the company . for the american fashion designer see tommy hilfiger . tommy hilfiger group type subsidiary industry fashion industry textiles founded 1985 ; 31 years ago 1985 headquarters new york city new york us usa ua 1 areas served global key people tommy hilfiger founder daniel grieder ceo 2 products fabrics designer wear denim cosmetics & toiletries home furnishings number of employees 10 001 3 2015 parent murjani international 1985 1989 pvh 2010 present website tommy.com tommy hilfiger formerly known as tommy hilfiger corporation and tommy hilfiger inc. is an american multinational corporation that designs and manufactures high end apparel for men women and children and a wide range of licensed products such as footwear accessories fragrances and home furnishings . 5 the company was founded in 1985 6 and today is sold in department stores and over 1400 free standing retail stores in 90 countries . 7 in 2006 private equity firm apax partners acquired tommy hilfiger for approximately 1.6 billion 8 and in may 2010 pvh corp. nyse pvh then known as philips van heusen bought the company . 9 daniel grieder was appointed ceo in july 2014 while founder tommy hilfiger remains the company s principal designer leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process . 5 global sales in retail through the brand in 2013 were us 6.4 billion 5 and 6.7 billion in 2014 . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 background and founding 1960s 1990s 1.2 growth of popularity and product lines 1990s 1.3 pvh acquisition and recent years 2000s 2 product lines 3 marketing and advertising 4 philanthropy 5 locations 6 corporate responsibility 7 recognition 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit background and founding 1960s 1990s edit tommy hilfiger s career in fashion began in 1968 when he co founded a clothing and record store named people s place in upstate new york . using 150 10 he d saved from working at a petrol station as startup money 10 he oversaw the expansion of the company into a chain 11 of ten stores . despite meeting with initial success 10 people s place filed for bankruptcy in 1977 . 10 in 1979 hilfiger moved to new york city to pursue a career as a fashion designer 12 working on several different labels including jordache jeans . 11 13 in the early 1980s he met mohan murjani an indian textile magnate hoping to launch a line of men s clothing . with murjani s backing 11 in 1985 hilfiger debuted his first signature collection 6 which featured modernized versions of button down shirts chinos and other classic preppy styles . the casual youthful attitude of these first designs would remain a trait of the tommy hilfiger corporation s later collections . 5 the new clothing line made its debut with a high profile marketing campaign which included a large billboard in times square 6 by advertiser george lois . 14 the tommy hilfiger brand left murjani international in 1989 with silas chou instead providing financial backing . 15 that year lawrence stroll and joel horowitz both former executives of ralph lauren were hired as executives of the newly formed company tommy hilfiger inc. which had an initial focus on casual male sportswear . 16 growth of popularity and product lines 1990s edit freja erichsen at tommy hilfiger spring 2009 tommy hilfiger designer glasses the tommy hilfiger corporation went public in 1992 . 11 after licensing pepe jeans usa in 1995 in 1996 tommy hilfiger inc. began distributing women s clothing . 15 by the end of the next year hilfiger had opened his first store in beverly hills which was followed by a store in london in 1998 . 15 the company launched its bed and bath line in 1998 . 11 throughout the 1990s the company s marketing division worked in tandem with the popular music industry and as early as 1993 hilfiger was an official sponsor for pete townshend s psychoderelict tour . in the early 1990s a baggier less tailored menswear look came into fashion and hilfiger gave his clothes a more relaxed fit . 17 as roomier styles with oversized logos became popular with hip hop artists in the mid to late 90s 18 hilfiger s style of clothing became both increasingly popular with the american preppy scene and as hip hop fashion 6 and when snoop dogg wore a hilfiger sweatshirt during an appearance on saturday night live in the 1990s it sold out of new york city stores the next day . 19 moreover hilfiger courted the new hip hop market and rappers like puffy and coolio walked during his runways shows . 19 with collections often influenced by the fashion of music subcultures the clothes are also marketed in connection with the music industry 20 21 and american r & b icon aaliyah became the much publicized spokesperson for tommy hilfiger corporation in 1997 . 22 the company would later sponsor sheryl crow s if it makes you happy tour in 1997 23 britney spears 1999 ... baby one more time tour 24 25 and lenny kravitz s 1999 freedom tour . 26 pvh acquisition and recent years 2000s edit women s intimate apparel was introduced in 2001 . 11 after sales and net income faltered in 2001 11 the company s sales in 2002 totaled 1.87 billion . 11 overall between 2000 and 2009 sales slipped from around 1.9 billion 27 to 700 million . 18 during the same time period however hilfiger s european sales steadily rose to 1.13 billion . in 2003 hilfiger executive fred gehring and hilfiger decided to further invest in the brand s growing overseas audience by re focusing on the brand s original style classic american cool and designing the clothes out of new york city . 27 gehring also adapted the business model to suit european retail culture pursuing partnerships with european department stores and with smaller boutiques signing 4 500 of them in 15 countries . 27 hilfiger also strove 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 . 6 tommy hilfiger storefront inside a mall in 2014 hilfiger has endorsed products such as true star is a fragrance which was released in 2004 with beyonc knowles as poster girl . 28 true star would go on to win a fifi award for best new commercial fragrance . 29 by 2004 the tommy hilfiger corporation company had revenues of 1.8 approximately billion and 5 400 employees . 13 in 2006 tommy hilfiger sold tommy hilfiger inc. for 1.6 billion 8 or 16.80 a share to apax partners a private investment company . 30 after the acquisition gehring assumed control of the american headquarters of tommy hilfiger as well as europe . gehring and hilfiger narrowed their focus in the united states to the profitable core sportswear line and u.s. sales began to rise in 2010 . 18 in march 2010 phillips van heusen pvh corp. bought the tommy hilfiger corporation for 3 billion 31 32 in a deal that was nearly seven times what pvh had paid for calvin klein in 2003 . 9 fred gehring who launched hilfiger s european division in 1996 assumed the role of hilfiger s ceo . 9 global sales in retail for the brand in 2013 were us 6.4 billion 5 and 6.7 billion in 2014 . 4 daniel grieder was appointed ceo of tommy hilfiger group in july 2014 . former ceo gehring was made executive chairman of tommy hilfiger group 33 and was appointed vice chairman of pvh . 33 in january 2015 tommy hilfiger debuted a digital sales showroom at its new york city headquarters which the publication wgsn opined would transform the traditional buying process . 34 with plans to open showrooms in other cities 35 hilfiger described the showroom as an innovation of the order process with cost saving potentials along the whole value chain . 36 gehring stepped down as tommy hilfiger group s chairman in august 2015 though he retained his role at pvh . 37 tommy hilfiger remains the company s principal designer leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process . 5 product lines edit tommy hilfiger delivers its products worldwide under the tommy hilfiger and hilfiger denim brands 38 and also has a breadth of collections including hilfiger collection tommy hilfiger tailored men s women s and kid s sportswear denim accessories and footwear . in addition the brand is licensed for a range of products such as fragrances eyewear watches and home furnishings . 4 tommy hilfiger the main line of the tommy hilfiger corporation like the company s other lines it is influenced by classic american fashion or more specifically what the company dubs preppy with a twist . it targets customers in the 25 to 40 year old range . 4 hilfiger denim more casual than the tommy hilfiger label it targets both men and women in the 18 to 30 year old range . beyond jeans the line also includes denim separates footwear bags accessories eyewear and fragrances . 4 hilfiger collection intended for women the clothing line blends classic american influences with contemporary styles . the clothes are marketed towards women age 25 to 40 . the designs periodically debut during new york fashion week . 4 tommy hilfiger tailored an american menswear line meant to the 25 to 40 year old demographic . styles vary from formal suits to casual wear with a focus on what the tommy hilfiger group website describes as precision fit premium fabrics updated cuts rich colors and luxe details . 4 marketing and advertising edit in 1985 to help him launch his first collection hilfiger hired advertiser and graphic designer george lois 14 to make a billboard for the center of times square in new york city . 6 instead of models the ad featured the initials of three well known fashion designers pe perry ellis rl ralph lauren ck calvin klein and announced that th tommy hilfiger was the next great menswear designer . the billboard created a stir in the fashion press and succeeded in creating awareness of the hilfiger name . 9 in subsequent years hilfiger and lois collaborated again on other ads for the hilfiger brand . one campaign in 1990 compared hilfiger s american style with other iconic american classics such as the 1955 thunderbird and the 1940 harley davidson bike . 17 hilfiger courted the new hip hop market in the 1990s 19 and rappers like puffy and coolio walked during its runways shows . 19 tommmy hilfiger spring campaign 2014 showing the hilfigers . from 2002 to 2006 tommy hilfiger owned the naming rights to the tommy hilfiger at jones beach theatre amphitheater on long island 39 one of the more popular music venues in the united states . 11 starting in 2010 in collaboration with new york advertising firm laird & partners tommy hilfiger corporation launched the advertising campaign the hilfigers . the campaign features a fictional family of hilfigers wearing the brand s clothing in fun preppy venues . the first campaign for fall 2010 was a photoset of a college football tailgate followed by photshoots at a tennis court a rustic holiday party a camping trip an ivy league college and the beaches of malibu . the spring and summer collections of 2015 were displayed at a wedding in sonoma california followed by an american football stadium for fall and winter . 40 the brand created the publicity tour prep world in 2011 which featured specialty pop up shops in paris new york london stockholm los angeles madrid milan the german island sylt and the belgian town of knokke . hilfiger made personal appearances with author and preppy expert lisa birnbach as well as designing a special clothing collection to support the initiative . 41