The Swabian fashion group Hugo Boss continues to grow rapidly after the Corona crisis and has exceeded the goals it had already raised for the past year.

In 2022, sales increased by 27 percent after adjusting for exchange rate effects to almost 3.7 billion euros, while earnings before interest and taxes rose by almost half to 335 million euros.

The company, which is best known for its suits, announced this on Tuesday morning in Metzingen, south of Stuttgart, based on preliminary figures.

CEO Daniel Grieder is quoted as saying in the statement that it was a “real record year”.

The company raised its targets twice during the year.

Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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The group is therefore on the verge of achieving the goals it has set for 2025 in the current year.

At the beginning of his tenure a year and a half ago, CEO Grieder set the goal of increasing sales to 4 billion euros by 2025.

That would mean a doubling compared to the pandemic year 2020 and an increase of almost 40 percent compared to 2019.

However, some of the growth that has now been achieved is also likely to be related to inflation.

After a long courtship, Hugo Boss separated Grieder from Tommy Hilfiger.

The Swiss is considered one of the most successful fashion managers ever.

He has significantly increased marketing spending, especially in social media, and is focusing on a younger image.

Since announcing his move in mid-2020, the share price has more than doubled.

He had to wait a year before taking office due to a suspension by Hilfiger.

Since it started in mid-2021, the share price has continued to perform slightly positively.

On Tuesday he was initially slightly in the red.

Hugo Boss grew last year primarily in America, as well as in Europe and the Middle East.

Currency-adjusted Group sales in these markets each grew by almost a third.

On the other hand, things did not go so well in Asia, where the Metzingen-based company was only able to gain 6 percent.

In the past fourth quarter from October to December there was even a minus of 3 percent.

The reason for this was a drop in sales in China due to the corona pandemic.

Overall, the group achieved a sales increase of almost one fifth in the fourth quarter.

The group is still further away from some of its goals for 2025.

The company announced in August 2021 that it wanted to achieve a margin of 12 percent.

This is currently a good 9 percent, an increase of 1 percentage point compared to the previous year.

And while men's fashion has already exceeded the target for 2025, women's and youth fashion are still lagging behind.