Hugo Boss

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HUGO BOSS AG

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN DE000A1PHFF7
founding 1924
Seat Metzingen , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
Number of employees 14,600 (2019)
sales 2.88 billion euros (2019)
Branch Textile industry
Website www.hugoboss.com
As of December 31, 2019

The Hugo Boss AG is a German fashion company with headquarters in Metzingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg .

The company, which is listed in the MDAX, produces and sells clothing, leather goods and accessories for men, women and children through its own shops and high-end retailers around the world, and also sells home goods and perfumes through licensees . Boss or Hugo Boss is also one of the most famous German fashion brands .

history

Advertisement in the Alb-Neckar-Zeitung, 1933
Boss store on 5th Avenue in New York , 2008

Early years

The company was founded in 1924 by Hugo Ferdinand Boss (1885–1948) as a manufacturer of work clothing in Metzingen.

In the 1930s, the company management consisted of avowed National Socialists and received orders to deliver uniforms to SA , SS , Wehrmacht and HJ . Hugo Boss from Metzingen was one of the first textile companies to manufacture brown shirts as copies of the "Lettow shirts" introduced into the SA by Gerhard Roßbach in 1924, and proudly advertised in 1930: "Party suppliers since 1924". The company, which consisted of around 300 employees, employed forced laborers from Western and Eastern Europe during the Second World War .

In the denazification process , Hugo Ferdinand Boss was initially classified as a “victim”, then as a “follower”; the initially imposed fine of 100,000 Reichsmarks was reduced to 25,000 Reichsmarks. The occasional claim that Hugo Boss was responsible for the design of SS and party uniforms is false. The organizations themselves were responsible for this. It is true, however, that Hugo Boss received and accepted the order to manufacture the uniforms. In June 2000, Hugo Boss AG joined the foundation initiative of the German economy to compensate forced laborers . A first study commissioned and financed by the company in the late 1990s on the situation in the “Third Reich” was not published by the group. The author, Elisabeth Timm, later put this online herself. A second study, also financed by the company, was published in book form.

Development into a fashion company

When Hugo Ferdinand Boss died in 1948, his son-in-law Eugen Holy took over the management of the company. During this time, the company began to manufacture men's suits . In 1967 the sons of Eugen Holy, the brothers Uwe Holy and Jochen Holy , took over the business. In 1975, the Austrian designer Werner Baldessarini was hired, who eventually rose to head designer. In the 1970s, Hugo Boss began selling his factory in Metzingen, from which the Outletcity Metzingen developed over the years . December 19, 1985. was the company first with preference shares to the stock market .

In 1991 the Italian Marzotto Group became the majority shareholder . The Holy brothers left the company in 1993. Peter Littmann became chairman of the board , who introduced the Hugo youth line in 1993 and the Baldessarini premium line named after the chief designer in 1994 . In 1997, Hugo Boss designed women's fashion for the Hugo brand for the first time in the company's history. After differences of opinion between Littmann and the Marzotto Group, Werner Baldessarini was appointed CEO in 1998. a. advanced into the sportswear division with Boss Orange as the successor to the discontinued Boss Sport line and established a golf line. In 2000, the company introduced a main women's fashion collection under the Boss Woman brand, produced in Milan under the German designer Grit Seymour, which initially incurred high losses and only slowly became successful in 2002 after a repositioning with a design team at the Metzingen location.

Rise to the international fashion group

In 2002 Baldessarini left the company and the boss manager Bruno Sälzer (from 1995 sales director) took over the post of the board spokesman. Sälzer created the Hugo Boss lifestyle group, saved the Boss Woman line and promoted international expansion. In 2005, Marzotto separated its clothing and fashion activities into the Valentino Fashion Group , which became Hugo Boss' main shareholder until the end of 2009.

In 2007 Valentino was taken over by the financial investor Permira for 3.5 billion euros, who has since exercised significant influence on the Hugo Boss company. At the time, the Hugo Boss share was valued at around 45 euros. Sälzer left the company in February 2008, among other things because of differences of opinion about business policy and a special dividend in favor of Permira in the amount of 345 million euros. In mid-2008, Permira appointed the former Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior manager Claus-Dietrich Lahrs as CEO of Hugo Boss. Lahrs left on February 29, 2016, without a successor being announced. The reasons given in the press were sales difficulties in the USA, China and France, the unsuccessful attempt to position Hugo Boss in the luxury segment, high expenses for the women's line and its designer Jason Wu, and a massive expansion of the branch network in times of Internet trading. In mid-May 2016, the previous CFO Mark Langer was appointed as the new CEO, followed by Daniel Grieder in June 2021.

At the end of 2009, Hugo Boss was separated from the Valentino Fashion Group; henceforth the Boss stake was held by Permira through their Red & Black Holding. In April 2010, members of the Marzotto family were appointed to the supervisory board, which sparked sales rumors, which Permira denied. Since a share sale in November 2011, Red & Black Holding held 66% of the total share capital and 89% of the voting rights in Hugo Boss. In the following years, Permira sold further Boss shares through Red & Black Holding and at the beginning of 2015, when the Boss share was quoted at around 112 euros, parted completely with the Boss stake. Since then, 91% of Hugo Boss shares (64.1 million shares) are in free float, 7% remain with the Marzotto family and the company holds the rest itself.

In January 1999 Hugo Boss went online for the first time with its own website . In 2009 the company started the mail order business via an online shop on its own website. At the end of 2014, the company operated 388 Boss stores, 531 shops and 122 outlets worldwide.

Brands

  • Boss brands
  • Hugo Boss Logo.svg
  • Boss Orange Logo.svg
  • Hugo Boss (logotype) .jpg
  • Former Boss brands
  • Hugo Boss Selection logo.svg

Until the summer 2017 season, the company maintained the men's main line Hugo Boss , the women's line Boss Woman , the secondary lines Hugo and Boss Orange , each for men and women, as well as the men's sports collection Boss Green and a children's collection. In mid-November 2016, Hugo Boss announced that it would reduce the brand portfolio as part of a realignment and only keep the main collection and the Hugo brand , both for men and women, and the children's collection.

Men's clothing

The two brands Boss (core brand) and Hugo (youthful fashion, launched in 1993 for men) operate under the umbrella brand Hugo Boss .

Hugo Boss men's brands
  • BOSS (business, evening and leisure wear)
  • BOSS Orange (casual wear from 2004, released in 1998 as Boss Sport , from 2000 as Boss Orange label )
  • BOSS Green (sport and golf clothing for men from 2004, released in 1998 as Boss Golf , from 2000 as Boss Green Label )
  • HUGO (youth fashion collection)

The men's brand Baldessarini , introduced in 1994 as a top brand in the Boss portfolio, was sold to Werner Baldessarini in September 2006 . In the Boss range, the brand was replaced by the Boss Selection collection, launched in 2004 . Boss Selection was expanded to include Boss Selection Tailored Line in 2009 , but was integrated into the main Boss Black line in mid-2012 and thus given up as an independent collection. The brand was retained as the men's perfume Boss Selection (released in 2006).

The Boss men's collections were presented on the catwalk together with women's fashion from the beginning of the 2000s at New York Fashion Week and from the end of the 2000s at Berlin Fashion Week .

Women's clothing

In the 2011 financial year, the women's fashion division made up 11% of Hugo Boss’s annual sales. Boss women's fashion is offered under the following brands:

Hugo Boss women's brands
  • BOSS (since 2000; realigned in 2003)
  • BOSS Orange (since 2006)
  • Hugo (since 1997)

The Boss Woman Collection was initially presented at Milan Fashion Week and together with Boss Men's Fashion at New York Fashion Week. From 2007 the women's collection was shown on the catwalk at Berlin Fashion Week. After the American designer Jason Wu was hired as artistic director of the Boss women's collection in mid-2013 , the collections were presented in fashion shows as part of New York Fashion Week from the beginning of 2014 . A boss atelier was set up for Wu in New York .

Children's clothing

In addition, there has been a collection of children's clothing from the Boss Orange brand since 2008 and a Boss Kidswear collection for boys and girls produced under license since 2009 .

Home use

In 2012, the Boss Home collection with bed linen , terry towels and other items for home use was launched.

Boss Fragrances

Under the name Boss and Hugo and Hugo Boss are perfumes , creams, deodorants and shower gels available for men and women. The first Boss perfume, the men's fragrance Hugo Boss (renamed Boss Number One in 1998 ), was launched in 1985 in collaboration with the perfume manufacturer Ellen Betrix from Sprendlingen (Dreieich) and is still available today. Ellen Betrix, and with it the Boss license, was sold to Revlon in 1989 and the latter in turn was bought up by Procter & Gamble in 1991 . The first women's fragrance, Hugo Woman , appeared at the same time as the introduction of Hugo women's fashion in 1997 (reissued in 2015). Since then, a large number of Boss fragrances and care ranges have been launched. With the takeover of the body and beauty care division of P&G by the US perfume company Coty Inc. , the latter took over the Boss license at the end of 2016.

Designer at Hugo Boss

Former Hugo designer Bruno Pieters, 2008

Hugo Boss calls the designers of the individual fashion collections “product managers”.

  • Boss Black : Ingo Wilts (2014–), Kevin Lobo (2009–2014), Ingo Wilts (2005–2009), Lothar Reiff (1977–2005)
  • Baldessarini : Werner Baldessarini (1994–2002)
  • Boss Selection : Kevin Lobo (2009–2012), Ingo Wilts (2004–2009)
  • Boss Woman : Jason Wu (2013-, Artistic Director), Eyan Allen (2011–2013), Karin Busnel (2003–2009 Head of Creative and Brand Management, 2009–2012 Director Black Womenswear), Graeme Black (2009–, Creative Consultant ), Marta Szymendera (Head Design / Senior Head Design 2007–2013), Ingo Wilts (2005–2009), Lothar Reiff (2002–2005), Natalie Acatrini (2002–2005), Caterina Salvador (2001–2002), Kathrin Hüsgen (1999-2006), Grit Seymour (1999-2001)
  • Boss Orange : Bernd Keller (HAKA, 2012–), Eyan Allen (2008–2011, Senior Vice President), Andrea Cannelloni (2005–2008), Ilka Bennewitz (2005–2009)
  • Boss Green : José Janga (2007–)
  • Hugo : Bart de Backer (men, 2011–), Susan Blommen (2010–, Senior Head Designer), Eyan Allen (women, 2007–2013 creative director), Bruno Pieters (art director 2007–2010), Volker Kächele (1993–2006)
Claus Dietrich Lahrs, CEO 2008–2016

Shareholders

Common stock
 Shareholders
88.00% Free float
10.00% Marzotto family
2.00% Own shares

Up to and including June 15, 2012, the share capital was divided into bearer ordinary and preference shares. On June 15, 2012 after the stock market closed, the preferred shares were converted into ordinary shares and all shares converted to registered shares . Since then, the company's share capital has consisted of around 70 million no-par value registered shares.

As of June 2016

marketing

Hugo Boss AG has been sponsoring the Hugo Boss Prize, awarded by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation , every two years since 1996, and supports international contemporary exhibitions. There has also been an intensive collaboration with the Salzburg Festival for a long time . Boss has been providing various performances every year since 1999. In cooperation with the Stuttgart State Fashion School, the company has been giving the Hugo Boss Fashion Award to fashion students since 1987 .

In the sports sponsorship segment , Hugo Boss is active in the areas of motorsport , golf, soccer and sailing. The company's sponsorship activities began in 1972 with the support of racing driver Jochen Mass and the McLaren Racing team . In golf, Hugo Boss currently works as a player outfitter (2016: Henrik Stenson , Martin Kaymer , Byeong An and 13 others) and as a sponsor of golf tournaments ( BMW PGA Championship , BMW International Open ). In addition to partnerships with Mats Hummels and Mario Gómez , Hugo Boss is the official soccer fashion outfitter of the German national soccer team (men, women and U21s) and other well-known club teams such as Real Madrid , Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain. 2003 Hugo Boss sailing team has its own yacht to skipper Alex Thomson launched. In motorsport, they were a partner of the “Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1” team from 2015 to 2017, and from 2018 onwards, Formula E will be sponsored .

criticism

In June 2014 it became known that Hugo Boss had its employees in Turkey and Croatia paid far below their own "social standards" on average. The luxury brand pays its employees only 308 to 440 euros on average in the two countries, so the wage, depending on the payout, is between 562 and 694 euros below the Turkish subsistence level of 1002 euros. The group has not yet responded to the questionnaire from the Clean Clothes Campaign , which had researched the grievances. Hugo Boss AG also made sure that the name “Hugo Boss” was deleted from a press release. Upon request, Hugo Boss AG was also not available for any comment.

Web links

Commons : Hugo Boss  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Roman Köster: Hugo Boss, 1924–1945. The story of a clothing factory between the Weimar Republic and the “Third Reich” . CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61992-2 .
  • Rudolf Renz: Hugo Boss: Metzingen uniform tailor in the "Third Reich" . In: Wolfgang Proske (Hrsg.): Perpetrators helpers free riders. Nazi-polluted from Baden-Württemberg , Volume 9: Nazi-polluted from the south of today's Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, Gerstetten 2018, pp. 44–58, ISBN 978-3-945893-10-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HUGO BOSS Group: Heiko Schäfer becomes Chief Operating Officer of HUGO BOSS AG. In: hugoboss.com. March 5, 2020, accessed March 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b [1]
  3. ^ Profile of the Hugo Boss share. Wall Street Online, accessed March 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ Heinz Höhne: The order under the skull: The history of the SS. Bertelsmann Verlag, 1976, ISBN 978-3-570-05019-4 .
  5. ^ Editor Berliner Zeitung: Berlin in 1937 “Stürmerkasten” and Thanksgiving at Hertie. (No longer available online.) In: https://archiv.berliner-zeitung.de/ . Berliner Zeitung, July 16, 2017, formerly in the original ; accessed on November 3, 2019 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / archiv.berliner-zeitung.de  
  6. ↑ Hugo Boss in the Third Reich. Die Welt , September 23, 2011.
  7. ^ Forced labor in Metzingen: The Hugo Boss company , accessed on May 9, 2010
  8. ^ Roman Köster: Hugo Boss, 1924–1945. The story of a clothing factory between the Weimar Republic and the “Third Reich”. Munich 2011, p. 41.
  9. ^ A b Frederik Obermaier: Studies about Hugo Boss in the Nazi era - fashion with a brown past. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 23, 2011, accessed on September 11, 2016.
  10. ^ A b Hugo Boss: Business Study 1924–1945 (Memento from June 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive). June 16, 2012, accessed September 5, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Elisabeth Timm: Hugo Ferdinand Boss (1885–1948) and the Hugo Boss company. A documentation (1999), online (PDF) at metzingen-zwangsarbeit.de , accessed on May 16, 2019.
  12. ↑ Werner Baldessarini ( Memento of May 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Mode.net, accessed on May 16, 2010.
  13. ^ German National Tourist Board: Metzingen: Boss Outlet Stores. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  14. ^ Hugo, Bruno, Boss , Focus, May 14, 2007
  15. ↑ On the disappearance of the star designers. FAZ, February 7, 2005.
  16. ↑ Boss in Not , Manager-Magazin, November 2, 2009
  17. ↑ Permira lets Hugo Boss go for good, bilanz.ch, March 7, 2015.
  18. ↑ Permira receives a generous dividend from Hugo Boss , FAZ, March 13, 2008.
  19. ↑ Permira punching dividends , Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 13, 2008.
  20. ↑ New Hugo Boss Chef Lahrs: No change of strategy  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Textile Industry, May 16, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  21. ↑ Claus-Dietrich Lahrs , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 33/2009 from August 11, 2009, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible).
  22. ↑ Press release: CEO Claus-Dietrich Lahrs is leaving HUGO BOSS AG , February 25, 2016.
  23. ↑ Now officially: Daniel Grieder is going to Hugo Boss next year. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Valentino Fashion Group outsources Hugo Boss  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Textile Industry, December 28, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  25. ↑ Rumors about Hugo Boss sale rejected  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Textile Industry, April 16, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  26. ↑ Speculation about Hugo Boss ( memento of July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 16, 2010.
  27. ↑ Permira sells Boss shares , Stuttgarter Zeitung, November 14, 2011.
  28. ↑ Permira leaves Hugo Boss , faz.net, March 16, 2015.
  29. ↑ Permira Said to Double Returns as It Exits Stake in Hugo Boss , bloomberg.com, March 16, 2015.
  30. ↑ Hugo Boss loses anchor shareholder , manager-magazin.de, March 16, 2015.
  31. ↑ Hugo Boss is online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), Textilwirtschaft, January 28, 1999.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de
  32. ↑ Boss suits are becoming more expensive in Germany wiwo.de, 16. November 2016
  33. ↑ Fashion group streamlines brand structure and strengthens its core brand , morgenpost.de, July 12, 2012.
  34. ↑ Boss Woman: the premiere  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), Textilwirtschaft, March 23, 2000@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de
  35. ^ Hugo for women  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), Textilwirtschaft, April 10, 1997@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de
  36. ↑ Jason Wu becomes Artistic Director for Boss Womenswear ( Memento of the original from April 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , vogue.de June 10, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vogue.de
  37. ↑ Jason Wow! ( Memento from April 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), stylebook.de, February 13, 2014
  38. ↑ One size larger , sueddeutsche.de, March 3, 2015.
  39. ↑ Publicis Media expands Coty business on a global scale horizont.net, September 16, 2016
  40. ↑ Boss creative boss Eyan Allen leaves ( Memento from April 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), textilwirtschaft.de, June 11, 2013
  41. ↑ CV. In: Xing. Retrieved July 28, 2018 .
  42. ↑ Hugo Boss AG: Shareholder ( Memento of 26 August 2012 at the Internet Archive ), hugoboss.com
  43. ↑ Hugo Boss management report , hugoboss.com, page 15 (031), 2011.
  44. ↑ Formula 1 long-term sponsor Hugo Boss changes to Formula E , motorsport-total.com, 2017.
  45. ↑ Electric instead of premier class: Formula E welcomes Hugo Boss , motorsport-total.com, 2017.
  46. ↑ Spiegel article from June 15, 2014 , accessed June 15, 2014.