Tommy Hilfiger and F1: How a lifelong fan became its disruptive fashion pioneer
AMSTERDAM — It was mid-afternoon on a Wednesday, but the halls buzzed within Tommy Hilfiger’s headquarters. Hardly anyone working in person was at their desks unless absolutely necessary. Instead, employees crowded into the Bel Bar inside the Hudson Building, standing room flowing out into the halls and snaking around corners. All in hopes of catching a glimpse of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
The Mercedes Formula One drivers are used to the fanfare, the iPhones popping up in the air and the thunderous applause. Only this time, the cheers for two F1 stars come from employees of one of the world’s leading fashion companies, whose founder has spent most of his life tied to their sport.
The Mercedes duo often wear ‘normal’ clothes around the paddock, sometimes sporting Tommy Hilfiger designs. Russell’s outfits usually reflect that of old money, choosing basics to mix and match, while Hamilton will choose bolder garments or pieces from collections. Their outfits that Wednesday were more classic and Tommy Hilfiger-forward.
Fashion and motorsports are influential global industries, but the driver wardrobes when trackside rarely extended beyond the standard F1 team kits until recent seasons.
“F1 is a sexy sport, and the two worlds have a lot in common,” Hamilton said during the panel at Tommy Hilfiger’s Amsterdam headquarters ahead of the Dutch GP weekend. “But for some reason, for a long time, particularly when I got into the sport, no one was into fashion. You couldn’t see it anywhere. People were just wearing mismatched stuff all the time.”
That has begun to change. While Hamilton has long used fashion for self-expression, Russell is newer to the game. It’s the latest example of the convergence of F1 and fashion that allows drivers to express themselves in ways other athletes have done for years across other sports, like the NBA, NHL and soccer.
F1 and fashion have been associated for years, and Tommy Hilfiger — the well-known American designer who created the preppy fashion brand — has been a mainstay across different chapters as the industries drew closer. The New York native went from sneaking into races and going bankrupt to now being the clothing sponsor for Mercedes, an official partner of F1 Academy and sponsoring the upcoming F1 movie.
“I was always putting groundbreaking at the top of the list, and I wanted to be disruptive,” Hilfiger told The Athletic. “I wanted to think out of the box, and I wanted to be the first to do certain things because I’d rather be a leader than a follower — always.”
At around 12 years old, Hilfiger built his own go-karts, converting either four-wheeled carts people would use to carry their groceries or baby carriages. A friend of his had a proper go-kart, motor and all, and while Hilfiger dreamed of one day owning his own, his family did not have the financial means.
“I became creative and decided to figure out a way to build something that would look like a go-kart and give me the thrill of going down a hill,” Hilfiger recalled, “or having one of my friends push it from the back or having one of my younger brothers push it from the back.”
His love grew into an obsession during his teenage years. Born and raised in Elmira, New York, Hilfiger was just a 30-minute drive from Watkins Glen, the home of the U.S. Grand Prix from 1961 until 1980. It was the only track F1 raced at during his teenage years.
“My friends and I would go and sneak into the races because we certainly couldn’t afford tickets, but the excitement and the energy was addicting,” Hilfiger said. “Over the years, we became attracted to a lot of the teams. I was really a John Player Special fan.”
That livery is one of Lotus’ most iconic from its F1 tenure, the gold and black color scheme entering the scene in 1972 and staying for 16 years. And Team Lotus was a powerhouse constructor in the 1960s and 70s, winning eight titles.
A young Tommy Hilfiger was taken with Team Lotus’ John Player Special liveries. (Getty Images)
“I loved the logo on the car, I loved the uniforms, and I loved the fact that they were also a winning team,” Hilfiger said. But his passion remained that of a fan for a number of years as he began pursuing his fashion career. He started practically from scratch — 20 pairs of jeans and $150.
Hilfiger’s love for fashion was inspired by musicians from the 1970s and their clothing. At 18, he opened People’s Place in Elmira, but it filed for bankruptcy when Hilfiger was in his 20s. He began studying the business and commerce side of the fashion industry and eventually moved in 1979 to New York City. Hilfiger remained focused on becoming a full-time designer, and a businessman named Mohan Murjani invested in the New York native so Hilfiger could launch his brand.
Tommy Hilfiger, the preppy fashion brand, was born in 1985, and Hilfiger became an industry pioneer, particularly during the 1990s. The idea of “F.A.M.E.” (which stands for fashion, art, music and entertainment) constantly inspired him. “Pop culture moves the needle of society,” he told The New York Times. Hilfiger was one of the first fashion designers to merge celebrity and pop culture with fashion, such as how he sponsored tours for Britney Spears and The Rolling Stones. And then there was F1.
Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll entered the picture in 1989 when their company acquired Tommy Hilfiger. The brand had been trying to break into women’s apparel but decided to keep the focus on menswear, which is where the brand started. Stroll, who many F1 fans know as the current executive chairman of Aston Martin’s F1 team, built much of his fortune in the fashion industry. His father, Leo Strulovitch, brought Ralph Lauren and Pierre Cardin to Canada, and Stroll later helped Ralph Lauren move to Europe.
It was Stroll who helped bring Tommy Hilfiger to F1, telling the fashion designer about an opportunity to sponsor Team Lotus. They jumped at the chance. Starting in 1991, the familiar red, white and blue and the Tommy Hilfiger flag adorned Lotus’ F1 cars and uniforms alongside the team’s colors and other sponsors.
“We did all the uniforms and started going to the races all over the world. And it was, again, sort of addicting. And the energy and the noise and the excitement was so phenomenal,” Hilfiger said. “We thought, ‘Okay, we’re the only fashion brand in this arena, and we should be able to do the clothing, not only for the team, but also be able to sell the clothing.’
“So we started selling the clothing in our shops.”
Hilfiger brought a modern touch to motorsports, blending functionality and style.
In the summer of 1994, a motorsports-inspired capsule collection and advertising campaign hit the market, merging Hilfiger’s love for motorsports and Team Lotus’ colors. Bright yellows, greens and red marked the collection and reflected the two worlds. His approach was to design “sportier-looking clothes” that were “authentically built.”
Hilfiger called the Ferrari opportunity “a dream come true.” (Clive Mason/Allsport)
The sponsorship with Team Lotus ended in 1994. However, Hilfiger didn’t fully leave motorsports. A few years later, Stroll and Hilfiger flew to Modena, Italy, to discuss becoming a Ferrari sponsor and kit provider. The opportunity, Hilfiger said, was “a dream come true.”
“We met with the whole Ferrari team, and it was one of the most exciting moments of my career,” Hilfiger said, “because I thought it would not only elevate the brand but to be part of such a historic brand was something that was actually beyond my dreams.”
Tommy Hilfiger became Ferrari’s clothing sponsor in 1998, designing the F1 team’s driver uniforms and team kits. Inspiration was drawn from the car’s elements, such as the chrome rims and carbon fiber, and performance-focused fabrics were used.
During the four-year sponsorship, Tommy Hilfiger also designed custom clothing for Ferrari Challenge Series A and two global fan collections. The partnership ended in 2002, but the items are considered collectors’ items nowadays.
“We always like to do something special and unique, and at that moment in time, well, even from the Lotus days, what we were designing was very special and unique, and now it’s going to a whole new level because of the availability of technical fabrics that are also sustainable.”
Beyond the world of F1, Hilfiger’s brand had increased exposure throughout the 1990s and early 2000s through sponsoring music events and becoming popular in both the hip-hop and preppy worlds. At one point, R&B star Aaliyah became one of Tommy Hilfiger’s brand ambassadors.
Hamilton remembers watching her on television, sporting its clothing. The Mercedes driver says he’s “always loved fashion.” During childhood, he remembers “being very heavily influenced by music,” always turning on MTV once he got home.
“I remember just always watching and loving the colors. I remember watching videos of David Bowie and the different styles and how he presented himself,” Hamilton said to The Athletic. “And I remember feeling, through my school journey, I went to a school where you had to wear the same uniform everyone wore, and I felt so alien because it’s like, this is not me.”
Lewis Hamilton says he’s “always loved fashion.” (Kym Illman/Getty Images)
So Hamilton “was always then exploring how I could express myself a bit more.” He did not grow up with a lot of money, and he’d go to secondhand stores. He remembers stumbling across clothing like he saw on television, such as Tommy Hilfiger. That’s where he bought his first pieces of clothing from the brand. At the time, he never imagined that one day he’d meet Hilfiger, let alone work with the American designer.
In the early days of his career, Hamilton recalls attending a fashion show for a sponsor, which further sparked his interest in fashion. He later visited the factory, where he “got to learn a little bit about what they did in the background, but still just scratching the surface.” However, the real turning point, when Hamilton went from being interested in fashion to wanting to be involved in the world, came when he attended what he calls “a proper fashion week.”
“I got to see one of the big shows and watched the designer come out at the end, and I just found it a real buzz,” Hamilton said to The Athletic, adding how “the world that I’d been in, from school, from karting and all racing, there was no fashion at all — not even an ounce of it.” He felt like he “didn’t fit in.”
“I was the only black kid in this space, and it was really an uncomfortable kind of space for a long time,” he continued. “And I go to a fashion show, and there’s just people from all different walks of life, all expressing themselves differently. And so then, when I came and expressed myself in the way I wanted to, as I was discovering, I just felt like there was no judgment. It’s like I fit in this space.”
Hamilton attended the Met Gala for the first time in 2015 and has been a frequent attendee since. And it was one year at the world’s most prestigious fashion event that the F1 star met Hilfiger, who hadn’t been a sponsor in the F1 world since the Ferrari deal ended in 2002. Hamilton remembers Hilfiger saying he loved his outfit.
“I was like, ‘This is Tommy Hilfiger, and he’s complimenting me,’” Hamilton said. “At the time, I never thought I’d get to go to the Met Gala firstly, and then to have someone like him being so positive about my appearance, it really was firstly, one, a confidence boost and that’s how he is.”
Hilfiger remembers the moment as well. “I told him how I loved motorsports and F1 and that I would love to eventually get back into it.”
Lewis Hamilton has been a Tommy Hilfiger ambassador since 2018. (Photos via Tommy Hilfiger and Getty Images)
The conversations continued beyond the Met Gala, Hilfiger telling Hamilton they should work together. The F1 driver jokingly told The Athletic that he wasn’t sure if Hilfiger “wanted me to come and bring him coffee.” Hilfiger had bigger ideas — “collab and co-design a collection together, but he thought I was kidding. He didn’t think I was serious. And then I saw him again, and we talked again about it, and then we just decided to go for it and do it.”
In spring 2018, Hamilton was named a global ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger, and the same year, the brand became the clothing sponsor for Mercedes’ F1 team. Over the years, Hamilton got to work closely with Hilfiger and the team, learning more about the fashion industry. “I remember doing stylings and design work here with the team,” he said. “It was really like an internship for me that I didn’t get to do when I went to school.”
The two have done five collections over the years, all with a strong influence from the now-seven-time world champion, who has leaned on Hilfiger’s expertise and asked many questions.
“Lewis has a very distinct point of view, and he didn’t want anyone else to design it. He wanted to do it, and he didn’t want anyone else to pick the colors. He wanted to,” Hilfiger said. “So we surrounded him with a team of our design experts, and he basically led the way, and we wanted him to bring his point of view because we think he’s got great taste and certainly a cool factor that is very special and unusual.”
Together, Hilfiger, Hamilton and Mercedes began paving the way for more fashion in motorsport. Not that it was easy.
“Honestly, to break this mold has been — it was such a challenge,” Hamilton said during the internal company panel. “The conversations I had to have. People wanted you to walk in just with team clothing from head to toe.”
George Russell chimed in: “Every day.”
“Every day, the same thing,” Hamilton continued. “There’s no way you can style it any different, apart from putting a jumper around your waist or something like that… Eventually, I just ended up doing it anyway. And, then afterwards, they’re like, ‘Oh, actually, this is working really well. Oh, can you do two looks? Three looks?’”
“I didn’t realize the impact fashion can have on your own self-esteem,” Russell said during the panel at Tommy Hilfiger’s Amsterdam HQ. “I think if you look good, you feel good; if the clothes fit, if they work, it has such an impact for you psychologically, and that was the biggest lesson I learned from partnering with Tommy.”
He recalls walking into a store as a junior driver for Mercedes and being allowed to choose the clothing he wanted. But he had “no regard of what I was taking.”
“When I was wearing my clothes and I was sort of matching it together, I was like, ‘You know what, this looks pretty cool,’” Russell said to The Athletic. “And I never would have thought to myself, I would have bought this garment or whatever. But when you match it together with the right pieces, the right shoes, it really worked.”
“I didn’t realize the impact fashion can have on your own self-esteem,” Russell said. (Kym Illman/Getty Images)
People often determine their first impressions within seven seconds of meeting someone. And it’s likely simply from visual cues — how you dress, your stride and other body language. Russell listened to a podcast where the hosts discussed the topic and how first impressions are largely made before you speak.
“It sort of really made me think how true that is. The way you dress and the way you present yourself has such an impact on the way people portray you, and they have a perception of you before it’s even fair to do so,” Russell continued. “That’s why I started putting a lot more effort into the way I dress and take care of myself, because I knew the importance of it, and it made me feel good.”
Russell’s spare room has essentially become a Tommy Hilfiger closet, continuing to expand over the years. The Briton admits he doesn’t “like to throw things away.” That being said, the Mercedes driver has given away garments to charity, and he knows he needs to determine what to do with his wardrobe.
The Briton discussed fashion and F1 with The Athletic while both parties visited Tommy Hilfiger’s headquarters in Amsterdam ahead of the Dutch GP. Sitting inside a conference room, Russell detailed how he wants to emulate a “timeless kind of look” by keeping basics in his closet and how he approaches re-wearing garments, such as owning several pairs of the white corduroys he wore that day.
It’s a stark contrast to the interviews he’d have with other sportswriters a day later when trackside for F1’s media day. A decade ago, this type of conversation likely wasn’t happening in F1. But the landscape is changing, and part of why they are taking place is thanks to Hamilton and Hilfiger.
The red, white and blue-clad car looks like a blur as it zips past spectators. But as it rolls to a stop, it’ll look familiar to nearly everyone watching.
Tommy Hilfiger’s motorsports presence expanded earlier this year when it became F1 Academy’s official partner, designing one of the five non-F1 team liveries on the all-women racing series’s grid. Hilfiger said, “I think it’s an incredible idea to have women racing, and Susie Wolff is proof in the pudding. She herself has had a great career, and with her involvement, we became very excited about it.”
Considering the core pillars of the company and its commitment to diversity and inclusion, it doesn’t come as a complete surprise that Tommy Hilfiger joined the series that aims to provide a viable avenue for women to progress up the motorsports ladder.
“This sport, it’s disruptive in a way, when you look at women in sports, and we as a brand want to be disruptive, and that connects us with the female part of the sport,” said Lea Rytz Goldman, the global brand president for Tommy Hilfiger. “Always inspiring, always kind of pushing the boundaries, finding role models that can play a part in our community’s lives.”
Nerea Martí, who represents Tommy Hilfiger in F1 Academy this season, didn’t begin racing competitively until she was 13. Praga España Motorsport signed her two years later, in 2017, and her career took off. She joined F1 Academy’s grid in 2023, ending the year fourth in the standings.
Tommy Hilfiger came calling.
“She embodies the spirit of both the F1 Academy and our brand,” Hilfiger said in a written statement. “As a visionary with incredible grit, she never gave up. Even when others told her ‘no,’ she kept saying ‘yes’ and pushed forward, relentlessly pursuing her dream of becoming a driver until she achieved it.”
While the presence of all 10 F1 teams on the F1 Academy grid this season is notable because of the resources and global platform, Tommy Hilfiger opens the door to a non-motorsports crowd as well, putting women in motorsport in the spotlight even though these drivers are still relatively early in their careers. F1 Academy falls at the lower end of the F1 pyramid, one of the early single-seater categories, and the drivers compete in a car similar to F4.
“Racing in the iconic red, white and blue colors of Tommy Hilfiger feels empowering,” Martí said. “The colors represent both the brand’s legacy and everything they stand for in the future.”
Hilfiger has always been a dreamer, from when he made a go-kart in the garage and “visualized the car in color, with an engine with big tires.” It has marked many different chapters of his career and brand.
“I think that I’ve dreamed a lot throughout my life,” Hilfiger said, “and I believe dreams do come true.”
His dreams have been part of industrial changes. As Russell said, “He’s a racer, he’s a visionist, and he’s a leader. He led the way with his bold ideas and the vision he had for his own brand.”
As an athlete, Russell feels Hilfiger’s journey is relatable to sport. “You can never go through constant success, but with incredible hard work and great vision and belief in yourself, you can pull through those difficult times and come through to greatness again.”
Hilfiger believes that “timing is everything in life.” When looking back on his move to become clothing sponsors for different F1 teams, he feels it was an expected move. Given the glitz, glamour, and rise in celebrity status, fashion and F1 have long been associated, and the ties are growing closer with time.
“It was one of those moments in time when I think people didn’t know what they wanted until they saw it, but somewhere in the back of their minds, they might have wished for it.”
Between fashion runways and F1 Academy, Hilfiger remains close to his childhood racing passion. (Formula 1, Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Other fashion brands and houses have flooded the F1 market over time, especially since the popularity boom after the COVID-19 pandemic, through sponsorships and selecting drivers as brand ambassadors, to name a few. The names range from H&M and Cherry to Dior and Prada. And it doesn’t appear that Tommy Hilfiger will leave any time soon, particularly within the F1 Academy space given how closely aligned the values are.
The intersection of F1 and fashion might seem well-paved, but Hilfiger feels “it hasn’t started yet. I think it is going to move forward in a very profound way momentarily.” When talking about the future of the industries, Rytz Goldman reckons “the Formula One aesthetic in all parts of it is a classic that will never run out of style, and also the inspiration around it. So I think it’s there to stay.”
F1 as the next fashion runway? Hilfiger agrees. “I certainly would like to think of it as that.”
Top photo: Kym Illman, Beata Zawrzel, Pauline Ballet, Joe Portlock via Getty Images; Designs: Kelsea Petersen/The Athletic
