This piece is coming from my report about my introduction of Vans, an American sneaker brand, who was founded in 1966. Vans was acquired by VF Corporation in 2004. Soon it will be celebrating its 60th anniversary, but during its sixty years it went through bankruptcy, sold to the bank, went for IPO, and then sold to VF Corporation. Steve Van Doren, obviously member of the founders’ family, remaining as the brand’s ambassador and holds the memorabilia in its office.

Vans is a few sneaker companies that I know of, had been taking part in skateboarding, arts, music, and street culture. Its sponsoring of music festivals and tours, and the most famous one was the Warped Tour, which helped to polish its counterculture status. Since the company stopped sponsoring the tour and similar events, it has lost the young crowd.     

It was in July 2023 Bracken Darrell was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of VF Corporation. Darrell served as President & CEO of Logitech International 2013 until 2023, and prior to that, he held the senior roles in companies including Procter & Gamble, Whirlpool Corporation, and General Electric. 

The first challenge Darrell is facing is after many years of Vans being VF’s engine of growth, the brand has lost its charm from the younger audiences.

Vans is VF’s largest brand and accounts for nearly a third of its revenue. And Vans innovation stalled as the company remained on its selling of shoes designed in the 1970s when many consumers gravitated to more comfortable alternatives out there.

VF’s net income in the most recent fiscal year declined more than 90% from a year earlier, partly because of the poor performance of its streetwear brand Supreme. VF’s shares are down by 75% since the end of 2021 making it the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 index over that period.

VF’s secret to its success for decades was a hands-off approach that kept corporate expenses low and allowed its brands to retain autonomy over its key functions, such as product development and marketing. But in recent years, it chipped away brand independence and consolidated more power at its corporate level. Vans not only lost its momentum but also its market. That resulted Durrell spent most of his time at Vans headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. He talked to staff and customers to diagnose its problems, and he came out the solution to provide more investment into the brand, pushed the employees to recapture the outside trend as the brand has gone more mainstream.  

We have to know that VF started as a glove and mitten factory in 1899 in Reading, Pennsylvania, under the name Reading Gloves and Mitten Manufacturing Company. In 1919, the company introduced a line of women’s silk underwear under the brand name Vanity Fair for its elegance, fashion, and feminine appeal. The line was so successful that in 1919 the entire company officially changed its name to Vanity Fair Mills, inc. It was the namesake brand which eventually became Vanity Fair Corporation.

It went public in 1951 and became a conglomerate of clothing brands, and in its empire, it included Wrangler and Lee jeans among others.

Many of the companies that VF owned retained their headquarters with their unique identities. For instance, staff of Vans skateboarded down the hills of Vans office in Costa Mesa, California, and in North Face’s headquarters in downtown Denver, Colorado where the conference rooms were named after mountains, such as Alaska’s Denali peak.

From 2000 through 2016, VF’s revenue more than doubled, profits more than quadrupled. VF Corp. sold the Vanity Fair intimates’ business which included Vanity Fair, Vassarette, Lily of France, and others in 2007 to Fruit of the Loom, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The sale of this namesake brand was part of a larger strategy to focus on more growth-oriented brands.  

Then things changed when VF spun its jeans business in 2019, both Wrangler and Lee jeans were sold to Kontoor brands. And in that year VF Corp. moved its headquarters from Greensboro, North Carolina to Denver, Colorado. And for the first time several brands were brought under the same roof, including North Face, Timberland, JanSport, Eagle Creek, and Icebreaker. It began to streamline operations and focus on lifestyle and outdoor brands. The goal was to boost innovation and collaboration. During this relocation process, North Face lost more than three quarters of its staff. It backfired, the rehiring led to the increase of other expenses, the corporate expenses grew 34% from 2020 to 2023. 

With Vans, Darrell formed his opinion that the brand was too reliant on its five classic styles since Vans was incorporated in 1966, say for instance like its checkerboard slip-ons we have seen everywhere. Also, the inception of Vans classic sneakers—gluing the upper part of the shoes to the flat rubber sole—would allow the shoes to grip better on the skateboard. This gets the resonance from the skaters, but the shoes’ flat footbeds have very little arch support.

Darrell came in with his ideas of introducing new products in the coming seasons, and he further released VF’s presidents from some of their daily routines and put them to work on innovation. Furthermore, he cut $300 million in cost cut, eliminated 500 jobs globally. Darrell created a tsunami rather than his first intention to turbocharge the growth of Vans sneakers when everyone was wearing them for comfort and different purposes than only skateboarding. Darrell has a tough job in his hand as the investors who activists are only looking for higher yield with the shares.