Today the supervisory board of Hugo Boss AG announced the appointment of former Tommy Hilfiger CEO Daniel Grieder as its new CEO. He is taking a year out but will commence his new role on June 1, 2021. He will succeed Mark Langer, who is leaving the Group on September 30, 2020. In the interim period, from October 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021, CFO Yves Müller will serve as the Managing Board’s spokesman.
The news that Grieder was leaving Tommy Hilfiger was announced June 2.
“Daniel Grieder was our top choice for the position of CEO at Hugo Boss. His international expertise, charismatic personality and extensive global experience in brand management, product, distribution, marketing, and digitization make him the ideal candidate. He possesses all the qualities required to steer Hugo Boss back to sales and profit growth, and to increase the desirability of our brands for end-consumers,” said Hermann Waldemer, chairman of the supervisory board, in a statement released to FN.
“Hugo Boss is a fantastic organization,” added Grieder. “I’m arriving at an exciting time and eagerly looking forward to making my contribution to the further evolution of this German fashion icon. The company has very considerable potential. Together with my fellow members on the Managing Board and the experienced, highly qualified workforce, I will be doing everything within my power to tap this potential and lead Hugo Boss into a successful future.”
Grieder became CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Global & PVH Europe in 2014 where he made a significant contribution to the company’s positive sales and earnings development. His fashion industry career spans some 20 years, most of which he has spent in various positions within the Tommy Hilfiger brand.
While maintaining a strong focus on product, he has driven digitalization such as shoppable livestreams and Instagram Story filters and has been instrumental in fusing the physical with the virtual with Tommy Hilfiger’s TommyNow runway experiences. He also put a number of key sustainability initiatives into practice at the label.
He helped found the Hilfiger brand’s innovation center in Amsterdam — where it’s currently experimenting with avatars and hologram technology to push the concept to the next level.
FN interviewed Grieder last month in his former capacity at Hilfiger. “Our start-up mentality drives us to continuously innovate with the latest technology to present, engage with and sell to consumers in unprecedented ways. 3D technology opens the door for creating and sharing fully digital, see-now, buy-now collections that have not been physically manufactured,” he said.
He explained how putting avatar models on the catwalk in 3D garments and set design could allow the brand to completely digitize the end-to-end show experience — affording a faster, more sustainable and inventive runway.
He added that innovation had been a core pillar the brand’s DNA since the beginning: “We have always looked ahead at how technology can transform our business, not just in the future but today;” he said. Our ongoing strategy is to digitize our end-to-end value chain, from planning to design to sell-through all the way to the end consumer.”
