Interview: China has become world's new fashion and technology trendsetter, says Hugo Boss CEO

GENEVA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China has become the world's new fashion and technology trendsetter, said Daniel Grieder, chief executive officer (CEO) of Hugo Boss, a global fashion and lifestyle company.

"The Chinese people are always open to exploring newness and expect not just high-quality products from a brand, but also high-quality consumption experience like our trendiest products," Grieder said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Hugo Boss, headquartered in Metzingen, Germany, has around 17,000 employees worldwide and offers women's and men's apparel, shoes, and accessories. Grieder has been the CEO since June 2021.

Furthermore, he said, the Chinese people are also "very digital and tech-savvy. We see a lot of trends that we can actually experience in China first, sometimes before they spread in Europe."

"The Chinese people are very open to newness, and they want new experiences in the stores and of course also online," he added.

Grieder said he is very satisfied with the brand's performances in China, and driven by China's growing consumption power, the company had announced plans to launch more stores and sub-brands.

"We already have more than 200 points of sales in China in 65 cities. We have a very strong team in place and we are in a very strong position. We see a lot of opportunities to open more stores but also to launch new sub-brands," he said.

Earlier this month, the company reported a jump in currency-adjusted group sales of 25 percent to 968 million euros (1 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter and said it expected group sales to increase by 10 percent to around 4 billion euros in 2023.

"Our business in China has shown very strong performance with an increase of 25 percent," he said.

Grieder highlighted that China is on a positive momentum fuelled by high consumer demand. "We are on a good path in China," he added. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollar)