An American History Of Entrepreneurship

Chapter one: the 1960s -1970 era started from bankruptcy and ended in bankruptcy.

If there is a time machine, please allow me to dial the pointer back to 1969 to see the northern part of New York.

In downtown, the little shop called People s Place.

The walls were painted black, and the room was filled with fragrant smoke. Fashionable trendy pants, idyllic shirts and wonderful tussled waistbands were everywhere.

From time to time, a crowd of people flocked to the shop. Most of them were friends of the shopkeeper: the musician, the girl who had just made hair in salon, and the latest album of rolling stones, ready to go to the young people in the underground band concert.

On the ladder or on the newly arrived jeans loading and unloading car, you will see a short, thin boy.

His fluffy hair and his wanton grin were impressive -- the 18 year old TommyHilfiger.

In the late 60s of the last century, New York was a big apple capital shrouded in "diathesis".

But Tommy (until now he still likes to be called the boy's angry name, when I call him "Mr. Hilfiger", he was immediately corrected.

It has boundless energy and typical American fearlessness.

Like Est e Lauder, MarthaStewart, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, Tommy was born in a humble home.

They paid more than ordinary people's unremitting efforts, and then created their own fashion kingdom.

The boy was now a nearly 60 year old millionaire with 1000 stores in the world.

He travels by private jet and is always surrounded by a group of followers and public relations.

We meet on the famous Regent Avenue in London.

The flagship store is located here.

For most of the time, he still used to wear jeans -- a specially ordered silver button for him.

On the day of the interview, Tommy wore a tailored and striped suit and a tie. He said he had "put on his best clothes" because he had just attended a fashion event before.

The consistent hair style and unscrupulous smile often make people misunderstand that he is an exaggerated male kid.

So we know very well that we have to rely on our own money to buy food and go to the cinema.

He did all the work of delivering newspapers and working at gas stations.

One day he went to Manhattan, so he sprouted the idea of doing business: why not buy some jeans there and sell it back to the conservative Elmira locals? His retail career began.

At first, Tommy failed to find the ideal in Manhattan.

So he started to design small quantities of clothing himself.

In the early 1970s, People 's Place opened a chain store on more than 10 East Coast universities, and Tommy began to find that her creativity was not enough, so she looked for several partners.

The group of young men had a party in New York Studio 54 every night, leaving the shop business unattended.

So Hilfiger went bankrupt at the age of 23.

The second chapter: in the 1970s -1980 era, "four great men's clothing designers in the United States".

As the novelist says, there are second chapters in life.

Since then, Hilfiger has begun to learn everything from doing business.

Before that, he could not draw design drawings, he would not hit the board, he knew nothing about financial knowledge.

While working for Cowboy brand Jordache, he created his own personal brand, Tommy Hill. He was worried that the strange word "Hilfiger" would scare away customers.

In fact, at that time, he was awarded the position of Calvin Klein cowboy and casual wear designer. But before he accepted the position, he met a fortune teller with a strange idea. Fortune teller told him not to accept the job because there would be better opportunities to come.

It sounds incredible, but the miracle really happened! One day, he received a telephone call from fabric dealer Mohan Murjani. The generous gentleman promised to sponsor him to create her own brand on condition that she used the name "Tommy Hilfiger", because strange names are more easily remembered.

The re attack 25 years ago left the fashion industry with an astonishing reputation.

Murjani rented the billboard of a football field in New York Times Square and wrote the following words: "the four great men's clothing designers in the United States: R----L-----, P----E----, C-----K---- and T----H-------", so that people can fill in the blanks themselves.

Tommy Hilfiger, an obscure "outsider", is even equal to Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein. This really frightens Hilfiger herself.

"I felt uncomfortable all the time, but I thought the ad would be the perfect model on the beach.

But they told me that it would take years and lots of money to make me red.

The investors tried to persuade me to take a risk. "

People 's Place gene is in Tommy Hilfiger brand.

It is still visible.

He no longer had Hippie flavor in his design, but walked out of a clear academic school line.

In order to better sell the brand, Hilfiger often wanders between the fashion industry and the rock industry.

He sponsored concerts such as rolling stones and Lenny Kravitz, and invited pop stars such as Beyonc to shoot brand advertisements.

Tommy Hilfiger's brand activities always attract a large group of fashion enthusiasts to join in, like carnival.

Like many American designers, Hilfiger pays more attention to the practicality of design rather than the show.

The same is true of Klein, Lauren and Donna Karan, and will never change strongly in the two quarter, just like European designers.

They will only make some adjustments in the classics, such as adding small details to the POLO shirt, adding streamlined designs to jeans and so on.

The clothing concept of American customers is actually very traditional.

Hilfiger himself wore only white and blue shirts, grey and Navy T-shirts, and jeans or cotton trousers.

He wears a jacket occasionally and seldom wears a tie.

Don't designers have their own logo? Even Karl Lagerfeld is no exception.

"Karl's clothes are really complicated!" Hilfiger said. "He gave me a shirt with bags in front and buttons on the back. I can't wear them.

Unless you have a servant like him, you don't want to plug yourself in. "

The success of Tommy Hilfiger has a great relationship with the design route that he deeply rooted in American culture.

Elvis Presley, President Kennedy, Harley motor, Hollywood, Hershey Chocolate, Cape Cod beach, well-dressed people, and the unique costumes of the west coast have given him great inspiration.

To some extent, he is also promoting his fashionable patriotism while selling clothes.

The third chapter: the Empire of Tommy in the 1990s -2000 era.

In the middle of 1990s, Snoop Dogg, the hip hop leader, wore Hilfiger clothes on the SaturdayNight Live program. After that, TommyHilfiger was quickly accepted by rappers and black people and became a tool for them to flaunt their status.

Hilfiger also mentioned this time series for the limited edition series published to celebrate the brand's 25 th birthday - this crowd's support is even more valuable than the name of Tommy Hilfiger's billboard.

Tommy said, "this is very interesting.

They were pop singers, and at that time I also wore sweatshirts, school clothes, surfing costumes and baseball shirts.

This is a trend among them, and then they begin to embrace other trends.

During that time, Hilfiger consumers were filled with gunmen and drug users, and in the long run, they even scared away the real "academic consumers".

Hilfiger had to work hard to save the hearts of these customers, but the market at that time was no longer waiting.

In the United States, the brand is oversupplied, its registered trademark products are everywhere, and there are more and more fake goods in department stores.

Finally, around 2000, Hilfiger decided to retrench, withdraw from all department stores, and close some stores.

He focused on improving the quality of fabrics, giving the brand the vitality, quality and attractiveness.

In a short period of time, the brand really came back to life.

But in 2006, Tommy Hilfiger was sold to a private investment firm at a price of about $1 billion due to a sharp fall in share prices.

In March 2010, it was bought again at a high price of 3 billion dollars, and this time the owner was replaced by Phillips-Van Heusen group, the holder of Calvin Klein.

"There are no two days of repetition in my life. Just like my clothing series, there is absolutely no same two season. This is my favorite state.

I have the ability to create new things and maintain the logical balance between season and season.

I like everything related to vision, and I am also interested in color, art, music and so on.

I am strongly aware that athletes, models and even actors can not do all their careers, but designers are the ones I can always work for.

I am very hesitant to ask Hilfiger's 20 year old son, Richard, who was arrested last summer because he was found to have marijuana.

Unexpectedly, Tommy took the initiative to talk about this son.

"My son spent a very extraordinary period, and I brought him back to New York."

Is he going to live with your care? "Yes, he needs guidance.

Losangeles is too unsafe. It's full of rich families. They have money and drugs. Hollywood is a mess. "

Recalling his tending to his children, and being away from home for a long time because of his busy work, he felt that his success was "bittersweet".