Hugo Boss restructures creative leadership team

Hugo Boss has announced a series of changes to its creative leadership team.

Ingo Wilts, chief brand officer of Hugo Boss AG, will step down from the executive board for “personal reasons”, effective 28 February. The firm said Wilts will continue to be involved in the company’s collection-related projects until the end of December.

Wilts has been a member of the board since 2016, and was most recently responsible for the overall creative direction of the collections including runway. Together with his team, he was also responsible for the visual realignment of Boss and Hugo, completed in January.

Additionally, the firm also said that Marco Falcioni will take up the role of senior vice president creative direction. He will take over the “overall” management of the creative direction of the two Group brands on March 1, in close cooperation with the designers responsible for the respective brand lines.

Having joined the brand in 2015, he will report to CEO Daniel Grieder in this newly created role.

As the new creative director, Falcioni has “extensive experience” in a variety of product areas. Most recently he was part of the Boss menswear runway team and responsible for the creative implementation of collaborations including Boss x Russell Athletic, co-leading the branding refresh.

Starting 1 March, Andrea Cannelloni will also return to the firm for a year as creative advisor. For 10 years until 2008, Cannelloni worked in various creative functions at the company. During this time, he was responsible for developing the casualwear division at Boss, launching the Boss Orange brand – including womenswear – and bringing it to new levels, together with Boss Green.

Hermann Waldemer, chairman of the supervisory board of Hugo Boss, said: “We would like to thank Ingo Wilts for his great commitment as part of the HUGO BOSS Management Board team over the past years. He was a key contributor in the process of re-energizing the company.”

Daniel Grieder, CEO of Hugo Boss, added: “I look forward to working with Marco Falcioni and Andrea Cannelloni, who both bring outstanding creative style and expertise in collection development. I am therefore convinced that Marco Falcioni is the perfect choice for us to develop our collections into the future.

“He has an absolute feel for trends and hits the zeitgeist and aspirations of the new generations. Andrea Cannelloni will in return be of great relevance when it comes to bringing our casual and athleisure business back to full scale in the upcoming years.”