Hugo Boss Reports Ongoing Sales Drop in Q3, Lowers Guidance

BERLIN– Hugo Boss' painful year continued in the third quarter, with the German menswear specialist reporting another sales drop and lowering guidance for the full year.

Hugo Boss sales dipped 5 percent to 946 million euros in the three months to Sept. 30, representing a 4 percent decrease in currency adjusted terms.

More from WWD

• Despite Q3 Sales Slump, Puma Execs Optimistic on Reset, New Chinese Deal

• Hugo Boss Renews Pakistan Accord

• Boss Reboots Womenswear From Sizing to Silhouette

"In the third quarter, our top line performance reflected both the deliberate strategic realignment of our business and a persistently subdued consumer environment," Hugo Boss chief executive officer Daniel Grieder said in a statement, referring to a strategic "quality over quantity" reset initiated late last year. "At the same time, we made further progress in improving our gross margin and operating efficiencies."

The biggest sales drop came in Hugo Boss' home market — also its largest — of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where sales fell 7 percent to 598 million euros.

"While Germany showed a comparatively more resilient performance, the U.K. and France recorded more pronounced declines amid subdued consumer demand," the company said.

Sales in the Americas and Asia Pacific were flat in the third quarter.

In terms of product categories, sales of the brand's mainstay, the more formal Boss collection, eased 2 percent to 813 million euros. Within that category, menswear "proved comparatively more resilient [while] womenswear continued to be affected by its ongoing repositioning," the company said.

Menswear makes up the majority of Boss sales and Boss womenswear was only recently relaunched with the fall 2027 collection.

Sales of the company's more casual offerings under the Hugo label slid 16 percent. This reflected the category's "ongoing strategic refinement," Hugo Boss explained.

As a result of ongoing market volatility, the company said it was lowering its guidance for the full year.

The company had previously expected sales to fall in the mid- to high-single digits in currency adjusted terms, and operating profit to decrease to between 300 million euros and 350 million euros. But now the German brand forecasts sales will decline in the high single-digits and operating profit will come in between 250 million and 300 million euros.

Hugo Boss had previously predicted a painful year in 2026 , saying it did not expect to return to growth until 2027.

After several years of rocketing growth due to an extravagant marketing spend and low comparables, the German marquee brand was forced back down to earth and has seen sales growth reduced to single digits or negatives over the past two years.