2007
Tommy Hilfiger owner set record straight on Oprah about racist remarks about his clothing line
Posted by: Fashion06 in Fashion News |
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Tommy Hilfiger appeared on Oprah today to talk about the rumors of him not designing his clothes for Asians and African Americans. The rumor started when Tommy Hilfiger supposedly came on Oprah show and made the remarks when she questioned him about a rumor going on in the media circuit. Supposedly after Tommy said yes she promptly asked him to leave the show. Tommy has stated that he never said that and he has had FBI agents investigating ever since to find out where the rumor originated and so far has had no success other than a few leads.
According to today’s recording Oprah and Tommy both said that he never appeared on the show before and that this was there first time meeting in fact. So apparently the rumors were false and Tommy Hilfiger invites us all to wear his clothing line. That is a relief, because I used to be Tommy Hilfiger from head to toe back in my high school days and as you know I am an African American. For more info on the taping check out Tommy Hilfiger Addresses the Rumors!
Do you guys believe Tommy Hilfiger? Why did he wait so long to address the rumors? Why now? Give me your opinions.
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Fred
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May 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 pm
I remember when I first heard that rumor i was buggin out, but then after getting into the clothing industry I took at as his TARGET MARKET wasn’t asians or african americans but everyone was welcome to wear the clothing and the same goes for the timberland rumor. Ah well good it’s all cleared up now.
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Tommy Hilfiger is made for anyone. FUBU on the other hand….
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
..If some of my hip-hop griots can recall….Grand Puba made plenty of statements about Tommy Hilfiger during his time with Brand Nubian and on the Mary J. Blige 411 remix… something to the effect that “he” was responsible for putting him on the map and Tommy Hilfiger confirmed it in a few articles during the mid/late 90’s.
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
The negative “oh no he didn’t!” backlash strikes me as strange, considering it is fairly well known that Tommy was always very eager to include all people in his brand’s image, using models from diverse ethnicities in his advertisements for 15 years now.
It’s interesting that such a strong track record could be shaken so quickly by just a few comments.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
James…people feed off of negativity
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:10 am
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I didn’t believe the “urban myth” for one second. First of all, he’s always used models of various ethnicities in his ads. Not only do I remember the Grand Puba situation, I also remember when Snoop wore a Tommy shirt on SNL and Tommy himself mentioned the spike in business as a result. This sort of thing happens from time to time… I can go back to the rumor that the KKK was behind the TROOP clothing line (who remembers that one?), the clothing line or the rumor. LOL
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:29 am
Controversy sells clothing. Whether he said this or not is certainly an urban myth that may be hard to substantiate.
My first inclination would be to think a competitor dreamed it up and planted it during the dawn of the Internet age I think it surfaced in 1995 or 1996. One of the first Internet campaigns aimed at discreditation. I think it may have backfired as Tommy went on to record sales and it wasn’t till 2002 that things slowed down. Hilfiger stock has tanked ever since and it would not surprise me one bit to find Tommy himself resurrecting the rumour to stoke sales. He still holds a big chunk of Tommy stock and may be refueling the rumour to jack up sales ans subsequently stock prices.
In hindsight, it is completely possible he casually mentioned it to someone in his group that was in the throes of starting their own label and the geniuses thought it might be advantageous to leak it.A comment like that could only be made to someone close to the source.
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Didn’t Hilfiger have a reality show at one time? Or was that his daughters reality show?
Anyway, if he wanted to boost sales he should take a “Donald Trump” approach. Even better, he and Fred should collabo and have a reality show, “How to Start a Clothing Line.” That will get me watching!!! Although, I still won’t purchase T. Hilfigers clothing…not my style.
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Hey I wish I could make that happen Iceland…probably have to go through 20 people just to get to his assistant…lol
May 7th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I remember the Tommy Hilfiger days… Yup back in High School(1996-1999). During that time, nothing was better than his line. It was the thing to have along with Nautica & Polo. Of course now, they’re pretty much “played out”. These 3 companies had one particular style & never really changed… I believe it was like “clean & preppy”. Lets not forget KSwiss in the mix. haha I have the feeling that style/look eventually come back since fashion always recycle. As for the rumor about him being racist, I actually felt bad for the guy. When I first heard about it, I was pretty shocked. BUT DAMN!!! It took him that long to come out & say something about it. On the news, they reported as if it was true.
Also, that was when the whole urban/streetwear started dominating the fashion industry(1999). Thanks to Marc Ecko, street innovation/culture blew up.
November 11th, 2007 at 2:30 am
to late it all over ubran clothing is here to stay