To Hilfiger or not to Hilfiger, that is my question

I'm not sure how or where I got the idea from, but for the last few years I have had in my mind that I should have nothing to do with Tommy Hilfiger products. As far as I and my source (whoever or whatever they were) were concerned he had made it clear that his products had not been designed for black people to wear/own. Someone bought me a very nice Hilfiger top which sits in my drawer, as I haven't had the heart to throw it out and of course have refused to wear. When I went to Austria earlier this year, my friend OP had a Hilfiger suitcase; I relayed the story to her and she was mortified. So much so that when we arrived back in the UK, she took the case back to the shop and demanded her money back. She also told the manager of the shop that as a company they should be ashamed of themselves for stocking these products.
Now, I know a lady that has a handbag shop and she recently had a function at her house for friends and family; we were able to browse and purchase some of her stock at discounted prices. When a few people saw the Tommy bags they too relayed the story, it wasn't long before the house was buzzing with the debate. At the time one of the teenagers of the household was on the internet and not wanting to be left out, she started to search for more information; the first thing she came across was this and then she went to Oprah's website. So then of course everybody was very confused, many people there had been like myself and boycotted his products for years; had we been doing this without reason?
If anyone is able to shed some light onto this story, I'd be keen to hear what you have to say. Although it seemed as if I'd been mistaken, I still couldn't bring myself to buy one of his bags; even though there was one there that I really liked!