Is Hugo Boss everyone's stepping stone info finer menswear?

[mkarim]

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

+1. I've never owned anything by Hugo Boss.

I wish I could say that...

 

[justsayno]

thanks grass
Boss is big in Asia too

Originally Posted by freshcutgrass

Disclaimer: My opinion is tainted, as I was employed by Hugo Boss back in the late 90's. I was "forced" to wear the stuff, and still have a closet full of the stuff, although I haven't purchased any of their stuff since I stopped working for them.

At the time, Hugo Boss was better dialed into the mood of the day then now. Part of this was how they branded themselves (high profile sports sponsering, celebrity dressing, advertising appeal, etc). At the time, there was definitely a "Boss" fit, and it just seemed to appeal to a lot of people...a large percentage did seem to look good in a Boss suit.

This is a German company, and very, very anal about every detail and aspect of their operation...what you see and what you don't see (man, could I tell you some stories), so the more you were exposed to their 'mission values", the more you were impressed....rather than just how you thought the clothing looked from a basic consumer retail standpoint. Every model of every product they made, was given an actual name, which reflected the personality of that item.

This is also a very big company, with a far more comprehensive line of products than the average person will ever know or see in the average retail outlet (especially in NA). The average American is generally only aware of the Black Label basics, whereas there is way more than that. NA buyers tended to want to pick and choose items in a line, whereas Hugo Boss was very controlling about representation of the line, so more often than not...they refused to sell anything in the line to the buyer, which meant only a small choice of lines ended up in stores (if they didn't politely throw you out of the showroom and drop your store completely).

They made some pretty outrageous stuff back in the day...and i saw all of it...from the $1200 backgammon game, to the $5000 Baldessarini mink gloves. They had some very cool stuff....just not stuff the average person would ever be aware of.

Because of such a huge repertoire of products...some were great and some were mediocre. Their shearling was as good as it gets...ties were very nice...they had very luxurious double ply Scottish cashmere sweaters....the old "Golf" line was of much higher quality than the Black Label.

Because most Hugo Boss products fell in the upper middle-of-the-road end of the fashion spectrum, and NA sales were much different than European, costs became an issue...suits were always made in Germany, and flown everywhere in their own containers. That became difficult, so they started manufacturing some of the stuff in eastern europe and so on. Shirts also saw the same fate. A lot of casual wear from HK instead of Italy, Switzerland, etc. Licensed products tended to dilute quality.




Most Americans maybe.

RL & Hugo Boss represented two ends of the spectrum at the time...people tended to gravitate to one or the other....Americans more towards RL...Europeans more towards the fashion forward or modern classic of Hugo Boss (the Hugo red label was much bigger in Europe than it ever was in NA).

 

[constant struggle]

from college it was: J.crew suit-->hugo red label suit

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Hugo ----> Canali -----> RL

 

[PocketCircle]

Hugo Boss for the Europeans and RL Polo for the Americans.

 

[uhurit]

I for one am a big fan of European-made Hugo Boss suits...slim fitting silhouettes fit me perfectly. RL doesn't do **** for me. Never tried Purple lable, sadly

 

[litho]

hugo boss = just another fashion label

i prefer style to fashion

 

[FidelCashflow]

Originally Posted by GBR

I think that your premise is groundless.

The "yes" vote far outweighs the "no" here my friend

 

[jyook]

Boss fits me like ****...

My first suit that I bought that wasn't a "hand me down" was a GA Collezione...

 

[apropos]

I think for Americans, that title would go to Brooks Brothers, not Hugo Boss.

 

[AndrewRogers]

Originally Posted by apropos

I think for Americans, that title would go to Brooks Brothers, not Hugo Boss.

And a much, much better firm and place to start. I don't even think BB is really a stepping stone. It is the destination.

 

[mainy]

honestly, fitwise, you can do far far far worse than hugo boss

for the average joe, those shirts on sale for 40 bucks a pop aren't that bad at all

 

[GBR]

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

The "yes" vote far outweighs the "no" here my friend

People of modest judgement clearly determined to justify themselves or confess the errors of youth.

 

[Szeph el raton]

It really depends on where you live. Here all the stores for mens cloth offer Hugo Boss, some also Zegna... never have seen suits from Ralph Lauren in a store close to where I live. (have never owned a Boss suit but shirts, pants & accessories).

And if you have a non-standard body shape buying over the internet is not that awesome... even more as Germany will beat you to death with the import taxes.

 

[scarsunseen]

My first step was a MTM dinner jacket for my wedding/reception. I learned a lot from that experience. Mainly never to order a custom shirt from someone who doesn't know what a wing collar is. I ended up having to make a custom pattern for something I had never seen in person for a tailor who didn't know what the end result was supposed to look like 2 days before my wedding. Fun times.