Santa Clara University

Today we went to the Hugo Boss office to meet with Mark Brashear, CEO and President of Hugo Boss Americas. We were able to speak with him about his career path as well as one of his colleagues, Chelsea, about what direction Hugo Boss is going in. Mark Brashear began his career working for Macys, followed by working for Nordstrom. He then branched off to work for Facconable when Nordstrom decided to part with the brand, taking him to work in Paris. Two years ago he came to work for Hugo Boss Americas. Mark was also kind enough to offer some career advice. He emphasized that it is important to recognize that you must take wonderful opportunities that you are presented with and that your main goal must that you desire to achieve can be obtained through all of the experience and the path you take that leads up to it.

Mark was kind enough to give us a tour of the Hugo Boss Showroom as well as a presentation overview on the company. Chelsea informed us that Hugo Boss has a 96% brand awareness in the United States and that they are greatly focusing on e-commerce. They have recently been very much looking into paying a lot of attention to Facebook, Twitter, and Hugo Boss TV. They are looking to target consumers through these channels in order to be able to keep up with the new trend of using mobile phones, as well as being able to target a wider range of consumers and expose the product.

There are several different lines that they manufacture, including Boss Black, Boss Selection, Boss Orange, Boss Green, and Hugo by Hugo Boss. As we walked around the showroom we were able to see pieces from these collections. Hugo Boss is currently preparing for customers to come in and view the new product in the showroom, so we were able to see how they are preparing to display these items in this season's showing, coming up in a few days.

The Hugo Boss office was AMAZING. It looks right over the Hudson River, and Mark said that he actually saw the plane when it crashed into the river. It was right after he had moved into the new office. You can see the Statue of Liberty from the other side of his office, and the showroom, though always changing, is also amazing. Mark is SUCH a nice man and is part of our Advisory Board. If you ever get the opportunity to meet him, don't hesitate to take it.