Revenues at The North Face and Timberland declined again in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 as parent company VF Corp. cut costs, divested its Supreme brand, and hired new leadership to help turn the ship around.
The North Face’s revenue declined by 2% year over year to $524.2 million in the quarter ending June 29. Timberland’s fell by 9% to $229.4 million. Vans’ revenue was down by 21% (see our report at sister site Shop Eat Surf here).
Total revenue at parent company VF Corp. declined by 9% to $1.9 billion in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year. VF Corp.’s net loss ballooned to $258 million in the quarter, up from $57 million in the same quarter in 2023.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’re not back to growth yet, but the decline rate should continue to moderate,” said VF Corp. CEO Bracken Darrell on the company’s Aug. 6 earnings call.
Darrell said initiatives to save $300 million over the course of the year are in motion, with $50 million in savings generated in the quarter.
“And we have no intention of stopping there,” Darrell said, teasing that more details will be revealed at an upcoming Investor Day in October in New York.
“We spent the last four months really scoping additional cost savings,” he said. “We’re not ready to surface with anything yet. But we will talk about that in October.”
That said, the portfolio review that led to the Supreme divestiture is complete, Darrell said.
DTC Grows at The North Face
Direct-to-consumer grew by 8% globally at The North Face, but wholesale was down globally, which led to revenue declines of 10% in the Americas and 6% in EMEA.
“I think it’s probably a function of a couple of things,” Darrell said. “One is the overall macro environment and also a little bit of skittishness just because of the weather last year when it was so warm during the holiday season.”
Across both channels and regionally, APAC was the standout, growing by 35%, Darrell said.
Darrell praised Caroline Brown, formerly of Donna Karan International, who has been at The North Face for two months. But he said he expects the next quarter to be slightly down relative to the first.
“But remember, TNF (The North Face) had 17% growth in Q2 of last year,” he said.
Timberland Revenue Up in the Americas
Timberland revenue increased by 2% in the Americas but declined by 15% in EMEA and declined by 21% in APAC.
Darrell said the brand is a work in progress and plays a different role in people’s lives in different parts of the world.
Its collaboration with Louis Vuitton drove growth of the men’s six-inch Yellow Boot globally. Under the leadership of Nina Flood, who was promoted to global brand president of Timberland in December, Timberland will continue to showcase ways to wear the footwear on different occasions, which drives search interest growth and higher engagement on the brand’s social media channels.
Darrell didn’t have much else to share about the brand.
“I’m excited about Timberland, but we’re not focused on it for now, at least not for these discussions,” he said.
VF Corp. to Host Investor Event in October
New CFO Paul Vogel, formerly of Spotify, introduced himself on the call.
“While I’ve been an operator for the past eight years, I spent the beginning of my career on the investing side, and I understand what it will take to rebuild trust with the Wall Street community,” Vogel said. “Change doesn’t happen overnight. But with the leadership team Bracken has assembled, I know we can systematically reach our long-term goals, execute and deliver on a consistent basis, and demonstrate proof points that build over time.”
Darrell said more about VF Corp.’s plans would be shared at a two-part investor event in New York, with the first part happening on Oct. 30.
“[It will be] focused on broader VF strategy and laying out the building blocks for a return to value creation,” Darrell said. “And we’ll build on that in part two, or the second part toward the end of the fiscal year, which will focus on our brand and commercial strategies.”
Kate Robertson can be reached at kate.robertson@emeraldx.com.
