NEW YORK, NEW YORK (May 4, 2011) - The Tommy Hilfiger Group, which is wholly owned by Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (NYSE: PVH), is pleased to announce the launch of Prep World, a Spring/Summer 2011 limited edition capsule collection of sixty pieces for men and women. The collection will be housed in a first-of-its-kind Pop-Up house, which will travel to key cities around the globe this summer – Paris, New York, London, Stockholm, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Sylt, Germany and Knokke, Belgium. The initiative kicks off in the U.S. in New York on May 4, 2011 with a VIP event hosted by Tommy Hilfiger and prep aficionado and author Lisa Birnbach. The Pop-Up house, located in Gansevoort Plaza (One Little West Twelfth Street), will then open to the public May 5-8, 2011.
The Prep World Pop-Up house is designed to resemble an authentic beach house found on the East Coast, with aged shingles, copper gutters and navy window shutters making up the foundation and a pink front door adding the quirky Tommy twist. The interior fuses vintage and modern design, while an art installation center piece "tennis racket" chandelier completes the ultra preppy space.
“While celebrating our 25th Anniversary all around the globe in 2010, I realized the preppy look with a twist we pioneered over the years has gone global; every corner of the world interprets it in different ways,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “I developed the Prep World capsule collection to capture that spirit of adaptability and individuality and what better way to showcase it than in a travelling authentic beach house.”
The Prep World Pop-Up house will feature the Prep World collection, which celebrates Tommy Hilfiger’s heritage of preppy classics with a twist that can be interpreted for any city or town in the world. Prices range from $40 for a cotton tank to $298 for a tailored men’s blazer. The collection also features limited edition preppy paraphernalia, including “Family Crest” fridge magnets, “A Prep’s Best Friend” doggie leashes, “On the Lawn” croquet sets, “We Never Carry Cash” credit card holders, and even M&Ms that proclaim, “The Taste of Prep.”
Hilfiger invited renowned prep expert Lisa Birnbach, author of The Official Preppy Handbook and True Prep: It’s a Whole New Old World, to join him in the launch of Prep World around the globe. “Tommy Hilfiger has always been a pioneer of our quirky aesthetic,” she said. “We might have gone to prep school, or been thrown out of prep school, or lived near a prep school, but even without a direct connection to a private school, we get the aesthetic of sportswear and owning clothes until they are worn and comfy cozy.” Accordingly, Prep World infuses European silhouettes with distinctly Americana motifs, resulting in a style that works equally well in Nantucket and Knokke.
The Prep World Pop-Up house’s Manhattan outpost will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Thursday to Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Each afternoon, fashion editors will host prep workshops and style shoppers in Spring trends. Idea cards, full of clever tips, will help guests achieve the looks at home. On Thursday, May 5 from 2-4 p.m., Details’ Matthew Marden will be on hand; on Friday, May 6 from 2-4 p.m., his colleague Eugene Tong will take the reins. On Saturday, May 7 from 1-3 p.m., Lucky’s Lori Bergamotto will offer her perspective on prep style. College students will receive a fifteen percent discount when shopping in the Pop-Up house, and Tommy Hilfiger will make a donation to the Meatpacking District Improvement Association.
The Prep World collection is also available in global Tommy Hilfiger retail stores and online at tommy.com/prep. The micro site will host a prep guidebook, curated by Birnbach, to all the cities on the Prep World global tour. To celebrate a world of Preppy style, a living document showcasing the people who wear it will be launched on www.tommy.com/prep and Facebook. Visitors are invited to upload portraits of themselves wearing a preppy look, creating a mosaic of images reflecting the local interpretation of Prep across the globe. Via an online voting mechanism, visitors will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite look. The winner will be invited to travel to one of the destinations of the Pop-Up house and experience the ultimate Preppy lifestyle. For the New York Pop-Up house, the brand will launch a shopping boutique on Boutiques.com as well as a preppy virtual fitting room through the GoldRun augmented reality (AR) platform. iPhone-toting customers will be able try on digital versions of select Prep World pieces in virtual fitting rooms. To download the app, visit http://bit.ly/cedb4j.
For more information on Tommy Hilfiger’s Prep World Tour, visit www.tommy.com/prep. To follow the Prep Collection on Twitter, find #prepworld.
About The Tommy Hilfiger Group
With a premium lifestyle brand portfolio that includes Tommy Hilfiger and Hilfiger Denim, the Tommy Hilfiger Group is one of the world’s most recognized designer apparel groups. Its focus is designing and marketing high-quality menswear, womenswear, children’s apparel and denim collections. Through select licensees, the Group offers complementary lifestyle products such as accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. Merchandise under the Tommy Hilfiger brands is available to consumers worldwide through an extensive network of Tommy Hilfiger retail stores, leading specialty and department stores and other select retailers and retail channels. For additional information about the Tommy Hilfiger Group, please visit www.tommy.com.
About Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation
Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, one of the world’s largest apparel companies, owns and markets the iconic Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands worldwide. It is the world’s largest shirt and neckwear company and markets a variety of goods under its own brands, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, IZOD, ARROW, Bass and G.H. Bass & Co., and its licensed brands, including Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, MICHAEL Michael Kors, Sean John, Chaps, Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, JOE Joseph Abboud, DKNY and Timberland. Visit www.pvh.com.
For further information:
Marybeth Schmitt
SVP Communications
Tommy Hilfiger USA
212-548-1952
mschmitt@tommy.com
Katelin Jones
Senior Communications Manager
Tommy Hilfiger USA
212-548-1933
kajones@tommy.com