LOS ANGELES, Dec 4, 2004/ FW/ --- Last October 28, Tommy Hilfiger was named by the DNR magazine (Daily News Record Men’s Wear News and Trends) as one of the top 10 most influential movers and shakers for the past year.

The month before that, during New York Fashion Week, Tommy Hilfiger presented its Spring / Summer 2005 collection for both its menswear and womenswear. And from what was shown, it was obvious why the designer was named as one of the most influential menswear designer in the U.S.

Sticking to his forte, which is sportswear, Tommy Hilfiger proposed bright colors for men – from bright red to pink to baby blue. For those who wanted to stay on the conservative side, he offered black pinstripe suits.

The womenswear collection echoed the bright colors that were used in the menswear collection - yellow, red and orange either in color block prints or solids.

The brightness and the cheerfulness of the collections did not show any premonition of the darker days to come.

On November 3, the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation announced that the “Company is taking several actions as a result of the previously announced investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York by providing documents and other information to the U.S. Attorney's Office in response to the investigation and that the Board of Directors of the Company has formed a Special Committee of independent directors, to conduct an independent investigation into matters arising out of the governmental investigation.”

On the same day, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation reported that for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, a pretax income of $69.3 million compared to $81.0 million for the prior year.

Net revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2005 was $536.1 million compared to $547.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2004. For the second quarter of fiscal 2005, the Company earned pretax income of $69.3 million as compared to pretax income of $81.0 million a year ago.

It was a series of bad news for the company and the silver lining did not come until November 11, when Bob Rosenblatt, a Bloomingdale’s 14-year veteran, was named Chief Operating Officer of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, as well as Group President and Chief Operating Officer of Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A., Inc., the Company's principal operating subsidiary.

Early this week, Lynn Shanahan was named to the newly created position of Group President for U.S. Wholesale. Ms. Shanahan, a 13-year veteran of the Company, previously held responsibility for Licensing, Strategy, New Business Acquisition, and E-Commerce.

With the winter almost upon us, we can only hope that the brightness and cheerfulness of Tommy Hilfiger’s Spring / Summer 2005 collection rubs off for the holiday shopping season.

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger