Our “CLAIM 5” growth strategy, introduced in August 2021, aims to sustainably increase brand relevance, drive superior top-line growth, and thus increase market shares of BOSS and HUGO by 2025. Central to this strategy is our vision of being the leading premium tech-driven fashion platform worldwide, reflecting our commitment to digitalization, innovation, and customer-centricity. By putting consumers at the heart of everything we do, we aim to turn them into true fans of BOSS and HUGO, fostering their loyalty in the long term. “CLAIM 5” is built on five strategic pillars: “Boost Brands,” “Product is Key,” “Lead in Digital,” “Drive Omnichannel,” and “Organize for Growth.” It also includes a strong commitment to sustainability, a rigorous executional road map, and a firm commitment on empowering people and teams.
“CLAIM 5” STRATEGY
Following more than three years of successfully executing “CLAIM 5”, HUGO BOSS has achieved significant progress across all five strategic priorities. In particular, momentum for both BOSS and HUGO has accelerated noticeably, translating into record sales for three consecutive years and market share gains globally. Consequently, in fiscal year 2024, HUGO BOSS generated revenues of EUR 4.3 billion. At the same time, over this period, we have built a robust organizational and operational platform, laying a strong foundation for sustainable and profitable growth. This platform enables us to further strengthen our operational execution, enhance effectiveness, and realize substantial efficiency gains across our business. Consequently, with “CLAIM 5” we have successfully paved the way towards achieving our financial ambition of EUR 5 billion in sales as well as an EBIT margin of at least 12%.
As we advance through the final year of our “CLAIM 5” strategy, we remain fully committed to making further progress along our five strategic claims and leveraging global growth opportunities. In this context, we will continue investing in key strategic initiatives to further strengthen our brands and elevate customers’ connections with BOSS and HUGO. At the same time, we remain focused on further leveraging our strong operational platform and driving further cost efficiencies by rigorously managing operating expenses. This balanced approach is essential to drive robust profitability improvements in 2025 and beyond, and thus ensure the long-term success of HUGO BOSS. Further details on our targets for fiscal year 2025 are presented in the Outlook section. Outlook
CLAIM 1 – Boost Brands
To increase the relevance and perception of our brands, we pursue a two-brand strategy. In 2022, we comprehensively renewed the brand images of BOSS and HUGO as part of our branding refresh. With a bolder, younger, and more emotional appearance, momentum for BOSS and HUGO increased noticeably, leading to strong growth rates in recent years. Building on this regained brand strength, we will continue to deepen our connection with consumers as we focus on sustained engagement and customer loyalty.
To activate and engage with consumers across all touchpoints, we remain committed to investing in marketing and brand-building activities. Following a clear digital-first approach, our marketing strategy is centered around 360-degree brand campaigns, inspiring collaborations, unique brand events, and exciting storytelling around our products. Key highlights in 2024 included star-studded global campaigns for BOSS and HUGO as well as the launch of a multiyear strategic partnership between BOSS and global football icon David Beckham. At the same time, BOSS and HUGO hosted unique brand events – from BOSS taking center stage at Milan Fashion Week to HUGO capturing attention with its Formula 1 collaboration in Miami. Since the introduction of “CLAIM 5”, we have been investing between 7% and 8% of Group sales annually in marketing (2024: 7.2%). Overall, our numerous marketing initiatives resulted in a strong global buzz on social media and beyond, including an increase of more than ten million followers across all platforms in recent years, while also supporting our top-line development.
FOCUS on Brand Heat
We strive to making every moment with BOSS and HUGO unforgettable. By deepening customer connections and creating bold brand experiences, we’re shaping the future of our brands.
Learn more Learn moreCLAIM 2 – Product is Key
Our products are at the very heart of all our business activities. As part of “CLAIM 5”, we successfully developed BOSS and HUGO into true 24/7 lifestyle brands, ensuring that our customers are perfectly dressed for every occasion. To further increase the relevance of both our brands, we complement our main collections with various capsule collections and high-impact collaborations, such as our strategic partnership with David Beckham. At all times, we are committed to maintaining our superior price-value proposition. By ensuring premium quality and a high level of innovation and sustainability, we aim to further strengthen the positioning of BOSS and HUGO in the premium and affordable luxury segments of the global fashion market. Product Development and Innovation
Fully in line with both brands’ 24/7 lifestyle images, we are committed to leveraging our growth potential across all wearing occasions. Exploiting the full potential of casualwear – accounting for around 50% of Group sales – remains a key focus, while we continue to blur lines between casualwear and formalwear. In this context, HUGO BOSS has been able to seamlessly close the gap between tailoring and sportswear in recent years. At the same time, we keep strengthening our formalwear business – accounting for around 25% of Group sales – as tailoring remains firmly anchored in our Company’s DNA. Through a modern interpretation and innovative product solutions, formalwear continues to offer further growth potential in the future. Our product range is rounded off by a comprehensive range of shoes and accessories as well as products such as bodywear and hosiery, also contributing around 25% to Group sales. Finally, our license business completes our 24/7 lifestyle offering with products such as fragrances, eyewear, and watches.
CLAIM 3 – Lead in Digital
Digitalization is an important enabler in delivering on our vision of being the leading premium tech-driven fashion platform worldwide. Our Group strategy therefore includes a firm commitment to further driving digitalization along the entire value chain. Since the introduction of “CLAIM 5”, we have achieved strong progress in digitalizing important business processes and making use of artificial intelligence – from digital trend detection and product creation to our digital showrooms – while at the same time taking our online business to the next level. In particular, the ongoing digitalization of our product development is of high strategic importance. In this context, we have set ourselves the goal of developing more than 90% of our products digitally by 2025 (2024: around 65%). Product Development and Innovation
The HUGO BOSS Digital Campus, spanning two locations in Metzingen (Germany) and Porto (Portugal), is at the heart of our digital journey. This co-working platform significantly expands our Company’s digital analytics capabilities, and is aimed at taking customer experience to new levels through the systematic use of data. The Digital Campus puts a strong emphasis on strengthening our global online business, particularly with regard to our digital flagship hugoboss.com and its dedicated customer app. By fostering data collaboration, we aim to establish an even closer relationship with our customers, while driving valuable insights and efficiencies along the value chain. At the same time, we are linking digital and physical retail even more seamlessly to provide consumers with a best-in-class omnichannel experience.
CLAIM 4 – Drive Omnichannel
Since the introduction of “CLAIM 5”, we have made substantial progress in translating our regained brand power into our various customer touchpoints, thus providing consumers with a best-in-class omnichannel experience. In this context, we are fully leveraging our high-quality channel mix on a global scale, while continuing to ensure a seamless brand experience across all touchpoints.
With brick-and-mortar retail contributing more than 50% of Group sales, this channel remains by far the largest in terms of revenues. As laid out in “CLAIM 5”, we aim to improve store productivity by at least 3% per annum. Between 2021 and 2024, we achieved significant progress, achieving an average increase of 7% per year, supported by the ongoing optimization, modernization, and selective expansion of our global retail footprint. Key to this progress has been the global rollout of our latest BOSS and HUGO store concepts as well as the introduction of exciting pop-up stores, transforming our physical stores into true points of experience.
At the same time, brick-and-mortar wholesale is contributing around 25% of Group sales. Since the introduction of “CLAIM 5”, we have noticeably increased the visibility and market presence of both our brands at key European and U.S. department stores. Across this channel, we are fully leveraging all BOSS and HUGO brand lines to deliver a true 24/7 brand experience. In addition, we are also strengthening our global franchise business, particularly in emerging markets. Since the introduction of “CLAIM 5”, we added around 200 full-price franchise stores globally, bringing the total to almost 400 by the end of fiscal 2024.
Digital revenues account for 20% of Group sales. Further optimizing and expanding our global digital footprint remains key to successfully continuing our digital growth trajectory. At the same time, we are committed to continuously improving the digital journey to drive further market shares. In this context, a key milestone in 2024 was the launch of HUGO BOSS XP, an innovative omnichannel member experience, fostering customer engagement in the digital sphere. Initially rolled out in the UK, Germany, and France, the program is set to expand to additional markets in the coming years. Consumer Touchpoints
FOCUS on Customer Loyalty
Our loyalty program HUGO BOSS XP reflects our focus on building meaningful, long-lasting relationships with our customers. With its personalized approach, it brings customer engagement to new heights.
Learn more Learn moreCLAIM 5 – Organize for Growth
To ensure long-term success for HUGO BOSS, we transform our entire organization into a platform of speed and growth. Since the introduction of “CLAIM 5”, we have successfully converted our operating model to a platform approach and implemented a streamlined, brand-led organizational setup, ensuring rigorous strategy execution at a global level.
To support long-term growth and drive further efficiencies going forward, we have stepped up investments into our supply chain and logistics capabilities. In 2024, we pushed ahead with the implementation of our important Digital TWIN initiative, which is aimed at enabling smart decision-making through a tech-driven business operations platform while being a key enabler in terms of meeting consumer demand even more effectively in the future. At the same time, we are driving forward our nearshoring initiatives to better align our regional sourcing and production activities with key sales markets. In 2022, we opened an additional plant at our largest factory in Izmir (Turkey) specifically dedicated to the production of casualwear. We are also expanding one of our key logistics hubs near our headquarters in Metzingen (Germany), significantly increasing both shipping and storage capacity. These strategic initiatives will enable us to react even faster and more flexibly in the future, meeting consumer demand in the best-possible way. Product Development and Innovation, Business Operations
At the same time, we have set the path for future growth by expanding and enhancing our headquarters, having allocated more than EUR 100 million for its upgrade, which also includes the construction of a new office building and the modernization of our employee restaurant. This investment is also aimed at increasing our employer attractiveness by creating a best-in-class workplace experience for our more than 2,500 employees at the Metzingen campus. Combined Non-financial Statement, Own Workforce