Fashionably Aware - Hugo Boss

Yes, I know that it is supposed to be about watches, or every now and again a pen.  But when a luxury brand takes a moment, listens to the public and makes an adjustment that reflects a thoughtful decision they should be recognized and applauded!

So well done Hugo Boss!

Here's the press release -

Hugo Boss Commits to Fur-Free Fashion

LONDON ( 6 July 2015) –Luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss has been praised by leading animal protection charity Humane Society International for pledging to go completely fur-free from its Autumn/Winter 2016 Collection onwards. The pledge was made public in the HUGO BOSS Sustainability Report 2014 published June 2015. Humane Society International is part of The Fur Free Alliance which held discussions with Hugo Boss regarding its fur policy.

Claire Bass, Executive Director of Humane Society International/UK, said: "Hugo Boss's firm commitment to go completely fur-free sends a really powerful message to other luxury brands, that animal cruelty is never fashionable. Every designer or fashion label that features real fur contributes to normalising what is in actual fact a grotesque industry. It's all too easy to forget that behind every fur trim collar or gilet lies the pain and suffering of once living, breathing animals. So by setting a new trend of compassion, Hugo Boss is showing that it is never acceptable for animals to die for the catwalk, and that's a fashion craze we really hope other luxury brands will follow." 

Bernd Keller, Brand and Creative Director Sportswear at Hugo Boss, wrote in the company’s latest Sustainability Report that Hugo Boss had conducted a survey to reveal their customers’ expectations – quality and sustainability, particularly animal protection, rated highly.

Keller wrote: “Therefore, if we connect our quality requirements with sustainability, our customers receive a special statement which they are able to pass on: luxury imbedded with values. Contemporary customers are part of a generation which is re-evaluating their ethical and fundamental values. We want to include this generation among HUGO BOSS consumers. We demonstrate through our products that premium and luxury are able to integrate ethical and environmental issues.”

Joh Vinding, Chairman of the Fur Free Alliance says, “Hugo Boss has become a leader in the fashion world by taking a stand against animal cruelty and ending the use of fur in collections. The Fur Free Alliance hopes other luxury brands will follow Hugo Boss’s lead, especially since there are now so many cruelty-free alternatives that are fashionable and indistinguishable from the real thing.”

Hugo Boss joins a growing list of fur-free brands and retailers, including Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Zara, and ASOS. 

Fur facts

• The European Union is the world’s largest producer of factory farmed fur. Around 30 million mink, 2 million fox and 100,000 raccoon dogs are killed each year in EU fur factory farms. There are presently no reliable figures available for the number of chinchillas who are bred and killed for fur in Europe.
• Kept in small, wire cages, animals on fur farms have been found to exhibit stereotypical behaviour (such as pacing along the cage wall, repetitive circling/nodding of the head, etc.) as well as self-mutilation (i.e. sucking or biting of the animal’s tail fur, or other parts of their pelts).
• The methods used to kill fur animals include being gassed to death in killing boxes, and anal electrocution.

The Outlet

Anyone who has read even a few of the posts here is going to do a double-take.

Really?

James said THAT?

No, this is not a post where I will extol the "virtue" of Shinola ; )

But more and more I am beginning to think that the next logical step for the watch industry is to finally embrace the concept of the "Outlet Mall".

Does this run contrary to what I have been whinging and whining about for the past five years?

Absolutely.

Am I more and more convinced that this is the only logical next step?

Absolutely.


Now on the one hand, many of us tend to think of watches as more of a "durable" commodity.  The reality is that more and more, watch brands are tending to take a short view in terms of the models that they are offering.  They treat them like milk or eggs that will "go off" if they aren't sold in a prescribed time frame.

This is due to a multitude of reasons, but let's examine the key offender:

Over production -
Watch companies have budgets, and budgets are predicated on PROJECTIONS, not ACTUALS.  These budgets drive everything - sales goals, pricing of the actual watch, salaries - not the least of which the CEO's salary and bonus.  Because the CEO has proposed a budget that, in all honesty would only work during the "bluest" of moons, "creative" solutions are often required.  In order to meet the projected numbers, you will need a boat-load of product.  Oh, p.s. - you'll also need to SELL that boat-load of watches.  When it becomes clear that you won't sell all the units you have to save money in other areas - leading to lay-offs, dumping of watches on the grey market, etc.

This has been a problem that the fashion industry has been aware of for decades, and found a good solution for - the Outlet Mall.

For those of you not familiar, the Outlet Mall is an American phenomenon that is beginning to take hold in other parts of the world as well.  The concept is pretty simple:

Take all of the stuff from the previous season or two that you were not able to sell, place it in YOUR BRAND STORE in the outlet mall, price it at a more realistic price, and sell your stock.  Because YOU own the store, you control the price, distribution, etc.

It is also the place where you can market and sell the products that "didn't make the cut".  Yes, it happens, brands will come up with a line or collection that for whatever reason they decide NOT to move forward with even after they produce it.  Take it to the outlet and sell it, and you have turned a total write-off to a potential patch of black ink in the ledger.

Now if the watch industry would embrace the Outlet concept, it could do two very important things -

1.  Cut the grey market's allure, ending a lot of shady dealings, and reduce the inevitable feeling of betrayal experienced by the customer who bought watch X at full retail only to see it "blown out" by the brand and dumped on the grey market for pennies on the dollar.

2.  Convince brands of the need to better estimate production, and take better control of the distribution chain.

Now the temptation is to stare down our noses at the Outlet - but Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren and even Tag Heuer have outlets now.  Perhaps it is time to embrace this idea.