Below you will find a summary of a study produced on the history of Hugo Ferdinand Boss (1885-1948) and his company. The full version of the study was published by the HUGO BOSS Group in August 2011. The management considered it exceptionally important to have this segment of the company history thoroughly investigated in light of the continuing public and media interest.

The study and its summary were produced in cooperation with the highly respected Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte – a German institution devoted to chronicling corporate histories – and its independent historians. The Group wishes to emphasize that it was not involved in the research or writing and that no influence whatsoever was brought to bear concerning the study's form or content. 

In the past HUGO BOSS AG has often been confronted by vague statements regarding its history. Hugo Ferdinand Boss established his workshop in 1924, as a consequence of which his company operated during the Third Reich and the Second World War. During this period the factory employed 140 forced laborers (the majority of them women) and 40 French prisoners of war. When the Group became aware of this fact, it made a contribution to the international fund set up to compensate former forced laborers.

Out of respect to everyone involved, the Group has published this new study with the aim of adding clarity and objectivity to the discussion. It also wishes to express its profound regret to those who suffered harm or hardship at the factory run by Hugo Ferdinand Boss under National Socialist rule.

The company history "Hugo Boss, 1924-1945. The History of a Clothing Factory During the Weimar Republic and Third Reich" by Roman Köster is available from bookstores and – directly – from HUGO BOSS AG. This full-length study can be ordered from history@hugoboss.com.

Should you have any questions on the study or the summary presented here, you can contact us at the same address: history@hugoboss.com.

http://www.hugoboss.com/uk