Tommy Hilfiger, a global pioneer of American style, has spread everything that makes US preppy style cool all around the globe, establishing itself as one of the biggest players in vintage clothing. The brand’s journey began in 1968 when Tommy Hilfiger co-founded a clothing and record store named People’s Place in upstate New York. Despite initial success, the store filed for bankruptcy in 1977. Undeterred, Hilfiger moved to New York City in 1979 to pursue a career in fashion design, working on several labels, including Jordache Jeans. In the early 1980s, he met Mohan Murjani, an Indian textile magnate who backed Hilfiger’s first signature collection in 1985. Featuring modernized versions of classic preppy styles, this collection debuted with a high-profile marketing campaign that included a large billboard in Times Square. By 1989, with new financial backing from Silas Chou and the expertise of former Ralph Lauren executives Lawrence Stroll and Joel Horowitz, Tommy Hilfiger, Inc. focused on casual male sportswear and went public in 1992.

Throughout the 1990s, the brand’s marketing division worked closely with the popular music industry, propelling the brand into the mainstream. Iconic moments, such as Snoop Dogg wearing a Hilfiger sweatshirt on Saturday Night Live, cemented its place in hip-hop fashion. The brand continued to grow, introducing women’s clothing in 1996 and opening stores in Beverly Hills and London. Tommy Hilfiger’s products became synonymous with “preppy with a twist,” appealing to a broad audience.

In the 2000s, the brand expanded its product lines and refocused on its original style, “classic American cool.” Despite sales fluctuations, European sales steadily rose, and the brand’s presence grew globally. By 2010, the brand was acquired by Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH Corp.) for $3 billion. Under PVH, Tommy Hilfiger introduced innovations such as a digital sales showroom and launched various collections, including a genderless line in collaboration with Indya Moore.

Today, Tommy Hilfiger delivers products worldwide, offering a range of collections that include sportswear, denim, accessories, fragrances, and home furnishings. The brand remains committed to its classic American influences, continuously adapting to modern trends while maintaining its iconic style. Identifying vintage Tommy Hilfiger pieces involves examining logos, neck tags, and wash tags, which have evolved over the decades, reflecting the brand’s rich history and its ongoing influence in fashion.

Iconic 1990s Tommy Hilfiger Advert featuring Aaliyah

How to tell if Tommy Hilfiger is vintage from the logo

The Tommy Hilfiger logo is an indicator of quality and style. But more than this, it is featured on almost every item of vintage Tommy Hilfiger clothing, whether it’s a small chest logo on a vintage Tommy Hilfiger polo, or a big logo across the front of a vintage Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt, or even a subtle sleeve logo on a vintage Tommy Hilfiger quarter zip. Over the years different Tommy logos have come and gone, and this can be a good indicator of the age of your vintage Tommy Hilfiger.

The Crest Logo

• The Crest logo was popular in the late 90s.
• The logo features a lion holding a sword within the crest with the founding date of Tommy Hilfiger in Roman numerals on the bottom.
• This logo has recently seen a resurgence in popularity with some of the old revamp designs.
• It has rarely been used on garment labels and is mostly a design logo.

The Hilfiger Athletic Logo

• The Hilfiger Athletic logo was used in the 90s for the Hilfiger Athletic line which was then discontinued in the early 00s.
• It is essentially a slanted version of the classic logo, and uses a different font.
• This logo was used both for garment labels and as a design logo on Hilfiger Athletic pieces.

The Tommy Jeans Logo

• The Tommy Jeans logo is in most cases indistinguishable from the classic Tommy logo, the only difference being the Tommy Jeans spellout inside the flag design.
• It first emerged in the early 90s and whilst it was initially just used on jeans, would soon be used on every garment type Tommy Hilfiger had in production.
• The Tommy Jeans branding has been revamped in the last decade and can be seen on newer product lines.

The Hilfiger Denim Logo

• The Hilfiger Denim line was launched in the late 00s.
• The logo is a thin version of the original Tommy flag logo which is usually accompanied by Hilfiger Denim text either in a script font or a block text font.
• Hilfiger Denim would not be considered as vintage simply because the production of it was too recent.

How to tell if Tommy Hilfiger is vintage from the neck tags

Tommy Hilfiger neck tags have undergone numerous redesigns since the brand’s launch in 1985, and these changes can help you identify whether an item is vintage. Each era brought specific styles and details to the neck tags, reflecting the evolving branding and manufacturing practices of the company. Early tags, dating from the late 80s to early 90s, typically feature the classic logo with the Tommy Hilfiger spellout on the inside. These tags are usually simple, with limited additional information.

As the brand grew, tags from the mid to late 90s started to include more details such as the manufacturing location and sizing, often set on a white background. Specialty lines like Tommy Golf and Hilfiger Athletic introduced unique tag designs during this period, featuring distinct logos and fonts.

In the early to mid-2000s, a significant redesign saw the neck tags evolve into longer strips with the logo acting as a break between “Tommy” and “Hilfiger.” Tags from this era often differentiated between men’s and women’s clothing by color, with white tags for women’s items and navy for men’s.

By understanding these variations and their timelines, you can better determine the vintage status of a Tommy Hilfiger piece, using neck tags as a key indicator of its production era.

Can’t find your tags? Head to our vintage clothing identification page and let us help you identify those vintage labels!

Early to Mid 1990s vintage Tommy Hilfiger tags

• These are some of the first mass produced Tommy Hilfiger neck tags and feature the classic logo with a Tommy Hilfiger spellout on the inside.
• The Tommy Jeans neck tags are from the same era and are almost identical, with the exception of the spellout saying Tommy Jeans instead of Tommy Hilfiger.

Mid to Late 1990s vintage Tommy Hilfiger tags

• The use of the flag logo as a neck tag continued, however, they set it on a white tag that included the manufacture location and the sizing.
• On a relatively small line of Tommy Golf clothing, the crest was used as a neck tag with a unique font that has rarely been seen on Tommy Hilfiger clothes since.
• The Tommy Jeans product tags took a similar direction as the classic Tommy neck tags and began being set on a white tag with the sizing on the bottom as pictured.
• The Hilfiger Athletic line used unique tags, using the slightly altered logo and font on a black or white tag, with the earlier tags including the place of manufacture as shown on the left and middle tags.

Early to Mid 2000s vintage Tommy Hilfiger tags

• This era saw the most significant alteration to the neck tags since Tommy Hilfiger’s inception.
• Instead of the large flag logo, the flag is used as a break between the Tommy and Hilfiger, and the neck label became a long strip instead of a short rectangle.
• Generally, the white version was used on women’s clothing and the navy used on men’s.
• The Tommy Jeans neck tag also changed significantly and became just the words Tommy Jeans without any use of the flag logo.

Mid to Late 2000s vintage Tommy Hilfiger tags

• Minor adjustments were made to the neck tags at this time.
• The neck tag itself became smaller and a tab was once again used to indicate the sizing.

Early to Mid 2010s vintage Tommy Hilfiger tags

• The neck tags were then updated to have more empty space around the Tommy Hilfiger spellout and logo, as well as on the sizing tab.
• At this time, Hilfiger Denim tags became more prominent, with some of the first ones using a canvas-like material and a thinner Tommy Hilfiger flag logo.

Mid to Late 2010s vintage Tommy Hilfiger tags

• In line with most modern brands, Tommy Hilfiger started printing information onto the neck instead of using cloth tags.
• The Tommy Jeans line was reintroduced around this time and uses a white tab with a Tommy Jeans spellout and classic flag logo with a blue and red trim at the top and bottom.
• Hilfiger Denim also updated their neck tag to look similar to the new Tommy Jeans tag, creating some synchronicity between the two.

How to tell if Tommy Hilfiger is vintage from the wash tags

• Thicker wash tags that have been sewn in as a loop with slightly pixelated font are a sign that the item is vintage.
• Modern wash tags tend to have the text printed onto them and use a shiny material, and some even include the Tommy Hilfiger website.

Date of manufacture

• Behind the wash tags, some vintage Tommy Hilfiger pieces have a small white tab which has the date and year of production on it.
• This was first seen around the late 90s, and was not necessarily used on every item of Tommy Hilfiger clothing.
• It should be noted that the date on the white tab refers to the date of manufacture and not the date of design, therefore a piece designed in the late 90s may have a production date in the 00s.