EXCLUSIVE: David Beckham Strikes a Design Deal With Hugo Boss
LONDON — David Beckham has a new design deal, a global, multiyear partnership with German menswear giant Hugo Boss for the Boss brand.
The collaboration is the first of its kind for Boss menswear and marks the return of Beckham to the fashion fold. He previously had a partnership with the British brand Kent & Curwen, which ended in 2020.
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The focus of the collaboration will be on both formal and casual menswear with the first Beckham x Boss collection bowing for spring 2025. Beckham is already working alongside the design team and will appear in the brand’s global campaigns starting with the fall 2024 season.
Hugo Boss said that over the coming seasons, the strategic partnership will include capsule and seasonal collections “designed and curated by Beckham.”
The German giant said the celebrity sportsman will participate in all stages of the design process from conception to execution. Both sides described the deal as a “long-term partnership” and stressed that it was not a license.
The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The label will offer a mix of tailored clothing and more casualwear, and reflect Beckham’s distinctive personal style, Boss said. The prices will fall between Boss Camel, the ultra-premium line, and Boss Black, the main collection.
Beckham said that over the last few years, he’s been eager to invest more time in design and fashion, “but I wanted to ensure I collaborated with a brand and team that could deliver something truly global and impactful.”
He added that he’s enjoyed the collaboration with Boss so far and has “been impressed by the team’s ambition, creativity, and desire for excellence. I look forward to sharing what we’ve been working on so far.”
Daniel Grieder, chief executive officer of Hugo Boss, said in an exclusive interview that he pursued the deal after watching the “Beckham” documentary on Netflix.
“David was always on the radar, but I didn’t know him personally, and until I saw the Netflix documentary, I wasn’t aware of all that he’d achieved in his life, all of the difficult times he went through, and how he stayed strong,” Grieder said.
“The show changed my whole point of view, and I was convinced that we had to get him,” added Grieder, who hopped a plane to Las Vegas where Beckham was attending a Formula One race, and spoke to him about collaborating.
“I said, ‘Listen, we don’t just want you as an ambassador, we want you in a partnership. We want you to be involved in the design, and to do a collection.’ Then we met again, and discussed what we could do together. He visited the company and was impressed,” Grieder said.
Grieder said that Beckham is already well embedded in the Boss team. “It’s so wonderful to work with him, and he’s a real team player. It’s very the best start that we have ever had” with a collaborator, he added.
The deal is straight from the Grieder playbook.
He took on the top job at Hugo Boss mid-2021 and instituted a five-year plan he named “Claim 5.” It was an all-encompassing brand refresh, with high-profile fashion events and star-studded marketing campaigns meant to rev up the previously moribund German company.
It worked. In 2023, Hugo Boss saw double-digit growth every quarter and record sales, although this year the pace of growth is set to slow.
Grieder has said the company would be taking a more cautious approach to 2024. The company expects sales to increase between 3 percent and 6 percent over the year, bringing in somewhere between 4.3 billion euros and 4.45 billion euros.
Grieder, who spent most of his career building the business at Tommy Hilfiger, has also set ambitious sustainability targets for Hugo Boss, which include climate neutrality at the company by 2030, and throughout the entire value chain by 2045.
The Hugo Boss deal comes on the heels of Beckham’s new eyewear deal with Safilo. As reported, Safilo has forged a “perpetual license agreement” with Authentic for Eyewear by David Beckham. It replaces a previous contract set to expire at the end of 2030.
Authentic has proven a fruitful partner for Beckham, who restructured his brand businesses a few years ago and teamed with the American brand builder.
In 2022, Authentic paid $269 million for a 55 percent stake in DB Ventures, which manages Beckham’s global brand and businesses spanning sports, entertainment, lifestyle and luxury.
As part of the deal, Authentic became the largest shareholder in Beckham’s Studio 99, which produced the “Beckham” documentary which was released on Netflix last year.
Before Authentic, Beckham’s company had a number of partnerships, including one with Trinity Ltd., which had owned brands including Cerruti 1881, Gieves & Hawkes and Kent & Curwen.
From 2015 to 2019, Beckham partnered with Kent & Curwen, working with the designer Daniel Kearns on the preppy, outdoorsy collection and promoting the brand with ad campaigns, fashion shows and other events.
Beckham eventually exited that partnership in 2020 after new owners Shandong Ruyi took over. Kent & Curwen, which was losing money, ceased trading the following year, although it has since been revived under new Chinese owners.
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