The Hilfiger Factor and the Flexible Commercial World of CoutureUS success when rap stars, such as Snoop Doggy Dogg wore his clothes in
- Like a couture house, Hilfiger too places advertisements in the elite
fashion magazines right alongside those of Dior, Gucci and Chanel. Just like
the famous design houses, Hilfiger expanded his business and boundaries in
the late 1990s by opening new international branches and retailing in thirty
countries. ‘I am inspired by Europeans and their sense of style,’ he declared
inDNR, 17 October 1997 when he was first launching his products upon
an unsuspecting Europe. Exactly how his designs festooned in the red, white
and blue stars and stripes of the American flag are European inspired seems
unclear, but these were launched like couture products at celebrity parties in
Hamburg, Madrid and London, with Sheryl Crow providing the musical
backing.
Hilfiger has understood his market well. It is not the safely well-off, middle-
class, middle-aged rich but the international, mass, multi-racial youth market.
The best-selling Hilfiger jacket in Europe is the ‘Admont’ puffa jacket in
cotton sateen with a nylon lining and large HILFIGER logo – at £295 each.
His company mission statement for 1998 read: ‘The spirit of youth is our
Figure 8.5.Promotional advertising form Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, 1998.