Every year, Hugo Boss commissions an artist to create a special collection to commemorate the Chinese New Year and the holiday season. Some years it’s easier, like 2018, the Year of the Dog, when the German brand worked with artist Julian Meagher to create Playforever, a collection centered around race cars where a dog is featured in the driver’s seat.
But 2019 will be the Year of the Pig, which chief brand officer Ingo Wilts admitted “was a little bit challenging. How can we do Hugo Boss and a pig in a fun way?”
The sneakers are printed with pigs and other characters.
But when the brand found New York City-based artist Jeremyville, he soon put its fears to rest. The artist offered up a colorful cityscape featuring an array of characters, including pigs, that the brand put on accessories such as bags and shoes as well as apparel. The characters were printed onto leather accessories in a relief design, a leather backpack features a Jeremyville rabbit, and a sneaker has a raised pig motif. There are also dress shirts, sweatshirts, tees and bombers as well as figurines, charms and iPhone cases.
The Jeremyville backpack for Hugo Boss.
“It’s a nice collaboration,” he said. “We’re quite happy.”
The men’s, women’s and unisex pieces will hit Hugo Boss’s retail stores, its store windows and its social channels globally beginning Nov. 7. There will also be videos to accompany the launch.
Then Wilts can start thinking about the next year.
“We’re working on 2020 now,” he said. “It’s the year of the rat, so that should be interesting.”