Hugo Boss CEO to step down, will be consultant until year-end

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 23, 2020

Hugo Boss announced on Monday that its CEO Mark Langer is set to step down at the end of September. And it added that “this has been agreed in best mutual consent between Mark Langer and the company”.

The Supervisory Board is launching its search for a successor immediately and praised the work that the outgoing chief had done at the firm.

And it said that “in light of the current challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, [he] will act as a consultant after September 30, and thus support the company until the end of the year".

“During his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Mark Langer has successfully restructured and repositioned the company,” said chairman Michel Perraudin. “The focus on the two brands Boss and Hugo, as well as the significant progress within the online business, the company’s own retail network and the Asian business are clear evidence for that. In doing so, he has laid out the path for sustainable growth”.

That said, there have been some activist shareholders who have agitated for adjustments to the chief executive’s strategy in order to drive more dynamic growth.

But Langer, who has been with the firm for almost 18 years, said: “I am convinced that Hugo Boss will get out of the current difficult situation even stronger and continue its successful development”.

It's a tough time for the company to be changing CEOs and late last week, the German firm had withdrawn its guidance for the financial year on the back of the closure of many of its own stores globally and also of many stockists of its products. But it's maintaining an upbeat stance.

Langer's isn't the only top-level change it's dealing with. It's only a few weeks since there was another change in leadership at the company with it appointing a new COO. Heiko Schäfer joins from Tom Tailor to take charge of sourcing, manufacturing, product development, operations and sustainability.