In 1942, the German Hugo Ferdinand Boss founded the fashion house in Metzingen, a village south of Stuttgart. Bankrupted after the economic German depression, he saw with the arrival of the new German government the opportunity to flourish again by focusing as an official supplier on the uniforms of the National Socialists. In 1993 he created the luxury male brand Baldessarini and enjoyed great recognition from the fashion world. Today his collections focus on clothing and fragrances for both men and women under the name of the Hugo Boss brand.