It’s the people
that make the fashion

Our responsibility is not limited to our products, it extends to the people who develop, produce, and sell them. That is why we are committed to respecting and protecting the human rights of our employees and suppliers. HUGO BOSS encourages people around the world to fully realise their own potential – with fair working conditions, better education, more equality in opportunities, and greater social diversity.

HUGO BOSS sees itself as part of society. This is why it is particularly important to us to support access to quality education from a young age, while at the same time promoting professional training opportunities. Therefore, we are committed, for example to UNICEF education initiatives in Africa and Bangladesh.

A central component of our social commitment is to promote equal opportunities in general and women and diversity in particular. To this end, for example, we offer the "Doors Open for Women" project at our production site in Izmir (Turkey).

Around 125,000 employees of finished goods suppliers are covered by the extensive HUGO BOSS Supply Chain Sustainability Program. In addition, HUGO BOSS is committed to improving working conditions in the supply chain through initiatives such as the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles.

A central component of our social commitment is to promote equal opportunities in general and women and diversity in particular. We also contribute to reducing inequalities through our education projects and engagement for our employees.

We work to continuously reduce the environmental impact of our products. By 2025, 100% of the cotton sourced by HUGO BOSS will come from sustainable cultivation.

Through our efforts, we support the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations. HUGO BOSS has identified these SDGs in the area of PEOPLE as particularly relevant for its business activities. They are therefore given special consideration in the planning and implementation of measures and projects.

We are committed – to our employees, suppliers and society in general

99%
of our goods come from finished goods suppliers who have achieved one of the top two levels in their social audit
Our goal by 2025: 100%
29%
female managers in top management
Our goal by 2025: ≥40%
1.625
women have received our support in their return to work since the beginning of the "Open Doors for Women" program
Our goal by 2025: 2,100 women

OUR EMPLOYEES – THE BEATING HEART OF HUGO BOSS

We would not be what we are without the 14,000+ colleagues who work with HUGO BOSS globally. That is why we are committed to their wellbeing through our fair and open corporate culture, respect for human rights, compliance with high working standards, and transparent remuneration policy. With training programs for managers, as well as additional training on feedback culture and agile work processes, we encourage our employees to, proactively, introduce ideas and take responsibility.

As a member of the Diversity Charter, our recognition and appreciation of all our employees is a core principle, irrespective of nationality, gender, religious or political beliefs, sexual orientation, age, or any disability. A diverse workforce is also important to us. Additionally past experience has shown that heterogeneous and inclusive teams facilitate better solutions for complex issues and have a positive impact on corporate culture. That’s also why HUGO BOSS encourages employee diversity.

We also take operational health and safety very seriously: this is demonstrated by our internal Health & Safety Commitment. Events like the Health Days in Metzingen and Ticino, the HUGO BOSS Run, with professional training at the company’s sports fields and studios, keep our employees fit. We also keep our employees informed on topics such as nutrition or ergonomics in the workplace.

 

Our commitment to our employees

We support our diverse workforce in various ways, such as through training and development opportunities or company health care. You can see in practice here.





Respect for human rights applies to all our activities, with a particular focus on our international supply chain. Due to the complexity of our global supply chain, we have a worldwide responsibility to ensure fair working conditions and respect for human rights, both, for our suppliers, and for our own employees. We are aware that there could, sometimes, be a lack of legal guidelines along our value chain, and we consider it our responsibility to remedy this.

We have enshrined our standards in various guidelines such as the Code of Conduct and the Supplier Code of Conduct, so that working on our behalf is humane, safe and fair. In these documents, we prohibit child and forced labour, for example, as a prerequisite for collaboration with us, and we stipulate humane working conditions and appropriate wages. The right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is also embedded in the Supplier Code of Conduct. Equally important for our suppliers are our environmental protection requirements.

A multi-step selection process for new suppliers, and regular social audits with existing suppliers, contribute to the fulfilment of our social responsibility. If violations of the Supplier Code of Conduct occur, we work with the supplier and develop plans to remedy the situation. If all else fails, we part ways with those suppliers, whose commitment does not match our standards. Should such cases occur, they are recorded on an annual basis in our Sustainability Report.

 

Our commitment to human rights

As a global employer, it is natural for HUGO BOSS to respect human rights and applicable working standards, both in our company and along the entire value chain. This is why we have defined binding rules and codes.




HUGO BOSS AS PART OF SOCIETY

At HUGO BOSS, we strive for our younger generations to live their lives boldly and confidently. For them to do so we need a healthy planet. Within our own charitable foundation, we therefore realize projects in the areas of environmental protection as well as education and empowerment with innovative ideas. This commitment is built on many years of active corporate citizenship work in the areas of education, equal opportunities and crisis response.




Areas of our commitment

Strategy – Responsibility with a plan

Sustainability affects our products, the people behind them, and the environment where our activities have an impact. We take a strategic approach to meet our responsibilities in all these areas. Our sustainability strategy is grounded in the following three- part foundation.

PRODUCT – innovation meets responsibility

Our products are at the heart of what we do – they embody our skills and vision. We, therefore, consider sustainability at every step of the value chain, from the design process and material selection, to production and the longest possible usage. Our commitment is to make our products as sustainable as possible, and to consistently optimise our production processes.

PEOPLE – responsibility for employees and for society, as a whole

Employees and associates, service providers and suppliers, the communities at our production sites and, last but not least, our customers: people all over the world make HUGO BOSS what it is. Therefore, we bear a special responsibility towards them. Find out more about how we meet this commitment.

PLANET – responsibility for the planet

We are well aware that the fashion industry has an impact on our planet. Our commitment is to reduce our ecological footprint in order to make our contribution to the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement. Take a look at the measures we are taking and the projects we are working on to achieve this goal.

Current topics

Dec | 13 | 2022
HUGO BOSS ESTABLISHES CHARITABLE FOUNDATION WITH FOCUS ON OUR PLANET
Nov | 11 | 2022
Multiple perspectives, one goal: How can we collectively make the textile industry more sustainable?
Feb | 10 | 2022
HUGO BOSS recognized again as CDP Supplier Engagement Leader