VF Corp to Pare Jeans Brands Lee and Wrangler

choi

Dana Mattioli and Suzanne Kapner, VF Looks to Cast off Lee, Wrangler Brands; The company has been paring back its portfolio to focus on its fastest growing lines. Wall Street Journal, Aug 11, 2018

Quote:
(a) VF Corp, owner of Lee and Wrangler * * * they [the two brands] were once its core, but the company's jeans sales have been slow in recent years as more women opt for yoga pants or premium brans like J brans or Frame.

"VF, which has a market valuation of $38 billion, has been paring back its wide-ranging portfolio to focus on its fastest-growing brands, such as Vans sneakers, The North Face jackets, and Timberland boots.

"VF's denim business last year had $2.6 billion in sales and $422 million in profit.

(b) The overall US jeans category had total sales of $16.2 billion in 2017, down from $18.8 billion in 2013, according to Euromonitor International.

"One big brand bucking the downward trend is Levi Strauss * Co, whose revenue increased 8% in its most recent fiscal year.

"VF's jean division * * * hasn't fared as well. Sales have fallen nearly 5% since 2015, while profit in the division is down 2% over that period.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest, though the report is available to the public.
(b)
(i) VF Corp (1899- ; presently based in Greensboro, North Carolina and stocks sold at NYSE; starting by making gloves and mittens; "manufacture of undergarments began in 1919, accompanied by a name change to Vanity Fair Mills;" acquired various brands mentioned above through the years)   en.wikipedia.org.
(A) David Friend, Vanity Fair: The One-Click History. Vanity Fair (magazine), September 2004
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/01/oneclickhistory
(" 'Vanity Fair' originally meant 'a place or scene of ostentation or empty, idle amusement and frivolity'—a reference to the decadent fair in John Bunyan's 1678 book, The Pilgrim's Progress")
(B) The Pilgrim's Progress
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress
("a 1678 Christian allegory written by [English Puritan] John Bunyan")
(ii) Lee (a brand first produced in 1889 in Salina, Kansas by Henry David Lee)  en.wikipedia.org.
(iii)
(A) Our History. Wrangler (brand), undated.
https://www.wrangler.com/about/history.html
("CC Hudson and his brother, Homer, form the Hudson Overall Company" in 1904 in Greensboro, NC, which in 1919 changed its name to Blue Bell Overall Company; acquired in 1926 but new company kept the name; "1943 Blue Bell acquires Casey Jones Compnay, a manufacturer of work-clothing, and, with it, the rights to Casey Jones' rarely used brand name - Wrangler[;] 1947  Wrangler authentic western jeans, designed by celebrity tailor Rodeo Ben, are introduced to the American consumer")
* I can not find full name of the founder CC Hudson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrangler_(jeans)
(B) "Blue Bell employed Bernard Lichtenstein ('Rodeo Ben'), a Polish tailor from Łódź who worked closely with cowboys, to help design jeans suitable for rodeo use. This was the origin of Wrangler Jeans." en.wikipedia.org for "Wrangler (jeans)."
(iv) The Timberland Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Timberland_Company
(presently a subsidiary of VF Corp and based in (town of) Stratham, New Hampshire (about 7 miles from Massachusetts border); In 1928 founded Nathan Swartz (born in Odessa, Ukraine); "In 1973, the brand name 'Timberland' was introduced for the waterproof leather boots * * * Because the boot proved to be very popular, the company name was officially changed to The Timberland Company;" In 2011 sold to VF Corp)