# Is it true that some designer at Hugo Boss designed the SS uniforms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235 "2010-04-07T03:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/1 "2010-04-07T03:15:52Z")
I’ve read conflicting answers on this. You gotta admit, if you can unwrap your mind a bit, those outfits were quite snappy. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/2 "2010-04-07T03:32:57Z")
Yes - from Hugo Boss wiki > [@](#): > > Hugo Boss started his clothing company in 1924 in Metzingen, where it is still based, a small town south of Stuttgart. However, due to the economic climate in Germany at the time Boss was forced into bankruptcy in 1930. Undeterred, Hugo set up a new business and in 1931 became a member of the Nazi party. With the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Boss’s business also began to prosper as he became an RZM-licensed (official) supplier of uniforms to the SA, SS, Hitler Youth, NSKK and other Party organizations. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/3 "2010-04-07T03:34:04Z")
Uh, it wasn’t too hard to find. NY Times has an article on it and I found it through Google in about a minute. What conflicting answer did you read and where did you get it? [Hugo Boss Designed Some Nazi Uniforms](http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/15/business/hugo-boss-acknowledges-link-to-nazi-regime.html) ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/4 "2010-04-07T10:34:41Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] Uh, it wasn’t too hard to find. NY Times has an article on it and I found it through Google in about a minute. [/quote] Apparently, it is that hard to find. None of these replies answer the question: did somebody at Hugo Boss **design** the SS uniform? The cites merely state that SS uniforms were manufactured by Hugo Boss, and imply strongly that other firms were also making the same uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/5 "2010-04-07T10:45:11Z")
In [the Wiki link on Boss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Boss), it is stated that the _design_ of the uniforms was done by SS-Oberführer Prof. Dr. Karl Diebitsch and one Walter Heck. FWIW, the reference given there is: Lumsden, Robin. A Collector’s Guide To: The Allgemeine - SS, Ian Allan Publishing, Inc. 2001, p 53. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/6 "2010-04-07T11:50:09Z")
Quoting myself, from [a thread of last year](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11816974#post11816974): > [@Why is Nazi pageantry still attractive?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-nazi-pageantry-still-attractive/518879/17): > > … As the original Boss factory is near the town where I live, there have been quite a number of newspaper feature articles on the company’s involvement with the Third Reich. > > A few key points: > [ul] > [li]Hugo Boss (1885-1948) was a Nazi by conviction (party member since 1931; heard by witnesses to express pro-Nazi sentiments even after 1945)[/li][li]His company was not a designer brand company (it only became one long after his death) but a common or garden clothing manufacturer, then an uniform manufacturer, after WWII a work clothing manufacturer.[/li][li]During the Third Reich the factory manufactured party/Hitler Youth/SA etc. uniforms, both on contract for the party and for sale to party/Hitler Youth members who had to buy their own uniforms. It was not the designer but a manufacturer to the party-approved patterns. (BTW the design of the original party uniforms was that intended for the Imperial German colonial service - the party got a cheap surplus uniform lot after the German colonies were lost. Hence Brownshirts, from the khaki-ish colour.)[/li][li]The company also got state contracts to manufacture Wehrmacht uniforms (Hugo’s party connections won’t have hurt), and employed forced labour during WW II ([a page (German language) from a site on forced labour in Metzingen](http://www.metzingen-zwangsarbeit.de/Kober-Studie/7_Die_Firma_Hugo_Boss/body_7_die_firma_hugo_boss.html)) [/li][/ul] > > Presumably, after the company became a designer brand under Hugo Boss’ successors, management considered the word “Boss” to have more marketing punch than “Holy”, the name of the boss at the time (would ambitious people rather buy a Holy suit than a Boss suit? I think not). The unsavoury history wasnt’ a consideration yet. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/7 "2010-04-07T16:20:03Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > Quoting myself, from [a thread of last year](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11816974#post11816974): Thank you. Quite interesting. A favour, bitte. In the link (in German, on forced labour in Metzingen), one sentence reads as “Er sagte, ob ich nicht wisse, wie der deutsche Arbeiter grüße, dann hab ich mit “Heil Hitler” grüßen müssen.” Would you be kind enough to translate it for me? The Google translator seems to be rather stymied by it. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/8 "2010-04-07T16:34:38Z")
I found the entire paragraph. This is a quote by Pauline Kuder, who was a seamstress, about her supervisor Schmidt, “He was an ardent Nazi. I came in one day and said “Good Morning” to him, and he grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out the door. He said ‘Don’t you know the greeting of the German worker?’ and made me give the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute.” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-designer-at-hugo-boss-designed-the-ss-uniforms/535235/9 "2010-04-07T16:38:48Z")
Ah. Much obliged.