Timberland, Vans and Altra tell World Footwear about upcoming launches and strategies, as well as how the seven-storey Axtell Soho will boost their standing in Europe.

VF Corp, owner of footwear brands Timberland, Vans and Altra, has launched a UK headquarters in the centre of London’s shopping district, which it says is a demonstration of the group’s commitment to Europe.

The seven-storey building, Axtell Soho, will serve as a showcase for buyers and partners to view the latest collections, and for the group’s employees to share ideas and host meetings.

It has dedicated floors for its ‘big three’ - Timberland, The North Face and Vans - as well as showcase space for Kipling, Napapijri, Dickies, Eastpak, Smartwool and recent acquisitions Icebreakers and Altra. It also has a digital innovation and design studio on the sixth floor and a landscaped rooftop garden.

Martino Scabbia Guerrini, VF group president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said: “Having our experiential brand showcase for retail customers in the centre of one of the top fashion capitals will help our brands to support our company growth in the years to come, including recruitment of the industry’s best talent.”

He added that the year since the building work began on Axtell Soho has been “intense” for the group, not least because of the spin-off of denim brands Wrangler, Lee and Rock & Republic into Kontoor, which finalised at the end of May. In that time the group has bought and sold 10 businesses with a cumulative value of $5 billion. “We are a big group but we can change direction quickly,” he said.

Timberland’s direction

One of the stars of the group is Timberland, which increased sales by 4% in 2018. Last October, the company hired UK-based designer and “true visionary” Christopher Raeburn as creative director, a move that highlights an even greater push towards sustainable design and thinking, which Mr Raeburn is known for.

“Fashion and clothing manufacturing is the second biggest polluter out there. You could look at this as being daunting but there’s such an opportunity to change,” says Mr Raeburn. “The reality is that people need clothes, footwear and accessories but we need to be making these things in a positive way. If the work that I’ve learnt through my own company can be magnified through Timberland, and VF continues this through its other companies, then everything shifts together.”

One of the things he is most excited about, he tells World Footwear, is recycled leather, and the company is conducting tests to try to create a material that could one day replace some of the leather in its boot collections.

“At the moment we are working with scrap leather from tanneries, but hypothetically it could be an old pair of Timberland boots. That’s the dream and what we need to work towards.”

He explains one of the reasons for looking at leather is to reduce waste, as the yield from a yield from a hide can be “quite wasteful” but with recycled leather on a roll the yield is 97%. And unlike the Flyleather bonded product that Nike is using, it will not be backed with, or glued together with, plastics: “That would be counterintuitive, I need to be quite clear on that.”

He adds that where end-of-life and recycling concepts often fail is not necessarily the material innovation but the logistics. “Hypothetically, we can have a customer bring an item back to a store, but what happens beyond that? Has that item been designed originally for disassembly, is it all one material, or does it need to be pulled apart?

“There have been tests done on ‘design for disassembly’ and the return of the product has been the big issue. Generally speaking, Timberland products are well made, they last a long time, and so when people have an emotional attachment to things, getting them back can be tricky. This is just one of the things we are grappling with.” 

In 2018, 96% of Timberland's leather came from tanneries that have a silver or gold rating by the Leather Working Group, nearing its target of 100% by 2020. About 69% of shoes contained major components (uppers, linings or outsoles) with at least 10% recycled, organic or renewable content, again hoping to hit a target of 100% in the coming year.

“We are lucky because the founding Schwartz family put CSR at the forefront of their company way before it was a trend,” says Timo Schmidt-Eisenhar, Timberland’s EMEA president. “In the 1970s and 80s there was no sustainability trend but the family wanted to do the right thing in terms of how the products were produced and taking care of the people in the factories. We did it before everyone else.”

Vans skyrockets

VF’s best-selling company in the UK is skate shoe brand Vans. Founded in the US in 1966, the company has shown phenomenal growth since being bought by the group in 2004. Over the past three years, sales have jumped 25% annually to reach around $2 billion in 2018.

“The growth rate has put a bit of pressure on us to keep up the momentum,” Van’s manager for EMEA, Stefano Saccone, tells World Footwear. “We need to be a bit more transparent about our accounts and explain to the group how we expect to maintain the growth.”

He says the company is focusing on various strategies, the first of which is ‘skate leadership’.  “We are the world number one skate shoe,” he explains. “It says it on the inside of the shoe but I think there’s some work to do to make the consumer understand that.”

Men’s apparel will become increasingly important. “Moving from skateboarding into lifestyle means more head to toe. We are launching in women’s apparel as well, but globally the focus is on men’s.”

The third key area is innovation, particularly through the Comfycush sole which launched at the start of this year. The three-layered waffled sole adds a ‘comfort proposition’ to classic styles. “All this new newness is looking through the lens of our icons,” he adds. “We’re not going to reinvent the wheel on who we are but we need to be consistent.”

London’s House of Vans – a 30,000 square foot warehouse below Waterloo station – creates a ‘brand immersion’ space, with concerts, art and skateboarding areas. “Our pillars are action sports, street culture, music and art – House of Vans is the embodiment of that, so you will always have a skate demo, an art gallery and a customisation workshop. More consumers means we need to maintain a bigger dialogue.”

VF has announced plans to grow Vans revenues to around $5 billion by 2023 – which means all areas of the growth strategy will have to yield returns. Following successful collaborations with Comme des Garcons, Kenzo and Raf Simons, Mr Saccone tells us: “We have a big one in the pipeline but I can’t tell you who it is yet. All I can say is we’ve stepped it up for autumn 2019 and spring 2020.”

Altra joins the fold

The most recent brand to join the VF portfolio is US-based trail running specialist Altra. The company was launched in Utah seven years ago – all the styles are named after local trails – but it will be soon be moving to Denver alongside VF’s other companies.

Fabio Marangoni, its EMEA sales and brand director, explains its selling points are the ZeroDrop sole, which positions the heel and forefoot at an equal distance from the group; the Footshape Toe Box, which helps spread weight across the toes; and Fit4Her, which caters for the female foot shape “not only with the lasts but also foot shape, the heel, arch and instep”.

With the brand being relatively new, the biggest obstacle is that not enough people know the name, he says, but when they try the shoe, 80% buy again. “This level of customer loyalty is quite unique,” he says.

The company is now trying to make inroads into the outdoor lifestyle segment and is choosing ambassadors to start working with by autumn. “We are quite strong in Japan and Thailand where there is a trail runner community. Now the focus in on North America, Asia and Europe.”

Being brought under the VF umbrella has had a major impact on Altra. “The VF platform gives you network and confidence. When we talk with dealers now, they know we are backed by VF so they are more interested to hear our story.”

City centre showroom

Mr Raeburn says VF’s multimillion-pound investment in Axtell Soho shows how important the UK is as a market, bringing in around $500 million a year in sales and 20% of Europe’s business. He says it will enable all VF’s brands to market its products better, collaborate and host events.

“It speaks highly that a company like VF is investing in London and the UK at a very challenging time,” he says. “Timberland is looking to push things forward in terms of sustainable design so this is an opportunity for people to come and see what’s happening within the UK and Europe.”

According to VF, divesting the denim companies was a strategic move to “sharpen management focus”, free up money to invest in its outdoor brands and give the group more flexibility to buy companies. Footwear remains an important proposition, reflected in the Altra purchase, and sources from The North Face tell us 2020 will be an exciting year for shoes at their company.

“We believe there’s only one way: credible, sustainable innovation and great aesthetic and design. The product has to be constantly reinvented, so it’s the strength of the products, the strength of the storytelling, the narrative,” concludes Mr Scabbia Guerrini. “We are closely monitoring everything happening in the world – from China tariffs to Brexit – but we have to focus on how we can grow. Today is about looking at how we make investments, even against the wind.”

Timberland funds farming research

The VF Foundation, Timberland and Wrangler have invested $150,000 into a research project run by seven US universities looking into regenerative ranching practices.

These practices mimic the natural movement of herds by intensively grazing cattle herds in relatively small areas before moving them to other small areas. This allows for more rest and regrowth of the grasses, which can lead to better food for livestock and healthier soil.

Timberland is using the project to pilot a leather supply chain based on traceable hides from US farms, with the aim of launching collections incorporating this leather next year.

Jim Pisani, brand president of Timberland, said: “We’ve only begun to truly understand the environmental, economic, social and humane benefits of regenerative grazing. We are energised by the prospect of a net-positive leather source, and proud to be leading the way in supporting this important research.”

The project focuses on 12 topics including soil carbon and water, green­house gas emissions and livestock wellbeing and resilience and will take place over  several years.

VF’s new seven-storey London headquarters is impressive both inside and out.

Credit: VF CORP

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