Tommy Hilfiger grew up as the second oldest of nine children in an Irish Catholic family in Elmira, a small town near Cornell University. His father was a watchmaker, and his mother was a nurse. In 1969, Tommy Hilfiger bought jeans for $150 that he sold to local youth, completing the deal quickly. The success of this campaign encouraged him to continue on this basis, using the saved profits to open his first store, "The People Store", in the same year.
There, he offered young fashion for students, and the business flourished, leading to the opening of further branches. By the end of the decade, Hilfiger had become the entrepreneur of a total of ten fashion stores. With increased sales, he began producing pants with his own label from the mid-1970s.
In 1979, Hilfiger sold his chain to focus full-time on fashion design, despite having no formal fashion training. He presented his first own collection in 1984, featuring sporty clothing in a classic American look. This stylistic language would shape his designs going forward, earning him the nickname "casual wear".
His target audience was young people who lived life to the fullest, and his preferred colors were the red, white, and blue of the US national flag. His clothes bore his own Hilfiger label, with sportiness, youth, and lifestyle becoming key words in promoting his collections.
By the 1980s, Hilfiger's fashion appealed primarily to middle-class Americans, but it also gained popularity among young African Americans, who were included in his target audience advertising. From the 1990s onwards, Hilfiger based his style on the college look of the east coast of the United States, which he adapted to a sporty look.
By 1990, the "Hilfiger" brand had achieved sales of $25 million, and in 1992, Hilfiger took his company public. He received numerous awards, including Designer of the Year for men's fashion in 1995, solidifying his reputation as a prominent fashion designer.
In the following years, Hilfiger expanded his brand to include collections for women, men, and children, as well as tailored suits, underwear, and comfortable sportswear. His patriotic look was also distributed in Europe and Germany, and he launched a new product line featuring accessories such as watches.
In 2005, Hilfiger sold his company to the investment firm Apax Partners for $1.6 billion. He married former model Dee Ocleppo on December 12, 2008, and they had a son, Sebastian Thomas. Hilfiger was already the father of four children from his first marriage to Susie.
In March 2010, the fashion group Hilfiger was acquired by Phillips-Van Heusen for approximately 2.2 billion euros.
