By
Bloomberg
Published
May 6, 2025
Hugo Boss Ag is writing products made in China to non -American markets, in another sign of how the tariff war of President Donald Trump is reorganizing global trade.
Chinese manufacturing clothing currently represents approximately 4% of Hugo Boss's American volume. With these goods elsewhere, the retailer is obtaining more products for the US market in countries such as Peru and Türkiye, which are relatively less affected by tariffs, according to executive director Daniel Grieder.
The German fashion house is also storing in the United States to mitigate the effect of tariffs.
“We are trying to be open and flexible to act in any direction,” Golder said in an analyst call after Hugo Boss registered better profits than expected in the first quarter and confirmed his perspective of the whole year.
Hugo Boss's actions rose up to 10% on Tuesday before recovering some of the profits. The action has still dropped approximately 15% since the beginning of the year.
Grieder, who has repositioned Hugo Boss for a younger audience, aims to address the weak consumer spending since last year with efficiency profits and a campaign led by David Beckham to boost sales growth.
The United States represents approximately 15% of Hugo Boss's annual sales and became the largest market in the brand in 2023. However, the feeling of the consumer has really “softened” in the US.
“The situation here in the United States is very pressured,” Grieder said. “When you enter the departure centers, which is really a great concern is that traffic fell about 20% to 30%,” in the first months of this year.
He said the company still has to decide if it will have to raise the prices of costumes and shirts in the United States as part of its tariff strategy.
“We are not only entering and just putting a price increase on the table,” said Hugo Boss will balance the highest costs with the need to maintain customer loyalty.
“I think we have to do it intelligently,” he said.
