Hugo Boss AG
Encyclopedia
Hugo Boss AG is a German
fashion and lifestyle house based in Metzingen
, Germany that specializes in high-end mens- and womenswear. It is named after its founder Hugo Boss (1885–1948). It is owned by the Italy-based Valentino Fashion Group
, itself owned by British private equity
firm Permira
.
Products are manufactured in a variety of locations, including the company's own production sites in Izmir, Turkey
(the most important production site of HUGO BOSS); Radom
, Poland; Morrovalle
, Italy; Cleveland, USA; and Metzingen
, Germany.
There are two core brands, BOSS and HUGO:
Hugo Boss has licensing agreements with various companies to produce Hugo Boss branded products. These include agreements with Samsung
to produce cell phones; C.W.F. Children Worldwide Fashion SAS to produce children's clothing; Procter & Gamble Prestige
to produce fragrances & skincare; Movado
to produce watches; and Safilo
to produce sunglasses and eyewear.
In 1985 the company was floated on the stock exchange. In 1991, the Marzotto
textile group acquired for $165 million a 77.5% stake. Marzotto spun off its fashion brands into the newly created Valentino Fashion Group in 2005. Valentino Fashion Group was subsequently purchased by private equity firm Permira
in 2007 from the Marzotto family, who retain a 22% stake in the company.
In 2009, BOSS Black was by far the largest segment, consisting 68% of all sales, with the remainder made up by BOSS Orange (17%), BOSS Selection (3%), BOSS Green (3%) and HUGO (9%). Sales taken in company owned stores were 19% of total sales worldwide.
, a small town south of Stuttgart, where it is still based. However, due to the economic climate in Germany at the time Boss was forced into bankruptcy. In 1931 he reached an agreement with his creditors, leaving him with 6 sewing machines to start again. The same year, he became a member of the Nazi party and a sponsoring member ("Förderndes Mitglied") of the Schutzstaffel
. He later stated himself that he had joined the party because of their promise to end unemployment and because he felt "temporarily" withdrawn from the Lutheran church. He joined the German Labour Front
in 1936, the Reich Air Protection Association
in 1939, the National Socialist People's Welfare
in 1941. His sales increased from 38,260 RM in 1932 to over 3,300,000 RM in 1941, while his profits increased in the same period from 5,000 RM to 241,000 RM. Though he claimed in a 1934/1935 advertising he had been a “supplier for Nazi uniforms since 1924”, such supplies are probable since 1928/1929 and certain since 1934, when he became an Reichszeugmeisterei
-licensed (official) supplier of uniforms to the Sturmabteilung
, Schutzstaffel
, Hitler Youth
, National Socialist Motor Corps
and other party organizations. To meet demand in later years of the war, Boss used about 30 to 40 prisoners of war and about 150 forced laborers, from the Baltic States, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the former Soviet Union. According to German historian Henning Kober, the company managers were “avowed nazis”, “the Boss were all great admirers of Adolf Hitler” and Hugo Boss had in 1945 in his apartment a photograph of himself with Hitler taken in the latter's Obersalzberg
retreat.
In a 1946 denazification judgement, based on his early party membership, his financial support of the SS and the uniforms delivered to the Nazi party even before 1933, Boss was considered both an “activist” and a “supporter and beneficiary of National Socialism”. He was stripped of his voting rights, his capacity to run a business and, fined “a very heavy penalty” of 100,000 marks. He died in 1948 but his business survived.
In 1997, the company appeared in a list of Swiss dormant accounts, which stirred the publication of articles highlighting the involvement of Hugo Boss with the Nazis. In 1999, American lawyers filed lawsuits in New Jersey, on behalf of survivors or their families, for the use of forced workers during the war. The company did not comment on these law suits but reiterated an earlier statement that it would “not close its eyes to the past but rather deal with the issues in an open and forthright manner”. It sponsored research by German historian Elisabeth Timm. Nevertheless, after Timm told the press of her findings, the company declined to publish them. In December 1999, an agreement was reached between the German government and a group of American class-action lawyers, Jewish groups and the United States government to set a $5.1 billion fund, financed equally by German industry and the German government, to compensate slave laborers used by the Germans in World War II. Hugo Boss agreed to participate to this fund, for an amount which was estimated by some sources to be “about 752 000 €”, while others considered the firm “finally paid an absolute minimum into the compensation fund”.
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. After an initial statement by CFO Andreas Stockert that the company had a responsibility to shareholders and would move suit manufacturing from Ohio to other facilities in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania the company "succumbed" to the boycott and cancelled the project.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
fashion and lifestyle house based in Metzingen
Metzingen
Metzingen is a Swabian city with about 22,000 inhabitants, in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany, south of Stuttgart.-History:The city is mentioned for the first time in documents from 1075...
, Germany that specializes in high-end mens- and womenswear. It is named after its founder Hugo Boss (1885–1948). It is owned by the Italy-based Valentino Fashion Group
Valentino Fashion Group
The Valentino Fashion Group S.p.A is a significant Italian clothing company which operates in over 110 countries and has 1,600 single-brand boutiques and 433 directly managed shops. In 2005 Marzotto S.a.A separated their organization into two different companies, one for textiles and the other for...
, itself owned by British private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
firm Permira
Permira
Permira is a United Kingdom-based private equity firm with global reach. The firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €20 billion....
.
Today
Hugo Boss currently has at least 6,102 points of sale in 110 countries. Hugo Boss AG directly owns over 364 retail stores with over 1,000 stores and shops owned by franchisees.Products are manufactured in a variety of locations, including the company's own production sites in Izmir, Turkey
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
(the most important production site of HUGO BOSS); Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
, Poland; Morrovalle
Morrovalle
Morrovalle is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 35 km south of Ancona and about 11 km east of Macerata...
, Italy; Cleveland, USA; and Metzingen
Metzingen
Metzingen is a Swabian city with about 22,000 inhabitants, in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany, south of Stuttgart.-History:The city is mentioned for the first time in documents from 1075...
, Germany.
There are two core brands, BOSS and HUGO:
- Boss Black. Menswear (1970), womenswear (2000). Modern classic clothing which is more widely distributed than other lines, and has the broadest product range.
- Boss Orange. Menswear (1999), womenswear (2005). Originally quirky styling, with bohemian influences, this line was relaunched in 2010 as denim based casual wear.
- Boss Selection. Menswear (2003). Higher priced clothing aimed at a more mature market, with emphasis on English tailoring styles.
- Boss Green. Menswear (2003), womenswear (2010). Previously known as Boss Sport, was relaunched in 2003 as a golf-style active wear collection.
- Hugo. Menswear (1993), womenswear (1998). Fashion forward styling, with a more European look, and sometimes androgynous models.
Hugo Boss has licensing agreements with various companies to produce Hugo Boss branded products. These include agreements with Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
to produce cell phones; C.W.F. Children Worldwide Fashion SAS to produce children's clothing; Procter & Gamble Prestige
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
to produce fragrances & skincare; Movado
Movado
Movado is a Swiss luxury watch company whose name is Esperanto for "continuous movement". Movado was founded in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Achilles Ditesheim....
to produce watches; and Safilo
Safilo
-History:Safilo Group S.p.A. was founded in 1934 after Guglielmo Tabacchi purchased Italy’s first industrial complex for producing lenses and frames in Pieve di Cadore. Exports in the 1930s expanded to many European countries, North Africa, the Middle East and South America.In the 1940s,...
to produce sunglasses and eyewear.
In 1985 the company was floated on the stock exchange. In 1991, the Marzotto
Marzotto
The Marzotto Group is an Italian textile manufacturer, based in Valdagno.Created in 1836 as the Lanificio Luigi Marzotto & Figli. In 2005 Marzotto Group's textile business separated from Valentino Fashion Group....
textile group acquired for $165 million a 77.5% stake. Marzotto spun off its fashion brands into the newly created Valentino Fashion Group in 2005. Valentino Fashion Group was subsequently purchased by private equity firm Permira
Permira
Permira is a United Kingdom-based private equity firm with global reach. The firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €20 billion....
in 2007 from the Marzotto family, who retain a 22% stake in the company.
In 2009, BOSS Black was by far the largest segment, consisting 68% of all sales, with the remainder made up by BOSS Orange (17%), BOSS Selection (3%), BOSS Green (3%) and HUGO (9%). Sales taken in company owned stores were 19% of total sales worldwide.
History
Hugo Boss started his clothing company in 1924 in MetzingenMetzingen
Metzingen is a Swabian city with about 22,000 inhabitants, in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany, south of Stuttgart.-History:The city is mentioned for the first time in documents from 1075...
, a small town south of Stuttgart, where it is still based. However, due to the economic climate in Germany at the time Boss was forced into bankruptcy. In 1931 he reached an agreement with his creditors, leaving him with 6 sewing machines to start again. The same year, he became a member of the Nazi party and a sponsoring member ("Förderndes Mitglied") of the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
. He later stated himself that he had joined the party because of their promise to end unemployment and because he felt "temporarily" withdrawn from the Lutheran church. He joined the German Labour Front
German Labour Front
The German Labour Front was the National Socialist trade union organisation which replaced the various trade unions of the Weimar Republic after Adolf Hitler's rise to power....
in 1936, the Reich Air Protection Association
Reichsluftschutzbund
The Reichsluftschutzbund was a paramilitary organization of Nazi Germany founded in the 1933 as a branch of the German Aviation Ministry. The group's first function was to serve as Air Defense Crews during a period when Germany was forbidden an Air Force by the Treaty of Versailles...
in 1939, the National Socialist People's Welfare
National Socialist People's Welfare
The Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt , meaning "National Socialist People's Welfare" was a social welfare organization during the Third Reich. The NSV was established in 1933, shortly after the NSDAP took power in Germany...
in 1941. His sales increased from 38,260 RM in 1932 to over 3,300,000 RM in 1941, while his profits increased in the same period from 5,000 RM to 241,000 RM. Though he claimed in a 1934/1935 advertising he had been a “supplier for Nazi uniforms since 1924”, such supplies are probable since 1928/1929 and certain since 1934, when he became an Reichszeugmeisterei
Reichszeugmeisterei
The Reichszeugmeisterei , formally located in Munich, was the first and eventually the primary Zeugmeisterei , as well as the national material control office of Nazi Germany...
-licensed (official) supplier of uniforms to the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
, Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
, National Socialist Motor Corps
National Socialist Motor Corps
The National Socialist Motor Corps , also known as the National Socialist Drivers Corps, was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organization to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps, which had existed since the beginning...
and other party organizations. To meet demand in later years of the war, Boss used about 30 to 40 prisoners of war and about 150 forced laborers, from the Baltic States, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the former Soviet Union. According to German historian Henning Kober, the company managers were “avowed nazis”, “the Boss were all great admirers of Adolf Hitler” and Hugo Boss had in 1945 in his apartment a photograph of himself with Hitler taken in the latter's Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany, located about southeast of Munich, close to the border with Austria...
retreat.
In a 1946 denazification judgement, based on his early party membership, his financial support of the SS and the uniforms delivered to the Nazi party even before 1933, Boss was considered both an “activist” and a “supporter and beneficiary of National Socialism”. He was stripped of his voting rights, his capacity to run a business and, fined “a very heavy penalty” of 100,000 marks. He died in 1948 but his business survived.
In 1997, the company appeared in a list of Swiss dormant accounts, which stirred the publication of articles highlighting the involvement of Hugo Boss with the Nazis. In 1999, American lawyers filed lawsuits in New Jersey, on behalf of survivors or their families, for the use of forced workers during the war. The company did not comment on these law suits but reiterated an earlier statement that it would “not close its eyes to the past but rather deal with the issues in an open and forthright manner”. It sponsored research by German historian Elisabeth Timm. Nevertheless, after Timm told the press of her findings, the company declined to publish them. In December 1999, an agreement was reached between the German government and a group of American class-action lawyers, Jewish groups and the United States government to set a $5.1 billion fund, financed equally by German industry and the German government, to compensate slave laborers used by the Germans in World War II. Hugo Boss agreed to participate to this fund, for an amount which was estimated by some sources to be “about 752 000 €”, while others considered the firm “finally paid an absolute minimum into the compensation fund”.
Shift from Union Manufacturing
In March 2010, Hugo Boss was boycotted by actor Danny GloverDanny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
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. After an initial statement by CFO Andreas Stockert that the company had a responsibility to shareholders and would move suit manufacturing from Ohio to other facilities in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania the company "succumbed" to the boycott and cancelled the project.