Hilfiger Recounts Business Obstacles, Successes

UPDATED: November 4, 2014, at 5:00 p.m.

Fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger and Tommy Hilfiger Executive Chairman Fred Gehring spoke to an audience of about 100 about the history of their company and the lessons they had learned during their long careers in business, among other topics, at Harvard Business School Monday afternoon.

The event was hosted by the HBS Retail and Luxury Goods Club and consisted of an hour-long discussion directed by questions submitted by HBS students prior to the event, according to moderator Raffaella Sadun.

One of the main topics of the evening was the turbulent history of Hilfiger's first venture People's Place. In the small town of Elmira in upstate New York, Hilfiger began designing clothes that he thought were “cool,” “vibrant,” “aspirational,” and “all-American,” he said. His company expanded rapidly, but his inexperience led the company to bankruptcy in teh mid-1970s.

“That was my MBA,” Hilfiger quipped.

Hilfiger picked himself back up by attempting to find new investors and launching a new company, Tommy Hilfiger. Within a few years, the company became publicly traded and enjoyed widespread “hype,” Gehring said. But the company’s troubles were far from over.

“Board members were all independents, so there were people from the banking industry and the insurance industry…. These people really didn’t understand the fashion and apparel business,” Hilfiger said. “As a public company, you have this desire to please the shareholders on a regular basis. And you have to push and push and push to get the sales high, and the profits high…. That was very unhealthy.”

As a result of brand oversaturation, an emphasis on cutting costs, and a decline in quality, the company’s North American branch entered a downward spiral, according to Gehring.

Reconnecting with the company’s roots was central to the firm’s rehabilitation, Gehring said.

“Fred spent to re-engage in the creative–runway shows, the advertising, the whole vibe of the brand became alive again. It was a turning point,” Hilfiger said.

Students in attendance at the event said they found the company’s story motivational.

“These guys are the original entrepreneurs. They went through the transformation…. They had a tough time in the U.S. and they turned it around, which is something that doesn’t usually happen,” said Leontios Toumpouris, a student at the Business School.

Others said that they learned practical lessons for their future business endeavors.

“Hearing how [Hilfiger] grew the brand and how he changed his strategy when he needed to was really great, something that I can apply to my career in the future,” said Kaye Kirschner.

When asked what advice he would give to students in attendance, Gehring said, “Looking back over all of it…I couldn’t have planned it. This whole desire for everybody to have a really mapped-out career lined up is overrated.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: Novemeber 4, 2014

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated which of Tommy Hilfiger's companies went bankrupt in the 1970s. In fact, it was Hilfiger's first company, People's Place, that went bankrupt in the mid-1970s.