Hugo Boss
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| Type | Aktiengesellschaft (FWB: BOS3) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Luxury goods |
| Founded | 1924 |
| Headquarters | Metzingen, Germany |
| Key people | Claus-Dietrich Lahrs (CEO and chairman of the managing board), Hellmut Albrecht (Chairman of the supervisory board) |
| Products | High fashion clothing and accessory manufacture and retail |
| Revenue | €1.562 billion (2009)[1] |
| Operating income | €158.4 million (2009)[1] |
| Profit | €104.0 million (2009)[1] |
| Employees | 9,030 (end 2009)[1] |
| Parent | Valentino Fashion Group |
| Website | www.hugoboss.com |
Hugo Boss AG is a German fashion and lifestyle house based in Metzingen that specializes in high-end mens- and womenswear. It is named after its founder, Hugo Ferdinand Boss (1885–1948).
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Today
Hugo Boss currently has at least 6,100 points of sale in 110 countries. Hugo Boss AG owns around 330 retail stores with over 1,000 stores and shops owned by franchisees.
There are two core brands, 'Boss' with various lines and 'Hugo' that offer business appropriate clothing, everyday wear, shoes, bags, watches, and fragrances:
- Boss Black Menswear (launched in early 1970s)/ Womenswear (2000)
- Boss Orange Menswear (1999)/ Womenswear (2005)
- Boss Selection Menswear (2003)
- Boss Green Menswear (relaunched in 2003)
- Boss Kids
- Hugo Menswear (1993)/ Womenswear (1998)
Since 2008, Hugo Boss has had an agreement with Samsung Electronics to develop cell phones and related accessories and Hugo Boss has also launched a children’s fashion collection under the Boss brand; produced and sold by a license partner.[2]
The main line, Boss Black, is intended as mature fashion for both business and social events, while Boss Orange aims to target the opposite audience with bright colors, metal-coloured clothing, and everyday items made from high quality materials, such as full-length skirts, not commonly considered suitable for the business-casual workplace, made from 100% silk. The Boss Orange collection includes jean jackets, jerseys, shorts and sweatpants, but the Boss Black collection includes full suit outfits, bermuda shorts, cardigans, and high-waisted, knee-length skirts. Boss Selection is designed to be the premium label of the core brand, seeking to make that distinction among its clients with higher quality tailoring and more focus on design. Boss Green is the golf-oriented sport collection, with typical polos and plaid pants, mixed with other items with less common patterns. Boss Kidswear seems to sport classic looks mixed with suit jackets, modest dresses, and high-quality materials that would be appropriate for mature social events. Hugo strays from the typical styles Boss encompasses with avant-garde styles, including strappy sandals for men, but still including suits as is base, but branching out to include rain jackets, v-necks, and loose-fitting tanktops and pocketed, mid-thigh length skirts for women.
History
Hugo Boss started his clothing company in 1924 in Metzingen, where it is still based, a small town south of Stuttgart. However, due to the economic climate in Germany at the time Boss was forced into bankruptcy in 1930. Undeterred, Hugo set up a new business and in 1931 became a member of the Nazi party. With the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Boss's business also began to prosper as he became an RZM-licensed (official) supplier of uniforms to the SA, SS, Hitler Youth, NSKK and other Party organizations.
With the defeat of Germany in 1945, Boss was charged with being sympathetic to the Nazi cause and using forced labor, and was denied the right to vote in Germany and ordered to pay a fine. He died in 1948 but his business survived.
In 1985 the company was floated on the stock exchange and the majority shareholder is now the Marzotto textile group. In the same year Hugo Boss launched its first fragrance.
Involvement in World War II
The all-black dress uniform of the Nazi Schutzstaffel or SS (the NSDAP paramilitary and military force), in use from 1932 until 1942, was designed by SS-Oberführer Prof. Dr. Karl Diebitsch and graphic designer Walter Heck.[3] From 1933, the Hugo Boss company was one of the firms that produced these black uniforms along with the brown SA shirts and the black-and-brown uniforms of the Hitler Youth.[4][5]
Shift from Union Manufacturing
In March 2010, Hugo Boss was boycotted by actor Danny Glover after Hugo Boss announced plans to close an Ohio suit manufacturing plant reportedly after 375 employees of the Workers United Union rejected Hugo Boss proposal to cut the workers' hourly wage 36% from $13 an hour to $8.30.[6] Hugo Boss CFO Andreas Stockert stated that the company has a responsibility to shareholders. Hugo Boss will move suit manufacturing from Ohio to other facilities in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.[7]
See also
- Hugo Boss Prize
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Annual Report 2009". Hugo Boss. http://group.hugoboss.com/files/HB_GB09_En_final.pdf. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
- ↑ Hugo Boss Annual Report 2008
- ↑ Lumsden, Robin. A Collector's Guide To: The Allgemeine - SS, Ian Allan Publishing, Inc. 2001, p 53.
- ↑ "Hugo Boss Acknowledges Link to Nazi Regime". The New York Times. 1997-08-15. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E4DF153FF936A2575BC0A961958260. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
- ↑ White, Constance C. R. "Patterns: Dealing with Hugo Boss's Nazi tie." The New York Times 19 August 1997:
- ↑ "Glover: Help Ohio Plant, Shun Hugo Boss At Oscars".
- ↑ Boss to move US factory production to Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, trade union says
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