Abstract

Tommy Hilfiger (Tommy) is a designer, manufacturer, and retailer of men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel. As of 2016, it was owned by The Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (PVH). Tommy Hilfiger was named after its founder, Thomas Jacob Hilfiger (Hilfiger). Hilfiger was born in Elmira, New York, in 1951. The cases discuss Tommy’s journey from the year it was founded in 1985 to its acquisition by PVH. Case (B) continues with the early efforts of Tommy to achieve a turnaround. While the US operations were not doing well, Tommy’s European operations were growing under a regional CEO with a different point of view on how Tommy should make a strategic shift from being a domestic-oriented company to a truly global player. The case further unfolds with Tommy going private under a private equity firm named Apex Partners and then reviews the strategic initiatives taken by the PE firm to bring about a turnaround.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Global Expansion of brand and brand localization.
• Turnaround strategies for a retail brand.
• Rationalizing operations.
• Exclusivity in Distribution.

Keywords

Global Markets, Brand Localization, Retail Strategy, Distribution Exclusivity, Private Equity, Acquisitions.