fwb boss industry clothing accessories founded 1924 by hugo boss headquarters metzingen germany key people mark langer ceo bernd hake michel perraudin chairman products high fashion accessories footwear revenue 2.809 billion 1 2015 operating income 447.7 million 1 profit 319.3 million 1 2015 total assets 1.800 billion 1 total equity 955.7 million 1 number of employees 13 764 1 parent 90.08 % free float 7.95 % marzotto family 1.97 % own shares website http hugoboss.com hugo boss ag often styled as boss is a german luxury fashion house . it was founded in 1924 by hugo boss and is headquartered in metzingen germany . its initial major success was as a supplier of uniforms for the nazi party and its related organizations . contents 1 history 1.1 foundation 1.2 nazi germany and world war ii 1.3 business in the 1950s 1990s 1.4 development from the 2000s 2 products 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit foundation edit 1933 boss advertising for national socialist uniforms in 1924 hugo boss started a clothing company in metzingen a small town south of stuttgart where it is still based . due to the economic climate of germany at the time boss was forced into bankruptcy . in 1931 he reached an agreement with his creditors leaving him with six sewing machines to start again . nazi germany and world war ii edit that same year he became a member of the nazi party and a sponsoring member f rderndes mitglied of the schutzstaffel ss . he also joined the german labour front in 1936 the reich air protection association in 1939 and the national socialist people s welfare in 1941 . after joining these organizations his sales increased from 38 260 rm 26 993 u.s. dollars in 1932 to over 3 300 000 rm in 1941 . his profits also increased in the same time period from 5 000 rm to 241 000 rm . though he claimed in a 1934 35 advertisement that he had been a supplier for national socialist uniforms since 1924 it is probable that he did not begin to supply them until 1928 at the earliest . this is the year he became an reichszeugmeisterei licensed official supplier of uniforms to the sturmabteilung schutzstaffel hitler youth national socialist motor corps and other party organizations . for production in later years of the war hugo boss used prisoners of war and forced labourers from the baltic states belgium france italy austria poland czechoslovakia and the soviet union . 2 according to german historian henning kober the company managers were fervent nazis who were all great admirers of adolf hitler . in 1945 hugo boss had a photograph in his apartment of him with hitler taken at hitler s obersalzberg retreat . 3 because of his early nazi party membership his financial support of the ss and the uniforms delivered to the nazi party boss was considered both an activist and a supporter and beneficiary of national socialism . in a 1946 judgment he was stripped of his voting rights his capacity to run a business and fined a very heavy penalty of 100 000 dm 70 553 u.s. dollars . 2 he died in 1948 but his business survived . business in the 1950s 1990s edit as a result of the ban on boss being in business his son in law eugen holy took over ownership and running of the company . in 1950 after a period supplying work uniforms the company received its first order for men s suits resulting in an expansion to 150 employees by the end of the year . by 1960 the company was producing ready made suits . in 1969 eugen retired leaving the company to his sons jochen and uwe who began international development . in 1970 the first boss branded suits were produced with the brand becoming a registered trademark in 1977 . this was followed by the start of the company s long association with motorsport sponsoring formula one driver niki lauda and later the mclaren racing team . in 1984 the first boss branded fragrance appeared . this helped the company gain the required growth for listing on the frankfurt stock exchange the following year . the brand entered the world of golf by sponsoring bernhard langer in 1986 and entered the world of tennis by sponsoring the davis cup in 1987 . in 1989 boss launched its first licensed sunglasses . later that year the company was bought by a japanese group . 4 after the marzotto textile group acquired a 77.5 % stake for 165 000 000 in 1991 4 5 the hugo and baldessarini brands were introduced in 1993 . in 1995 the company launched its footwear range the first in a now fully developed leather products range across all sub brands . a partnership with the solomon r. guggenheim foundation was launched in 1995 resulting in the hugo boss prize an annual 100 000 stipend in modern arts presented since 1996 . in 1997 the company appeared in a list of swiss dormant accounts in connection with reparations lawsuits which stirred the publication of articles highlighting the involvement of hugo boss with the nazis . 6 7 8 in 1999 american lawyers filed lawsuits in new jersey on behalf of survivors and their families for the use of forced workers during the war . 9 10 the company did not comment on these lawsuits 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 . 9 in doing so it sponsored research by german historian elisabeth timm . 2 nevertheless after timm told the press of her findings the company declined to publish them . 11 in december 1999 an agreement was reached between the german government and the united states government along with a group of american class action lawyers and jewish groups . a fund equivalent to 5 100 000 000 u.s. dollars was to be financed equally by german industry and the german government to compensate slave labourers used by the germans in world war ii . 12 hugo boss agreed to participate in this fund 13 for an amount which was estimated by some sources to be 1 037 690 . 14 development from the 2000s edit hugo boss store in brisbane australia in 2005 marzotto spun off its fashion brands into the valentino fashion group which was then sold to permira private equity group . in march 2015 permira announced plans to sell the remaining shareholding of 12 % . since the exit by permira 91 % of the shares floated on the b rse frankfurt and the residual 2 % held by the company . 7 % of the shares owns the marzotto family . hugo boss has at least 6 102 points of sale in 124 countries . hugo boss ag directly owns over 364 retail stores 537 monobrand retail stores and over 1 000 franchise owned shops . 4 in 2009 boss hugo boss was by far the largest segment consisting of 68 % of all sales . the remainder of sales were made up by boss orange at 17 % boss selection at 3 % boss green at 3 % and hugo at 9 % . 15 in 2010 the company had sales of 2 345 850 000 and a net profit of 262 183 000 4 with royalties of 42 % of total net profit . 4 in march 2010 hugo boss was boycotted by actor danny glover for the company s plans to close the plant in brooklyn ohio after 375 employees of the workers united union reportedly rejected hugo boss proposal to cut the workers hourly wage 36 % from 13 an hour to 8.30 . 16 after an initial statement by cfo andreas stockert saying the company had a responsibility to shareholders and would move suit manufacturing from ohio to other facilities in turkey bulgaria and romania 17 the company capitulated to the boycott and cancelled the project . 18 plans to close the plant again in april 2015 also failed . 19 20 in september 2015 hugo boss uk was fined 1.2 m in relation to the death in june 2013 of a child who died four days after suffering fatal head injuries at its store in bicester oxfordshire . 21 the four year old boy had been injured when a steel framed fitting room mirror weighing 120 kg 19 stone 250 lb fell on him . oxford crown court had earlier been told that it had negligently been left free standing without any fixings 21 and the coroner had said that the death was an accident waiting to happen . 22 in june 2015 hugo boss uk had admitted its breach of both the health and safety at work act 1974 and management of health and safety at work regulations 1999 . 23 the company s legal representative said the consequence of this failing is as awful as one could reasonably imagine . since the day of the accident hugo boss has done all it can first to acknowledge those failings to express genuine heartfelt remorse and also demonstrate a determination to put things right and ensure there can not be a repeat of what went wrong . 23 products edit boss bottled a fragrance launched in 1998 . 24 there are two core brands boss and hugo . the ranges are boss which includes modern classic clothing in both men s wear 1970 and women s wear 2000 . boss orange which includes originally quirky styling with bohemian influences in both men s wear 1999 and women s wear 2005 . this line was relaunched in 2010 as denim based casual wear . boss green which was previously known as boss sport includes golf style active clothing in both men s wear 2003 and women s wear 2010 hugo which includes fashion forward styling with a european look in both men s wear 1993 and women s wear 1998 . products are manufactured in a variety of locations including the company s own production sites in metzingen germany ; morrovalle italy ; radom poland ; izmir turkey ; and cleveland united states . 25 hugo boss has licensing agreements with various companies to produce hugo boss branded products . these include agreements with samsung htc and huawei to produce cell phones ; c.w.f. children worldwide fashion sas to produce children s clothing ; shiseido and procter & gamble prestige to produce fragrances and skincare ; 26 movado to produce watches ; 27 and safilo to produce sunglasses and eyewear . 28 see also edit hugo boss prize references edit a b c d e f hugo boss annual report 2015 . hugo boss . a b c timm elisabeth april 18 1999 . hugo ferdinand boss 1885 1948 und die firma hugo boss pdf . metzingen zwangsarbeit in german . retrieved december 31 2010 . kober henning july 29 2001 . ber den umgang mit zwangsarbeiterinnen bei boss . metzinger zwangsarbeit in german . retrieved january 1 2011 . a b c d e chevalier michel 2012 . luxury brand management . singapore john wiley & sons . isbn 978 1 118 17176 9 . marzotto s.p.a. . the new york times . november 2 1991 . retrieved january 1 2011 . givhan robin august 14 1997 . hugo boss factory made nazi uniforms . the washington post . retrieved january 2 2011 . hugo boss acknowledges link to nazi regime . the new york times . august 14 1997 . retrieved september 29 2008 . white constance c. r august 19 1997 . patterns the fallout on hugo boss . the new york times . retrieved january 1 2011 . a b hugo boss used slaves to work for nazis ; charge by holocaust survivors . the daily mail