Tommy Hilfiger Started His Business With $150 He Made at a Gas Station… Today, He Has a Global Empire With $10 Billion in Sales
Alina has a sit-down with Tommy Hilfiger, as New York Fashion Week begins
Wasn’t Labor Day just a few days ago?
The beach doesn’t feel like such a distant memory.
And, yet here we are — back in the city and back at it.
New York Fashion Week is in full swing starting today.
And, for the first time since COVID, fashion shows are back in a big way.
The weeklong schedule is packed.
My dance card hasn’t been this full in a long time.
One big name on the schedule this season is Tommy Hilfiger.
Photo Courtesy: Tommy Hilfiger
I’ve known Tommy and his wife, Dee, for close to two decades.
I helped publish his memoir for Random House.
Source: Amazon
And I consider him a friend.
L to R, Harry Slatkin, Laura Slatkin, Tommy Hilfiger, Alina Cho, Ali Slatkin, Ristorante Lo Scoglio, July 4, 2022, Source: Foto Flash Capri.
Tommy Hilfiger — the business — is a behemoth.
A global empire with close to 10 billion dollars annually in sales.
Sold in 100 countries in more than 2000 stores.
And he’s always thinking ahead.
Whether it’s a new logo…
Photo Courtesy: Tommy Hilfiger
A new line of jeans…
Photo Courtesy: Tommy Hilfiger
Or a new collaboration with the toast of London, designer Richard Quinn.
Photo Courtesy: Tommy Hilfiger
And, let’s be honest, he’s an icon.
I sat down with Tommy recently to talk about why, after a years-long hiatus from showing in New York, he decided to return to the Big Apple… how he started his business with $150 he made at a gas station… and the personal traits he possesses that he believes led to his success.
Buckle up, it’s an interesting ride.
COMING BACK TO THE BIG APPLE
ALINA CHO: Let's talk about New York Fashion Week. I've been waiting for you to come back to New York, Tommy.
TOMMY HILFIGER: Yeah, we’ve been on the road. (Hilfiger last showed in New York in 2019. A year earlier, he showed in Shanghai and Milan).
ALINA CHO: You're going to be showing on September 11th at 7:00 PM at the Skyline Drive In in Brooklyn.
Photo Courtesy: Tommy Hilfiger
Why return to New York, and why now?
TOMMY HILFIGER: New York is the birthplace of Tommy Hilfiger, the brand.
Source: Crain's New York Business
We have, I think, an emotional connection to the city, and we thought that coming back would not only give a boost to New York Fashion Week, but also bring us on our home turf where we could show something very new that we've never shown before, and we're doing it in a way that is experiential.
ALINA CHO: Let's talk about that, because it’s going to be an IRL and a meta experience. So, what does that mean?
TOMMY HILFIGER: It'll be a digital experience as well as a physical, so we call it phygital. A lot of it [is connected] to video gaming through Roblox. It's our third game with Roblox, and they reach 15 million people at a pop.
ALINA CHO: You're doing another see-now-buy-now show. Normally, when fashion designers [stage a fashion] show, you're looking at clothes that you won't be able to buy for, say, another six months. You were among the first, if not the first, to really embrace see-now-buy-now. Why do you do it?
TOMMY HILFIGER: A lot of designers will show on the runway, the buyers will buy, and then they'll ship clothes or accessories, shoes, jewelry, whatever, six months or seven months later. We found that, especially the youth or youthful-thinking people, want to buy what they see on the runway that day and wear it the next day.
ALINA CHO: Of course.
TOMMY HILFIGER: You want that immediate gratification.
ALINA CHO: That's right.
TOMMY HILFIGER: [By the time the clothes come out], they've seen it on celebrities, they've seen it on social media, they've seen it on the runway, they've seen it all over, so they're tired of it. They want something new and fresh, so we give them something new and fresh that they can buy then and there.
“I KEPT THINKING, ‘I SHOULD HAVE MY OWN BRAND’”
ALINA CHO: Tommy Hilfiger, the brand, was founded in 1985, 37 years ago. You started in 1968 with one clothing store [in your hometown, Elmira, New York] called People's Place.
Photo Courtesy: Tommy Hilfiger
TOMMY HILFIGER: Just jeans in the beginning.
ALINA CHO: Is this right, you used $150 that you earned from working at a gas station?
TOMMY HILFIGER: Correct, and I bought 20 pairs of bell bottom jeans.
Source: Twitter @tommyhilfiger
ALINA CHO: That's crazy.
TOMMY HILFIGER: I rented a small space, painted it black, played crazy rock and roll music, and sold the jeans to my school friends and whoever wanted to look cool at the time.
ALINA CHO: But it became a thing, I mean, you expanded a lot, right?
TOMMY HILFIGER: We opened stores on college campuses throughout New York State, and we morphed into selling records and footwear, accessories and kids’, men's, women's, but cool clothes like, you know, fringe jackets and all sorts of mod clothes.
ALINA CHO: Didn't you used to drive to the city, and you'd be inspired by what you saw on the street, then you'd buy things and rush back and sell them, right?
TOMMY HILFIGER: Absolutely. We would take the jeans and have them embroidered, we would stone wash them, we would sew fringe on them. And as I was doing that, I kept thinking, "I should have my own brand." When I told my family and friends, they said, "Whoa, you really can't do that. You never went to design school. There's no way you could do that.” And I said, "No, I could, I know I can do it."
“I WANTED IT TO BE PREPPY, BUT I WANTED IT TO BE COOL”
ALINA CHO: People talk a lot about this, sort of, classic American preppy style that you espouse, but what was your original idea for Tommy Hilfiger?
TOMMY HILFIGER: I wanted it to be preppy, I wanted it to be all American, but I wanted it to be cool.
Source: Tommy Hilfiger
And when I looked at Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren, I thought that they were preppy, but they didn't have that relaxed cool factor, so I made everything oversized, everything washed, everything very colorful, added detail and trim, and I think I appealed to the young people who still wanted preppy, but they wanted it to be cool.
ALINA CHO: What series of qualities are the combo platter that you think have helped you with your success?
TOMMY HILFIGER: I just knew what I wanted to do, and I didn't want anyone to stop me, and I did not want to take no for an answer. But I think if you look at the platter, as you're talking about, music has been a big part of it, music, and musicians.
Destiny's Child, Source: Billboard
Mark Ronson and Aaliyah, Source: Thrifted.com
I was always obsessed with music and musicians and wanted to dress them and sponsor their tours and use them in the advertising and have them become very much a part of the brand.
Snoop Dogg, Source: Pinterest
ALINA CHO: Well, and they did, and very organically, right? Because they were drawn to the clothes.
Shawn Mendes, Source: Tommy Hilfiger
TOMMY HILFIGER: Yes, exactly.
Bruno Mars, Source: Billboard
ALINA CHO: One more question. It's very difficult for someone today starting out to become Tommy Hilfiger today. It's a different landscape. There are so many fashion designers now, it's very difficult to break through.
TOMMY HILFIGER: Well, there's a lot of competition. But if you have a product and a vision, you can make it, and you don't necessarily have to do it the traditional way. You can do direct-to-consumer, you can do live-stream shopping, you could appear in video games, you can open pop-up shops, you could do something sustainable and cool, or you could come out with something that is super luxe, but at a great price point. There are many ways to do it.
ALINA CHO: Good point.
TOMMY HILFIGER: You need something unique. You need something that nobody else has. And you have to have a specific lane and a specific position.