Thomas Jacob Hilfiger

By Sara Templeton

Tom Hilfiger is often credited with pioneering urban wear for not only generation X in the late '90s, but also generation Y today, and many are quick to applaud him for predicting a boom in such youth markets.

An atypical American designer to begin with, Hilfiger's signature style first started to take form - in what would eventually become the benchmark for today's quintessential street wear - in the early 90s, but his rise to prominence started all the way back in the '70s.

Born on March 24, in 1951, Thomas Jacob Hilfiger grew up in the rural town of Elmira in New York state, but beyond the hussle bussle of the Big Apple. One of nine children, Tom had always been pretty keen on fashion, and at age 18, when most of his peers were heading off to college, he decided to start working in the retail business.

One thing lead to another, and before long young Tommy Hilfiger had opened his first shop, The People's Place, in upstate New York. Simply put, he would travel into the Big Apple every so often and stock up on jeans and, at the time, the rather happening bell-bottom pants.

Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan and in '76 the The People's Place was shut down due to lack of funds, but at the same time he had 10 speciality shops, catering mostly for the college crowd, so it wasn't a total loss.

A 25-year-old Tommy wasn't put off by the closure of his original boutique, and in fact it seemed to spur him on. As such, he turned to the 'supply' side of the operation, and instead of selling manufactured clothes, he started to make his own.

Despite being offered senior design positions with the likes of Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein, Hilfiger decided to go his own way and, at the end of a long hard day, it would be fair to say that he made a good decision.

In the mid 70s and into the 80s, during the disco-era, Hilfiger worked on plenty of 'hip' designs for couturier Jordache, where his skills as a designer were being sharpened.

In 1985, Thomas Hilfiger unveiled his first signature line of 'Tommy Hilfiger' clothes. Of his designs, he stated: "I knew exactly what I wanted to do: I wanted to build a brand of clothing around my own attitude and my own lifestyle."

The next year in 1986, Hilfiger launched a ballsy $3 million advertising campaign, which declared that the four greatest American designers were Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, Calvin Klein and Tommy himself.

By 1990, Hilfiger was making $25 million a year from selling his urban-designer wear, and during this time there was a huge demand for Tommy Hilfiger product. In 1994, Snoop Doggy Dogg wore a Hilfiger shirt on the popular American comedy Saturday Night Live, essentially improving TH's already impressive street cred.

By the mid-90s, the Hilfiger brand was more popular than ever, and responding to the enthusiasm of America's youth towards the range, designs got baggier and things like the ice hockey jerseys were introduced.

At the world's first ever VH-1 Fashion and Music Awards in December 1995, Tom was given the "From the Catwalk to the Sidewalk" award, which celebrated the designer whose clothing was most easily worn unaltered by the man or woman on the street.

In the same year, Hilfiger also won the 'Menswear Designer of the Year' award, which was largely judged by his peers at the Council of Fashion Designers America.

Many say that Hilfiger's designs are so appealing because they make the best use of bright, bold colours, and others say it's all in the genes, no pun intended. But perhaps the man himself sums it up most appropriately: "My philosophy is based on creating a true mixture of sportswear and tailored clothing.

"I take tailored clothing and sportswear, the foundations of our collection, and put them in a blender to create something new and exciting. It gives us the opportunity to have a broad appeal: to dress both the classic and the fashion consumer."

Nowadays Thomas Jacob Hilfiger's company, Tommy Hilfiger Inc., is a multi-billion dollar business, which has a number of product lines including jeans, fragrances, kids, home, golf, plus mens and womens wear.

Links
Tommy Hilfiger: official site