Shoe blog

Happy Birthday Tommy Hilfiger

Today Tommy Hilfiger turns 59.

Tommy was born in Elmira,  New York.  His parents wanted him to be an engineer, only he had other ideas.  Instead of going to college in 1969, he picked up a  retail job at a local downtown Elmira store.  He would go into New York, purchase clothing, customize them, and resell them in this store.   The store eventually became a casualty of city growth to the suburbs.  It was bulldozed to make room for the Elmira Jackals hockey arena. 

Tommy eventually landed in New York and opened up a clothing design house in 1984.  It seemed like we saw Tommy Hilfiger clothing everywhere.  His clothing popularity peaked in the late 1990′s, and he sold the company to an investment firm in 2006 for $1.6 billion, but just this month Phillips-Van Heusen bought Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $3 billion. 

In March 2000  about 20 companies settled a class-action suit by Saipan garment workers, who claimed mistreatment.  These companies have manufacturing in Saipan, which is a territory of the United States.  The lables can say “Made in the USA” but they don’t have to follow the US labor laws.  Tommy Hilfiger Corp was one of those twenty companies.

Here are some Tommy shoes for you today. 

Gresham $73 at Zappos

Bobbie $51 at Zappos

To celebrate I am going to wear my boat shoes.