In 1997, I received
a letter stating some racist comments that Tommy Hilfiger made. Soon after
I vowed never to buy Tommy clothes again. I made copies of the letter
and gave them out to friends. After a while i received another letter
attempting to explain Tommy's comments. The following are three messages
about whether Tommy Hilfiger is really racist.
The first is the first letter I received, and the second is the letter
trying to explain Tommy's side.
The third is a response to both letters.
Show this to all the peepz you know so that they can get both sides of
the story.
Feel free to email me if you have any input on the subject... AznGiRrLeE@aol.com
oR aNiMePiNay@juno.com
The first letter...
Following is an excerpt
from Cristina Peczon's article in the newspaper, Isyu (November 13, 1996).
Somebody had me read it and I felt you guys might also like to know about
it.
EAT YOUR CLOTHES, MR. RACIST DESIGNER
Could someone please correct me if I heard wrong. Because if what I heard
is right, I am never ever going to buy another piece of clothing that
has anything to do with American designer Tommy Hilfiger again. In fact,
if this up and coming designer really did insult my people, you can bet
that I will do every single thing I can in my power to make sure that
his label never makes it here.
All my name-brand conscious friends are reworking their imported-label
wardrobes these days. No, not that they have finally decided to buy completely
Filipino goods (even though I think that isn't a bad idea). My friends
are just tossing out their Tommy Hilfiger designer clothes. And to think
many of them spent a small fortune on these expensive polo shirts and
the like.
Apparently, world-class designer Ralph Lauren and this Tommy Hilfiger
guested on fashion authority Elsa Klensch's 'Style' on CNN recenty to
talk about the latest trends on what's in and what's out. During the course
of her interview with the pair, Klensch told respected Polo maker Ralph
Lauren that his brand has become quite popular all over the world -- including
in Asian nations such as the Philippines. Lauren graciously thanked the
CNN 'Style' host, saying that he sincerely appreciated the support from
all those who endorsed and purchased his line. Hilfiger then supposedly
butted in then with a comment, something like it is one thing for one's
label to go popular worldwide, but there are some people who just don't
look well in "their" designer clothes. Hilfiger then allegedly named several
Asian races, apparently saying that he preferred if "these people" wouldn't
wear their line -- particularly Filipinos!
I am shocked by the idea that a supposedly respected new fashion designer
would be so crass as to make a statement such as that. Talk about being
too big for his breeches. And to think that someone as big as ralph Lauren
was only too happy to thank those who buy his line, including the Filipinos
who have made Polo big in Asia. After all, if you think about it, Polo
has indeed made it as a big name here in the Philippines, even if we are
not as rich and affluent as our Asian neighbors.
(Cristina Peczon can be reached at cristina@iconn.com.ph)
The second letter...
I saw the show,
and Hilfiger was referring to the case of bootlegging their merchandise...
meaning selling clothes with fake labels, but for original high prices.
For your information, the interview was done on March of 1994.... The
first Tommy Hilfiger official line of clothes wasn't launched formally
in the Philippines until November of 1996... there are more than two years
gap. Hilfiger was referring to the simple fact that Asians, Chinese, Filipino,
or any other groups of people ( for that matter ) should not profit by
hurting another person's potential revenue.
~~~He never said anything about Filipinos not looking good while sporting
his gear. ~~~He said Filipinos wore his clothes.... but they weren't (his
clothes). ~~~He said the clothes were outrageous, and were not his styles
to begin with. ~~~He said..." if they were going to put my name on something,
they could have at least made them look a bit better ( hinting at Ralph
Lauren because the bootleg styles were modeled after POLO SPORT AND CHAPS)
I know this because my Aunt is a dealer/purchase manager for Nordstroms,
and she got really in to this stuff. I also worked with Nordstroms for
almost a year.
THERE IS NO TRUTH TO THESE FALSE ALLEGATIONS!!!!! I for one wear different
lines of Tommy Hilfiger's collection from jackets, shirts, cologne, jeans,
down to the socks, and I will continue to until he REALLY does something
that will offend me as a person, and especially me as a VERY PROUD PILIPINO.
But as far as everything else goes... I don't think that it's fair to
judge anybody so radically. It is also very insulting to our fellow Pilipinos
who spend a good fraction of their money looking good in any line of clothing
(Hilfiger in this case)
Spread this around like you did the other letter... if we Pilipinos are
to be informed... we need to be informed correctly.... with no doctored
up claims.
Here are what people have said about the fashion designer...
well i still don
know about Tommy....because he made a brand of surfer clothes so more
white people would buy his clothes...so i heard, thats why he made them...He
is Trying to get them to buy the clothes....only hardcore white ppl would
buy the clothes....the surfers would never buy clothes that say tommy.....Its
like poser like to them to be a surfer and wear Tommy.. ...so Tommy would
get nowhere with the surfer brand.....it was to me, jus an attempt to
get white ppl to buy....welpz....surfer tommy clothes ish not gonna werk..
--
D.L.
Subject: Re: ~^v^~
Should I Still Wear Hilfiger? ~^v^~
Date: Sun, Jan 4, 1998 03:33 EST
From: Wspkisses@aol.com
what he said was on a vh1 awards show and he was talking about rip-offs of his clothes that were being made in asia
but i was watching oprah and he did make rude comments about black peeps waering his clothes...oprah asked him to leave, and don't even try to tell me all it was was online hype cuz i was watching it myself...
and you know, whats the whole point of going designer?
some kids nowadays think that the hip hop scence is about flashing fasion with peeps names written all over...
we need more substance...less
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