A Boss Look for the Boardroom

By Charles P. Alexander.

West Germany becomes a force in men's fashion

The pages of Gentlemen's Quarterly and other men's fashion magazines are filled with ads from top European names: Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Giorgio Armani, Nino Cerruti, Hugo Boss . . . Hugo Boss? Is he a French or Italian designer who changed his name to make it sound more macho?

Not at all. Hugo Boss is the name of a fast-growing company with headquarters not in the fashion capitals of Paris and Milan but in the small West German town of Metzingen, 19 miles from Stuttgart. Sales of Boss's stylish suits, sports jackets, sweaters and other men's clothing jumped 30% last year, to about $60 million. After years of rising popularity in Europe, the Boss line is now making inroads in the U.S. as well. Thanks to Boss, the country that gave the world BMW cars and Becks beer is becoming a force in high-fashion men's wear.

Founded in 1923 by Hugo Boss, a German tailor, the company concentrated for decades on the production of uniforms and work clothes. In 1967 two of Boss's grandsons, Uwe and Jochen Holy, took over the firm with the goal of moving it in a new direction. The brothers decided to make business suits for executives who want formality with a hint of flair.

Boss suits come in rich combinations of colors from blue to peach. They are cut to accentuate the lines of the body, but they eschew the pointy lapels and extra pockets of more extreme European designs. As a result, the suits do not look out of place at an executive board meeting. Made of top-quality wool, silk, linen and cotton from Italy, Boss suits cost from $200 to $300 in Europe and $400 to $500 in the U.S. They typically run about $100 less than suits made by such leading European designers as Armani and Valentino.

The Holy brothers have promoted their clothes to a new generation of fitness-minded businessmen. All the Boss ads feature a tall, square-jawed model who looks like a health-club regular. "We are completely aware that 70% of men's clothing decisions are made by females," says Uwe. The company also has recruited such top athletes as Bjoern Borg, the five-time Wimbledon tennis champion, and Juergen Hingsen, the world-record holder and Olympic silver medalist in the decathlon, to wear the Boss line.

When the firm's suits first appeared in the U.S. in 1976, sales started slowly because customers doubted that high fashion could come from West Germany. Says Stephen Molnar, a Boss representative in New York City: "Even a garbage bag with the label MADE IN ITALY was more desirable." But now Boss seems to have found a market among the so-called Yumpies, the young, upwardly mobile professionals. Since 1979, annual sales in the U.S. have quintupled, to $4 million.

To attract young men who cannot yet afford a Boss suit, the company last year came out with a line of casual wear, including sweatshirts, jeans and sports jackets. Price range in the U.S.: $50 for a sweatshirt to $180 for a typical jacket.

Boss owes much of its success to the diverse talents of the Holy brothers. Uwe, 44, claims to be the marketing strategist, while Jochen, 42, keeps a watch on trends in fashion. "We're a perfect team," says Uwe. "Jochen has flipped-out tastes, and I've got commercial ones." Most important, they understand their market. Businessmen themselves, they know which office fashions will turn heads but not cause tongues to wag.

--By Charles P. Alexander. Reported by Lawrence Mondi/New York and Uwe Wolf/Bonn

With reporting by Lawrence Mondi, Uwe Wolf