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Wondering where everyone gets their fun and colorful beach clothes? Or what about that cool beach chair, so they dont get sand everywhere?
Like Anatomie and Tropicfeel, Tommy Bahama sells all sorts of apparel and accessories for your next beach-y excursion!
Read on to learn more about Tommy Bahama, the clothes and furniture they sell, and how we rate the brand overall.Â
Tommy Bahama is a well-known clothing brand selling beach accessories and furniture. They sell everything you need for a perfect day at the beach or an entire beach vacation.Â
Tommy Bahama was started more than a quarter-century ago by a couple who dreamed about what life would be like if vacation never ended. They created the fictional place of Tommy Bahama, where you never have to leave the beach.Â
Then, they started a brand selling clothing, furniture, and beach gear for the people living their best beachy island life.
The brand also focuses on sustainability. They make high-quality products that are good for the environment. They also work hard to limit their environmental impact and give back to the communities and people they work in and with.
Hubert White sold the Tommy line early in its history but dropped the line when it became a licensing empire. Oxford Industries of Atlanta bought the company in 2003.
The clothing sells well because it fits everybody, even the little guy, Sherman said. “Big guys love it because it covers them and makes them feel good,” he said. “It is one of the first modern successful brands besides Ralph Lauren that went to a complete lifestyle collection.” Bob Emfield, Orono resident, one of the founders of the Tommy Baham line was interviewed on 7/12/13 at his home. His no shoe strings reflects the Tommy Bahama style. Tommy Bahama turned 20 this year. The iconic menswear brand, with its loose-fitting silks and palm tree emblems, started in Florida, but its a Minnesotan whos responsible for creating the fictional icon to middle-aged American men, and giving him his name. Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune [email protected] Bob Emfield/source.
The original store and adjoining restaurant were in Naples, Fla., and the first shops to carry the line in the Twin Cities were the Foursome in Wayzata (now in Plymouth) and Hubert White in downtown Minneapolis.
“Hes in all of us Minnesotans, if only when were taking a winter vacation in Aruba or grilling out on the deck in the summer.” More from Star Tribune
After an especially trying week at Generra, Margolis asked Emfield, “Do you still have the stuff on the island guy?”
Not far from the Margolis and Emfield vacation homes, the partners found vacant commercial space in Naples, Fla., a gulf-side resort known for splendid golf courses. “When we pitched the landlord, she was so enthusiastic, she asked us what we would do if she made additional space available at a very good deal,” Margolis recalls. “What would Tommy do?” the partners pondered. He might go to a juice bar. No, they decided, he would prefer a microbrew beer. And maybe a nice meal. Tommys kind of restaurant was easy for everyone to imagine. “Steel drums, full moon, palms wafting in the breeze,” Emfield says. “If you serve them a meal when theyre on vacation, youve got them forever.”
PRODUCT DESIGN: “A brand cannot exist without a good product or service,” brand expert Nancy Koehn says. To that end, Tommy designers spend less time devising cool tropical patterns for their clothes and more time on the feel of the fabric, the silhouette, and details like buttons and zippers. Today solid-color garments make up 70% of the Tommy high-quality-apparel business, thwarting knockoff artists who tried to ape Tommy by designing cheap cotton Hawaiian shirts.
Ive heard earfuls about Tommy. People love him. They all agree that hes smart. Virile. Debonair. They dont all agree on the details of his life, however. Some say he resides in the Bahamas, while others think he lives in Florida. Some suspect he used to work on Wall Street. And he has a small trust fund. Owns two vintage convertibles. Goes fishing daily. Travels a lot. What a life.
Private-label work had helped Viewpoint pass the break-even mark by the end of 1994. Flush for the first time, the company was finally in a position to advertise. Emfield pegs the number it had to spend at that time at roughly $2 million. But the partners needed to figure out how to spend it. Magazine rate cards made them blanch, and the cost for TV time was even more unnerving. The more they weighed their options, the more Margolis, Emfield, and Dalla Gasperina worried that they would spend a lot of money on ads and get nothing in return. Assessing the options, they did exactly what nobody would have guessed they would do: they decided to open a restaurant. It was a wildly dangerous decision. Reckless. And, as it turned out, a choice that perfectly suited Tommy. “Its the greatest advertising vehicle ever, and we made money doing it,” says Margolis.
But what appears now as a textbook example of how to build a brand began as a lark. In the 1980s, Emfield and Margolis and their wives bought neighboring beach homes on Floridas Gulf Coast. The two men had met in 1969, when they worked for blue-jean maker Brittania Ltd. Over the years, as their vacations drew to an end, the couples joked that they never wanted to leave the beach. They wanted a trust fund. An island home. To fish all day and walk all night under the stars.
Our rating: 1/5
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