GERMANY. Success with the Orange Label concept store, launched earlier this year at Munich airport (The Moodie Report, 6 June 2003) lies behind a rush of openings for Hugo Boss in the coming months. Another 40sq m store opened in Malaga in August (with Aldeasa) and a 20sq m store in Rome Fiumicino airport opened in September is trading well. A further combined Orange Label and Black Label store will open soon in Zurich – the first of its kind worldwide.
Other Boss Orange Label stores are planned for Amsterdam Schiphol airport’s Schengen terminal (with Gerzon Duty Free) next year and for New York terminal 4 in February 2004, which will be a 60sq m (646sq ft) unit (with Aer Rianta International/Saveria).
According to Boss, the overall development in the fashion market is toward sportswear. And in line with the response from consumers, the Orange Label is the company’s big concept of the future and the big European airports are a major target.
The concept is flexible with a lot of stock capacity, offering easy self service with modern and classic Boss design elements such as orange canvas grab handles, jeans cubes and bold backlit displays showing models in real life situations.
The TFWA World Exhibition last month was also the travel retail presentation of the Hugo Boss spring/summer 2004 ‘Pirates of Love’ collection, which this year had more emphasis on knitted products. Pirates of Love brings in a mix-up aesthetic of prints, stitching and bands, in vibrant green, blue, yellow, red, orange and pink. A playful pirate print of a skull and sabres is repeated throughout the collection.
Outside Europe, the company’s Middle East sales suffered from the Iraq War but have fully recovered. In the Middle East Boss is looking at several “interesting” airports for expansion other than Abu Dhabi, Amman and Bahrain where the brand is already represented.
Boss says business attire and the formal Black Label collection sell well in the Middle East, but generally the product mix is becoming less classic and is constantly changing, with new opportunities in casual wear.
Apart from the New York JFK airport store, Boss is looking at several new opportunities in the US east coast.
“The American shopping mentality is different and the biggest challenge [in airports] is to make travellers understand the possibility to shop,” a spokesperson told The Moodie Report.
“We are very pleased with our relationship with ARI/Saveria. It is important for us to look for the right partners and to grow in the right way.”
