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After becoming completely oversaturated, overexposed, and marked-down, Tommy Hilfiger's brand is back on track. Forbes investigates how the designer turned things around, and the answer lies in Daniel Grieder and Fred Gehring, who once ran the Tommy Hilfiger brand in Europe.
According to Forbes, Gehring led a $1.6 billion management buyout with the help of London-based private equity firm Apax in 2006, and then Gehring and Grieder took the company private, laid off 40% of its staff and focused on creating better products and getting low-quality merchandise out of department stores. They decided to go exclusive with Macy's and traded baggy clothing for tailored pieces. The company is now owned by PVH and Hilfiger remains the brand's chief creative officer and face of the brand. Of Gehring and Grieder, he told Forbes: "They run it like clockwork."
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