We’ve all got secrets. But some secrets, are much darker than others.
Hugo Boss is a fashion brand associated with wealth,
elegance, and status - and is worn by countless prominent celebrities.
But this fashion icon has done all it can to hide its dark past from the public eye. This
is the story of how Hugo Boss supported Hitler, made the uniforms for the Nazis,
and yet somehow cleansed its image and built a global fashion empire.
Hugo Boss was born in Germany in 1885, in a town known for
its textile industry. In fact Hugo’s parents owned a modest lingerie shop,
and thus Hugo himself developed an interest in fashion from an early age.
As a teen he took jobs that would help him understand the ins and outs of the industry.
He initially began an apprenticeship as a merchant, then worked in a textile mill,
before eventually taking over his parents’ lingerie shop.
However soon after World War I broke out, Hugo took the opportunity to serve his country.
And whilst Hugo survived the war,
he returned with a new vision of what he wanted to do with his life.
Rather than running his parents' small shop, he wanted to create his own fashion
company - and thus he transformed the shop into a tailors that he named after himself.
Since Hugo had been gaining experience from such a young age, it only took him
a couple of years before he was able to turn his shop into a whole factory,
and he began selling his own brand of jackets, shirts, workwear, sportswear, and raincoats.
His apprenticeship as a merchant had made Hugo a great salesman,
and before long, the company’s clothing became fairly well known around Germany.
However, one of the consequences of World War I was that Germany had been ordered
to pay the winning countries a huge amount of money in reparations. The debt was set at 132
billion gold marks, the equivalent of about $270 billion US dollars in today’s currency.
This began to cripple the German economy and set the stage for an extremely tough and grueling era.
As the US, UK, and France enjoyed extravagant spending on behalf of
Germany’s debt, a time known in America as the Roaring 20s,
Germany struggled to pay off the war while having enough to support their own country.
As a result, German citizens saw high inflation and business closures - and therefore even
though Hugo Boss’ clothing had been pretty popular, his company began to suffer. No
amount of good reputation could help the fact people were struggling to afford his work.
And then, the Great Depression only made Germany’s bleak economic situation even
worse - food became scarce, jobs were nowhere to be found,
and some families even burnt their money to provide heat during the harsh winters.
In an effort to try and save his business,
Hugo began making uniforms for the German police and other government officials.
Unfortunately, this was not enough and Hugo was forced to lay off most of his
work force and shut down his factory. Eventually,
he filed for bankruptcy, and all Hugo was left with were 6 sewing machines.
It seemed like the Hugo Boss clothing brand would be nothing but a short-lived dream.
Germany was in a desperate situation and they were willing to seek help from
anyone. It was during this time that Adolf Hitler rose to power.
But for Hugo Boss, he saw this as an opportunity. He knew that those close to the Nazi Party were
eligible for government contracts, and thus he became a proud supporter of the Nazis,
and an active member of the Nazi Party from 1931 onward.
Hugo made connections with high ranking members within the party,
and he knew this would make him a prime candidate to produce the newly designed Nazi uniforms.
And it worked - he managed to build connections with them and eventually
won a contract to begin producing their uniforms.
So, with only six sewing machines, Hugo got to work - and at first this was just making the
Nazi uniforms. For example one of his first big contracts was to supply brown shirts to the Nazis.
But as the party grew into power,
they required more uniforms - for example for soldiers, the police and the Hitler Youth.
And Hugo’s connections to the Nazis meant he was soon manufacturing unifroms for all of these.
Of course, to meet the growing demand, six sewing machines wasn’t enough - he needed
lots more equipment and employees, so Hugo Boss took out loans to expand his company so he could
grow his tailoring operation, and create all the different uniforms and outfits the Nazis needed.
And from a financial perspective, Hugo Boss’ allegiance to Hitler
paid off massively. He was making way more money than his business ever had before.
And as Hitler began his conquest of Europe, Hugo Boss was soon given help through the
use of French and Polish forced laborers. So Hugo Boss had slave labourers working
in his factory, producing unforms for the the Nazi party and the SS.
Unlike some German business owners at the time, Hugo did at least allow his new slave workers
to eat in the canteen rather than the work camps, and he reportedly made sure they were always fed.
But, on the flip side, it’s reported these workers lived in extremely poor conditions, and that Hugo
would threaten to send them to the concentration camps if they fell behind on their work.
Now, as for Hugo Boss’ personal beliefs, it’s clear that him so publicly being an
active member of the Nazi party was partially a strategic decision. Remember, before Hitler rose
to power and Hugo built an alliance with the Nazis to win those contracts, Hugo’s business
had collapsed and he was in a terrible financial situation, with very little hopes of any success.
However, a researcher who wrote a book on Hugo Boss concluded: "It is clear that Hugo
F Boss did not only join the party because it led to contracts for uniform production,
but also because he was a follower of National Socialism," and a ‘loyal Nazi”.
It’s reported that in his apartment he even proudly hung a photo of himself with Hitler.
So whilst he may have partially got involved with them to save his business,
he seemingly would have supported them regardless.
Thankfully though, when the war finally ended, and the Nazis were defeated,
Hugo Boss was investigated. And because Hugo Boss was found to be an activist and
financial beneficiary of the Nazi Party, he was banned from owning a business.
Just a couple of years later, in 1948, Hugo Boss died.
And so you would think the company bearing his name would die along with him.
But of course, we all know that’s not the case - in present day
Hugo Boss is a multi-billion dollar clothing empire. So, what happened?
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After Hugo Boss’ death, what very little was left of the company went to his son in law Eugen Holy,
who kept the business going by producing uniforms for the police and postal workers.
Although the sale of uniforms kept the business afloat, the Hugo Boss brand became a shell
of its former self. As of course, they no longer had those lucrative Nazi contracts.
It wasn’t until the early 1950s that the Hugo Boss company was tasked with
producing an order of suits. This was the major turning point for the business.
The suits they created seemed very popular,
and Eugen realised there could be an opportunity here to rebrand the company,
and distance itself from its Nazi past. So he began taking more suit orders.
And to try and build a good reputation, Eugen ensured the suits were elegant and made with
very high quality materials. Although this was expensive,
Eugen’s decision to make high profile suits paid off, because the Hugo Boss brand moved
from just being a uniform brand, to a true German fashion tailor. And thus
Hugo Boss quickly became a popular brand for men in Germany wanting stylish suits.
Under the management of Hugo’s son-in-law, Hugo Boss became a bigger business than it
had been back when the original founder Hugo had been running it as a tailoring business.
Of course, the company tried their best to keep the original founder’s political views
and activism as private as they could, as they knew it would be disastrous PR
if everyone knew the truth. But, it was a constant ongoing battle to try and distance
themselves from their founder, and how much money he’d made from supporting Hitler.
However in 1969, Eugen retired and handed the business off to his two sons,
meaning the company was now into its third generation of ownership.
And these two brothers were even more ambitious than their father.
They were determined to make the company into a global fashion icon.
The two brothers who took over the company from their father, started marketing Hugo
Boss as a men’s only designer brand, specifically focused on premium suits.
Whilst selling such a small variety of clothing might seem like a limitation, it actually allowed
them to focus on the quality of their products, and become great at mens suits, rather just being
average at lots of different things. As a result, their products quickly got a very good reputation.
You see at the time, German suits tended to be made with only German materials,
which were known to be a little stiff and heavy.
Whereas the two brothers decided to break the German tradition and began making
suits with Italian materials that were softer and lighter.
They also modernized their factories and hired more workers to increase their output.
The changes made by the the two brothers fulfilled their father’s dream of Hugo Boss
no longer being associated with Nazi Germany but rather with post-war German excellence.
The brothers also did something that was uncommon at the time which was
manufacturing abroad. Today that practice is used by nearly every big business,
but for a proud German company to outsource its production was relatively unheard of at the time.
Not just that, but since the company had now deviated so much from its original
starting point of making uniforms and fairly low cost workwear,
the brothers felt they needed a rebrand, and thus began marketing the brand simply as BOSS.
And everything seemed to be going great for the company under the ownership of these two
brothers. Their suits were selling really well in Germany, and so the brothers decided it was time
to expand even further. They wanted to go global, and start selling in countries all over the world.
But they knew to become a world recognized fashion house, they needed to invest heavily in marketing.
A good decision the brothers made was to spend heavily on endorsement deals,
where they’d have the Boss branding plastered on race cars used by the era’s greatest drivers.
This immediately helped them become more recognizable outside Germany,
and it led to the first BOSS suit being sold in the United States in 1976.
They also paid big money to get endorsement deals from some of
the biggest stars of the time, for example they got Sylvester Stallone
to model their suits and become the poster boy for the BOSS brand.
And their timing was pretty perfect. Because in the 1980’s the Yuppie Movement began,
where more and more people were aspiring to be CEOs,
entrepreneurs, and having a stylish suit was a classic part of that look.
With the premium materials and the extensive ad campaigns and endorsement deals,
BOSS suits became heavily in demand - and so even though they focused primarily on
just mens suits to begin with, this alone was extremely profitable.
But, once they’d cemented their place as a popular suit brand in many countries, eventually the
brothers realized they could make a lot more money by expanding into more product lines. And thus,
in 1985, they began offering their male customers a lot more - like they came up with the idea to
sell their own fragrances, beginning with the Boss Number 1 for men. This single cologne would
be one of Boss’ most profitable products, and was the start of their now vast fragrance business.
Shortly after this, the company was listed on the German Stock Exchange. And within just a year,
Hugo Boss was worth more than the rest of the German men's wear manufacturers combined.
However, despite the brothers achieving so much success with the company, they were also exhausted
and wanted to focus on something different after devoting so much of their time to this business.
So in 1989, they sold the majority of their shares to a Japanese company named Leyton House Group.
The Brothers still had some say in the company for a little while, but they no
longer were in charge of distribution, sales and the day-to-day management.
And it soon began to seem like they cashed out their shares at just the right moment…
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The incredible success of Hugo Boss would eventually end once again, because of economic
instability. The Yuppie Era died out, and economic turmoil in many of Hugo Boss’ biggest markets,
like Germany and the United States, made high end fashion much less attainable for most people.
In 1993, Hugo Boss stock traded at less than half the price that the brothers had
sold their shares for just 4 years earlier. And as sales continued to fall drastically,
the new owners knew they had to act fast to save the company.
Firstly, they split the brand into three. The BOSS brand would continue selling high end suits,
but then they also created the Baldessarini brand, named after Hugo Boss’ chief designer, to act as
Hugo Boss’ exclusive fashion wing. And finally a new brand called Hugo aimed at younger customers.
They also offered some cheaper products to ensure people could
still afford their clothing despite the difficult economic situation.
The company also tried to distance itself from its overly masculine reputation,
and very soon began selling clothes and fragrances for women as well.
And all of these changes combined did indeed seem to help the company attract new customers,
and throughout the late 90’s, profits increased substantially.
In 1997 though, when the CEO Peter Littmann left the company, Hugo Boss then went through a
string of different CEO’s who unsuccessfully tried to pick up where Littmann left off.
Eventually it was Hugo Boss’s chief designer, Baldessarini,
who stepped up and took the position himself. He’d been reluctant to take
the job at first seeing how several CEO’s had tried and failed already.
But he eventually took the job, and he was the one who decided that Hugo Boss should
branch out even further, - thus Hugo Boss began selling sportswear, casual clothing,
underwear and even accessories like sunglasses. He also knew the impact that fame had on the brand,
and began working with the film industry to provide Boss branded wardrobe items
for some of the highest grossing films of the 90s and early 2000s.
Hugo Boss also got back into modeling,
releasing advertisements with some of the most famous models and celebrities of the time.
All of these decisions saw the brand cement its global success in the fashion industry. And of
course, Hugo Boss remains one of the largest and most successful fashion brands to this day,
with their products being sold in over 90 countries all over the world. It’s clear that Hugo
Boss has come a long way from being a small German tailor shop to a leader in the fashion industry.
And their brand still carries a reputation of wealth and impeccable design,
and celebrities continue to model for the brand - most recently Chris Hemsworth has
taken over Sylvester Stallone’s former position as the face of Hugo Boss.
However, not all of Hugo Boss’ coverage from celebrities has been positive.
In 2013 Russell Brand received an award from GQ at an event which was
sponsored by Hugo Boss. And this is what he said:
"Any of you know a little about history or fashion will know Hugo Boss made the uniforms for the
Nazis... and the Nazis did have flaws, but you know, they did look fantastic, let's face it!"
However, whilst Hugo Boss still continues to still face some scrutiny for their past,
the brand has been active in trying to right some of their wrongs. In 1999,
Hugo Boss created a fund to repay their slave laborers for their work and traumatic
experiences. And in 2011, for the first time in the brand’s history, Hugo Boss publicly
apologized. They issued a statement saying they "express profound regret to those who
suffered harm or hardship at the factory run by Hugo Boss under National Socialist rule".
Hugo Boss prides itself now in being involved with
charities that focus on education and support in developing regions.
So that raises the question: since the original founder is long gone and the company is now owned
by a completely different group who do genuinely seem to be trying to have a more positive impact,
does that mean that the atrocities committed by the original founder should no longer affect
the way we see the brand today? After all it’s a completely different business to what it was back
then with very different values and management. But on the other hand, when the brand is literally
named Hugo Boss, it’s perhaps not easy to fully forget the true origins of the company.
However, much more recently, Hugo Boss started getting more negative press for
a totally different reason, when comedian Joe Lycett legally changed his name to Hugo Boss.
The reason he did that was because the company Hugo Boss had sent cease and desist letters to
several very small businesses who’d simply used the word Boss in their product names.
For example there was a tiny local brewery in Wales called Boss Brewing
that were forced to pay thousands in legal fees and rebranding costs,
simply because Hugo Boss threatened them with a cease and desist. Hugo Boss claimed some of
their drink names like Boss black infringed on Hugo Boss’ trademark - even though this was a
tiny business in a totally different industry completely unrelated to fashion or clothing.
So, to draw attention to this trademark abuse over the use of the word ‘boss’, Joe Lycett tweeted:
It's clear that @HUGOBOSS HATES people using their name. Unfortunately for them
this week I legally changed my name by deed poll and I am now officially known
as Hugo Boss. All future statements from me are not from Joe Lycett but from Hugo Boss.
Now, he really did change his name, and this went extremely viral with headlines appearing
about it everywhere. And pretty soon, people soon started trolling the company,
for example every time @Hugoboss tweeted there’d be replies like:
does Joe lycett know you’re using his name to sell fragrances?
And of course the whole stunt brought more attention to the issue;
that a giant billion dollar corporation was threatening very small businesses for using
the word boss in some of their products and then forcing them to spend money on rebands.
Eventually the company Hugo Boss released a statement about all this saying: “We welcome
the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett as a member of the Hugo Boss family." and they then
tried to explain they’d reached an agreement with the small companies they’d sent cease
and desist letters to, such as Boss brewing. Although that didn’t change the fact that these
small companies had had to pay out rebranding and legal fees which they could barely afford.
But what surprises me most is how many of the giant fashion brands we know today have
such dark histories. If you haven’t yet seen the story of these companies here,
honestly it’s pretty shocking, so go check them
out now and I’ll see you there in a second. Thanks for watching. Cheers.