Heiko Schafer steps down as COO of Germany's Hugo Boss

Heiko Schafer joined Hugo Boss in March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is responsible for global product development and sourcing, own manufacturing, and logistics, as well as sustainability. Under his leadership, Hugo Boss has made important strides in digitalising and streamlining the company’s product development and logistics, realigning the group’s own manufacturing in the context of the casualisation trend, and further strengthening its sustainability efforts, for example by doubling the share of responsible styles within the collections, the company said in a media statement.

The departments reporting to Schafer will be divided among the remaining management board departments. Global product development will move to the area of responsibility of Daniel Grieder, the CEO. Yves Müller will assume responsibility for sourcing, own manufacturing, logistics, and sustainability.

“Schafer 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,” Hermann Waldemer, chairman of the supervisory board of Hugo Boss, said.

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

“I am grateful and proud to have been a member of the Hugo Boss 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,” Schafer said.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (GK)