ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015 - 17

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By Julia ENGLISCH (11)

Fashion made
in Germany
Julia ENGLISCH, Brand Controlling Expert at Hugo Boss
Headquarters in Metzingen/Stuttgart, speaks about this German
fashion industry leader evolving from a craftsman's establishment
to a multinational lifestyle company and moving from a wholesaler
to a luxury retailer.
Hugo Boss founded in 1924 by Hugo Ferdinand
Boss is a truly German fashion brand as not
known to everyone out there. With around 12,500
employees and a net income of €2.4 billion in
2013, it doubled in just 10 years of time and rose
among the top fashion brands worldwide being in
the same list of Top Luxury brands as Armani and
Prada. Known for Men's Clothing, it has enlarged
its product portfolio to Womenwear and shoes &
accessories business besides licensed products
such as perfumes, watches and glasses. The
companies' philosophy is to offer their customers
a product for every situation from business to
leisurewear; from classic to trendy; from day to
night!

to a multi-brands retail operator. The growth
strategy included take-overs and flagship store
openings throughout the Asia-Pacific area (paying
key-money for prime locations such as Central
Building and Canton Road in Hong Kong) as well
as the set-up of subsidiaries in Singapore, South
Korea or Russia. Heavy upfront investments in the
design of the stores and on-going costs for trainings and personal were keys for success. In case
the collections are not sold out, the opening of
own online stores in nine countries and the popup of outlets help to liquidate leftovers. Avoiding
this brought up the need of shorter lead times and
transportation chains. With the set-up of regional
hubs in New York and Hong Kong we went closer
to suppliers and customers.

Gaining customer feedbacks...
... and turning luxury
Therefore, the biggest issue of the past years was
to gain more customer insights and feedbacks on
the fit and like of the styles, important know-how
for new product developments. In 2011 (the year I
joined), the Board decided to move away from two
collections per year to four (Pre-Spring/Spring/
Summer/Pre-Fall and Fall/Winter) to be able to
present new styles for every delivery window on
a monthly basis. This allowed the designers and
their brand managers to learn from the latest seasons success while planning and developing the
new season already one year in advance.
... going global with own stores...
Collections are nowadays presented in 7,100
points of sales in 129 countries with more than
1.000 own freestanding stores in prime retail
locations and shop-in-shops. This is the tremendous result from turning from a wholesale partner

Another milestone for the todays' success of the
company as well in terms of high profitability and
rocket stock prices, was achieved then in 2013
with the first worldwide known designer Jason Wu
coming on board as an artistic director to further
develop and especially «brand» the Womenswear.
For those among you who do not know him, he gained popularity back in 2009 and 2013 designing
Michelle Obama dresses for both inaugural balls.
The second step I witnessed was the decision to
no longer present collections only at the Berlin
Fashion Show but to go to New York, the real
catwalk for luxury brands. With the first Women
only Boss Fashion Show (you must know Boss
is a true male brand, achieving more than 80%
of their turnover with Menswear) for Fall/Winter
2014 in February 2014, VIPs like Diane Kruger,
Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon helped
to gain even more press attention worldwide. ●

ESCP Europe Magazine N° 158 - Janvier/Février 2015 -

ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015

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