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The Hugo Boss Group is a German based fashion company. Originally a men's clothing brand, they now offer men's and women's-inspired clothing and a children's clothing lines. The company also produces footwear, eyewear, sportswear, jewelry, watches, and fragrances. The company is split into two brands—BOSS and HUGO.
BOSS functions as the Hugo Boss Group's core brand and is divided into three subsidiary labels:
- Black Label: business, leisure wear
- Orange Label: urban, sportswear
- Green Label: outdoor, activewear
The Hugo Boss group is available through various retailers and online stores; according to a 2020 survey, the company had around 1,100 brand stores worldwide. The current CEO of the Hugo Boss Group is Daniel Greider.
The company was founded in 1924 by Hugo Boss in Metzigen, Germany. Originally the company primarily produced work clothes and uniforms. Hugo Boss was an official supplier of uniforms for the Nazi party starting in 1928. He was penalized in 1946 for his membership in the Nazi Party, and was fined as well as forbidden to conduct business. Hugo Boss died in 1948, and the company went back to producing uniforms for police and postal workers.
In 1946, the company was taken over by Boss's son, Eugen Holy. By 1950 they had grown to 128 employees and by 1953 had begun making suits. The company made its first off-the-peg suits for men in 1960, and in 1969 Eugen Holy's sons, Jochen and Uwe Holy, took over Hugo Boss.
In the seventies, Hugo Boss started to establish itself as a men's fashion brand. The new BOSS brand was officially registered in 1977. The company received its fragrance license in 1984. Along with undergoing some internal reorganization, the company was listed on the German stock market in 1985. The company received its eyewear license in 1989.
The brand reorganized in 1993, under the new CEO Peter Littmann, by splitting itself into three brands: BOSS, HUGO, and BALDESSARINI. In 1995, The Hugo Boss Group began sponsoring the Contemporary arts through the founding of the Hugo Boss Prize. Werner Baldessarini, chief designer at the time, became CEO in 1998.
The Hugo Boss Group continued to branch out launching watches (1996), golfwear (1997), women's wear (1998), and footwear (1995) and leather goods (2004). In 2006, the Hugo Boss Group abandoned the three brand strategy and the collections from BALDESSARINI were discontinued. The company opened its first online store in Great Britain in 2008 and now has over twenty-four stores in the online market.
