The struggling — and rapidly reinventing — VF Corp. has made peace with activist investor Engaged Capital.
VF said it would name luxury and fashion veteran Caroline Brown to its board in the wake of “constructive engagement with VF’s shareholders including Engaged Capital.”
The company said it also “intends to appoint to the board another independent director in the near term mutually agreed with Engaged Capital, and will give priority to considering the candidates who have been identified by Engaged Capital.”
Led by Glenn Welling, founder and chief investment officer, Engaged Capital first started making noise around VF in October, pressing the company to consider selling off brands — a process the firm said this month was officially underway.
In the fall, Engaged took a particularly dim view of the $2.1 billion deal that brought Supreme to VF in 2020, noting in a presentation to other investors that: “The Supreme acquisition was, in our view, a breakdown in risk management, paying a full multiple for a high fashion brand and lowering financial flexibility due to the assumption of debt.”
Now Brown will be part of the conversation as VF decides what to sell off and what to keep.
From 2019 to 2023, she was managing director at New York investment firm Closed Loop Partners, but before that she had a long career leading fashion brands.
She was chief executive officer of Donna Karan International and DKNY from 2015 to 2017 and led the sale of the company, which was then owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, to G-III Apparel Group.
Before that, she was president of Carolina Herrera and CEO of Akris Inc. after starting her career at Giorgio Armani.
Richard Carucci, chair of VF’s board, said: “Caroline is highly respected in the apparel industry, with a proven track record of turning around, scaling and transforming global brands, and her insights will be valuable as the company continues to execute its Reinvent strategy.”
Brown added that: “Having worked on the leadership and investment sides of the apparel and fashion industry, I recognize the tremendous potential of VF’s portfolio of beloved brands. I believe VF has what it needs to return to strong and sustainable profitable growth, and I look forward to capitalizing on my experience to help the company deliver enhanced value for shareholders over time.”
And for his part, Welling said: “We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Caroline and the rest of the board on the appointment of the Additional Director. We believe these appointments will help support Bracken Darrell and the management team as they lead the turnaround of this iconic portfolio of brands.”
Darrell, who leads VF as CEO, took the reins in July and is now moving fast to right the company, which for rode an epic wave of growth with the Vans brand that ended suddenly as fashion trends changed.
Now, Vans is in the midst of a major turnaround while most of the company’s other brands, including Timberland, Dickies and even the once-strong The North Face, are sagging.
