Reporter | Qin Siyue
Another sub brand under the Weifu Group has reported a change of leadership.
VF Corporation, the parent company of trendy sports brand Vans and outdoor sports brand The North Face, announced this week the appointment of Nina Flood as the Global Brand President of Timberland.
According to Nina Flood's resume, this new coach has been with Weifu Group for 20 years.
Nina Flood previously served as the President of Weifu Global Packs (backpack brands such as Eastpak, Jansport, and Kipling), where she was responsible for developing the department's investment portfolio methodology.
In February of this year, Nina Flood joined the management team of the Timberland brand as Vice President and General Manager of the Timberland EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) market.
Weifu Group stated, "Nina Flood has extensive experience in brand management and marketing, and she will drive sustainable and long-term growth of the Timberland brand, attracting more consumers from the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific regions."
Weifu Group was founded in Pennsylvania, USA in 1899 and has a history of over 120 years. The group is the parent company of well-known brands Vans, Supreme, The North Face, and Timberland.
The latest financial report for the second quarter of the 2024 fiscal year of the group shows that in the second quarter of the 2024 fiscal year ending on September 30, 2023, the group's revenue was $3 billion (approximately RMB 21.94 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 2%; The loss per share was $1.16, compared to $0.31 in the same period last year; The adjusted earnings per share are $0.63.
In this quarter, among the four major brands of the group, Vans, Dickes, The North Face, and Timberland, only the north side was bullish: brand sales in the second quarter increased by 19% year-on-year to $1.128 billion.
The former "big brother" Vans seemed somewhat powerless, with sales plummeting 21% to $748 million in the second quarter; Timberland and Dickes fell 7% and 8% respectively to $489 million and $171 million.
Perhaps related to the unsatisfactory performance, in the past two years, the leaders of the four major brands under Weifu Group have undergone changes.
In order to restore the growth of Vans, Weifu Group replaced the Global Brand President of Vans brand in March 2022. This position is held by Kevin Bailey, former Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific Business at Weifu Group, with the aim of revitalizing Vans sales in the Asia Pacific region.
But when Weifu disclosed its second quarter results, it also announced the resignation of Kevin Bailey as the Global Brand President of Vans brand. Meanwhile, Weifu did not disclose the new candidate for the position of Global Brand President of Vans brand, stating that they are still searching for candidates externally.
In June 2022, North also welcomed the new Global Brand President Nicole Otto: Nicole Otto is mainly responsible for DTC business and brand digital transformation. Previously, she served as Vice President of Nike's North American Digital Department.
In April of this year, Todd Dalhausser, the former brand president of Altra, a running shoe brand under Weifu, changed his identity to become the global brand president of Dickies, and his position in Altra was replaced by Jen McLaren, the former brand president of Smartwood, an outdoor brand.
Tina Flood, the new coach of Timberland, previously worked in the Global Packs department, which has also experienced sluggish growth in recent quarters.
At the beginning of this year, Weifu Group was reviewing the "strategic alternative plan" of the Global Packs department. Among them, Jansport may be sold by the group for $500 million.
According to multiple foreign media reports, multiple investment institutions are urging Weifu Group to sell other non core assets, including the trendy brand Supreme, which the group purchased at a high price of $2.1 billion in 2020. This trendy brand's annual revenue for the 2023 fiscal year fell from $561 million to $523 million, and net profit fell from $82.4 million to $64.8 million.
At the beginning of this month, Weifu Group just announced that it will lay off 500 employees, including 30 employees from the group headquarters. The last round of layoffs by Weifu occurred only a year and three months ago: in August last year, Weifu announced that the group would cut 600 positions. This round of layoffs accounted for 2% of Weifu's global employees at that time.