Harold Tillman
| Harold Tillman | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 15 October 1945 |
| Education | Balham County Grammar School, London College of Fashion |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Stephanie |
| Children | Mitchell, Meredith |
Harold Tillman CBE (born 15 October 1945 is an English retail entrepreneur and investor. He was formerly head of Jaeger and Aquascutum. Until September 2012, Tillman was chair of the British Fashion Council. He is current chair of Fashion Matters, London College of Fashion's fundraising committee and is also a trustee of the V&A.
Tillman was born into a Jewish family and grew up in south London. He was the only child of a Yorkshire-born tailor father who trained at Montague Burton's, and a milliner mother. As his father's business developed, the family moved to Streatham and then Wimbledon, where Tillman went to Balham County Grammar School.
As his father had been injured in World War II and suffered poor health, Tillman ran the whole family business for extended periods. He left school at 15 to study to be an accountant, before becoming one of the first male students at the London College of Fashion in 1962.
Aged 19, on graduation in 1965 he became an apprentice at Lincroft Kilgour in Savile Row, becoming its managing director three years later. Aged 24 he floated Lincroft's on the . Tillman developed a business plan based around good design, employing a young Paul Smith; and celebrity, using George Best to promote Lincroft's clothes.
Selling out of Lincroft's a multi-millionaire at age 30, he took a tour and brought the concept of the New York City cocktail bar to London, opening Rumours in Covent Garden.
Tillman returned to the world of fashion through the purchase of Honorbilt from Austin Reed. With a similar plan to Lincroft's, he floated the organisation on the FTSE. He then used this money to buy two organisations in Hong Kong and California, but the core group was financially unsound, and as Tillman negotiated the expansion the management he left in charge failed to stem the developing crisis. After Honorbilt was refused further bank funding, the board were forced to call in the receiver. The Department of Trade and Industry sent inspectors, who proposed to ban Tillman for life as a director, which he negotiated to a three-year bar: Speaking of the experience, he said: "I was virtually wiped out financially. I kept my house by my fingernails. But it taught me a valuable lesson. Now I keep in close touch with everything I do, and if I buy anything I always do due diligence".
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