VF Corp.’s plans to sell its Dickies apparel brand, announced Monday, will come with a steep overall financial cost.
VF moved its headquarters from Greensboro to Denver in 2019. Its denim spinoff Kontoor Brands Inc. is based on the former VF campus in Greensboro and sells Wrangler and Lee jeans.
VF said it is selling Dickies for $600 million in cash to Bluestar Alliance LLC, a global brand management firm. The companies projected the deal to close by the year’s end.
In 2017, VF paid $820 million to buy privately held Williamson-Dickie. The company was founded in 1922 as a bib overall maker. It is the world’s leading provider of professional grade performance workwear.
Dickies has been one of VF’s four most prominent brands, along with The North Face, Timberland and Vans. It has distribution in 55 countries.
Analyst and industry speculation of VF’s interest in selling Dickies has been swirling for years.
“Dickies is an iconic American workwear brand with a bright future, and I am confident that under Bluestar Alliance’s ownership, it will continue to improve and realize its significant growth potential,” VF president and chief executive Bracken Darrell said in a news release.
Darrell added that the sale will help the company reduce its debt.
Who is Bluestar?
Bluestar manages a portfolio of more than 500 licensees and a branded retail platform of more than 500 stores in North America, Europe, Australia, South America, Asia, the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East and India.
The firm had $10 billion in fiscal 2024 sales from contemporary and luxury lifestyle brands such as Hurley, Limited Too, bebe, Off-White and Brookstone.
“Bluestar Alliance’s network of domestic and international partners offers the opportunity to take niche and established brands and grow them into worldwide lifestyle brands,” according to Bluestar.
“Since 1922, Dickies has provided hard-wearing, long-lasting and comfortable clothes, cementing its status as a storied brand in performance workwear,” Bluestar chief executive and co-founder Joseph Gabbay said.
“We have followed the brand for many years and have a deep appreciation for its history and legacy, which VF has successfully begun to rebuild over the past few years.”
Brand shedding
VF reported its first-quarter fiscal 2026 report July 30 in which it had an $86.6 million loss on revenue of $1.76 billion, down from $1.77 billion a year ago.
In that report, VF cited that Dickies’ revenue decline “sightly moderated with leadership team rebuilt.”
In 2023, VF announced Project Reinvent that aims to bolster its brands, execution and sales in North America. The foremost goal is a turnaround of Vans shoes and clothing.
At that time, Darrell said there wouldn’t be any “sacred cows” with analysts projecting Timberland is the top divesting target.
In July 2024, VF sold streetwear brand Supreme to EssilorLuxottica, the eyewear conglomerate, for $1.5 billion after buying the brand for $2.1 billion in late 2020.
VF has been facing increasing pressure from activist investors demanding it cut costs by more than $300 million and revamp its board leadership.
VF has named a former Nike executive to its board. In February 2024, VF added two members to its board of directors as part of an agreement with hedge firm Engaged Capital.
Analyst perspective
Seeking Alpha analyst Giacomo Bocanegra has a “sell” on VF’s stock.
Bocanegra wrote Aug. 4 following the first-quarter fiscal 2026 report that although VF owns “some of the most iconic names in outdoor and streetwear apparel … things have gone downhill.”
“The brands are still familiar. But the financials are telling a much different story — one of shrinking sales, extremely high debt (at $4.1 billion), asset impairments and a balance sheet that’s hollowed out once you strip away the fluff.”
Bocanegra said that “this isn’t a case of a temporarily broken stock. It’s a business model that once was a cash machine, but now times have changed, and I don’t believe the stock’s current valuation reflects that reality.”
“The company’s turnaround plan might help on the margin, but it doesn’t solve the core problem: demand is falling, not shifting. Management admitted that their legacy ‘icon’ styles underperformed and that any new product growth was more than offset by declines elsewhere.”
VF paid out $140 million in dividends during the 2025 fiscal year.
“It looks increasingly unsustainable,” Bocanegra said. “If revenue continues to drop, something’s got to give; either the dividend gets cut again or the balance sheet takes another hit.”
rcraver@wsjournal.com
336-727-7376
@rcraverWSJ
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