COO Heiko Schäfer leaves Hugo Boss

German fashion group Hugo Boss AG announced on Friday that chief operating officer Heiko Schäfer would leave the group’s managing board with effect of May 31, 2022. He will “pursue a new professional assignment outside the group” according to a statement.

Schäfer joined Hugo Boss in March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. He came from German fashion company Tom Tailor where he was CEO and before that, was in charge of product development at sportswear giant Adidas.

At Hugo Boss, Schäfer was responsible for the areas of global product development and sourcing, own manufacturing, logistics and sustainability. He led the digitising and streamlining of the company’s product development and logistics, realigning the group’s own manufacturing in the context of a casualisation trend, and strengthening sustainability efforts.

No replacement announced

In terms of going forward, the group announced further that the departments reporting to Schäfer would be divided among the remaining management board departments while global product development would move into the area of responsibility of Hugo Boss CEO Daniel Grieder. CFO Yves Müller will assume responsibility for sourcing, own manufacturing, logistics, and sustainability.

“Heiko Schäfer had an important impact in building an effective, digitised and more sustainable operations backbone since joining the company. His work also helped to stabilise Hugo Boss during the Covid-19 crisis, and accelerate afterwards with full force. We thank Heiko Schäfer for his excellent contribution, and wish him all the best for his future endeavours,” commented Hermann Waldemer, chairman of the supervisory board of Hugo Boss, in the statement.

“Heiko Schäfer clearly pushed the ‘Organise for Growth’ targets as part of our Claim 5 strategy and further increased efficiency and flexibility along our value chain,” said Hugo Boss CEO Daniel Grieder. “On behalf of the entire managing board team, I would like to thank Heiko Schäfer very much for the effective and trust-based cooperation. We wish him all the best for the future.”

“I am grateful and proud to have been a member of the Hugo family and part of a strong leadership team. I am convinced that the operational excellence we built will support the company’s growth plan in the years to come. Hugo Boss stands for quality and craftsmanship, and I will certainly continue to be a fan and loyal customer,” stated Schäfer.

At the beginning of the month, Hugo Boss had posted strong sales growth and confirmed its positive outlook for the year.