tommy's clothes fill bargain bins at Bloomingdale's and Macy's. Blige and Sheryl Crow music concerts. These sponsorships however, did little to bolster sales of the women's line, which saw the addition of both golf and swim apparel during After customers complained that the womenswear line was too trendy and did not fit well, Hilfiger revamped the line, going back to its basic preppy modern look.
The company also brought in a slew of industry veterans, including Lynn Kohlman, a former Donna Karan executive, and Camilla Nickerson, a fashion editor from Vogue to get the division back on track.
Success in this section of the market was crucial, as its menswear division was suffering from weakening sales. In fact, Bloomingdale's--with the exception of the 59th Street location in New York--pulled the Tommy menswear line from its brand lineup in During , a women's intimate apparel line and plus-size line was introduced.
Bush, began modeling Hilfiger clothing. The company's efforts appeared to pay off, and by June of that year sales in both women's and junior's sportswear and jeans was exceeding company forecasts.
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