{"id":71144,"date":"2026-04-29T13:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/71144\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:10:13","slug":"vf-corp-ceo-pledges-to-deep-brand-turnaround-at-berlin-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/71144\/","title":{"rendered":"VF Corp CEO Pledges To Deep Brand Turnaround At Berlin Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vf<\/p>\n

VF Corp. CEO Bracken Darrell speaking at World Retail Congress, Berlin.<\/p>\n

Mark Faithfull<\/p>\n

At the World Retail Congress in Berlin today, VF Corp.<\/a> CEO Bracken Darrell used his platform to reframe what a turnaround really meant for the retail group and why the market may be too focused on immediacy.<\/p>\n

VF Corp., the parent company of brands including Vans, The North Face and Timberland, has been navigating a difficult stretch marked by declining revenues, wholesale disruption and uneven brand momentum. The company\u2019s stock has come under pressure over the past two years as Vans in particular lost cultural traction, forcing leadership to rethink both cost structures and brand positioning.<\/p>\n

While recent quarters have shown early signs of stabilization \u2014 cost-cutting measures, inventory normalization and leadership reshuffles among them \u2014 the turnaround remains very much in progress, with investors watching closely for sustained growth rather than short-term fixes.<\/p>\n

Darrell, who took the helm in 2023 for Logitech, made clear he has little interest in quick wins at the expense of long-term brand equity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came in for a turnaround, and when I was hired I was described as a turnaround person but I am not,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about short term; despite the fact there is a sense of urgency. So, you have to take a long-term view. When I came into VF, what made it special was the value of those brands. Really believing in that equity and being a passionate advocate is has to be where it starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

VF Corp Looks To Revamp Brands<\/p>\n

That philosophy is notable given the pressure VF faces<\/a> to deliver improved margins and restore investor confidence. Darrell instead framed the situation as an opportunity: \u201cIt\u2019s great to be able to push those brands into new spaces,\u201d he said, positioning the company\u2019s challenges as a rare moment to reset rather than simply repair.<\/p>\n

Still, he acknowledged the complexity of a \u201cdeep turnaround,\u201d where the risk is trying to fix everything at once. \u201cThe challenging thing about a deep turnaround is that while you have more degrees of freedom than in a normal job, everything is on the table and the temptation is to go after everything. So, figuring out what you are going to focus on is the key thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darrell described a familiar pattern in legacy companies like VF, where past success can obscure inefficiencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you get turnaround, you are still good at growing but in overhead not revenue, so that needs to be addressed,\u201d he said, underscoring one of the core issues VF has been tackling through cost discipline and organizational simplification.<\/p>\n

A central tension for VF remains its multi-brand structure. Analysts have often argued that single-brand companies move faster and maintain clearer identity, something Vans\u2019 recent struggles have highlighted. Darrell pushed back on that narrative.<\/p>\n

Multi Brand Has Advantages<\/p>\n

\u201cAnalysts would say mono brands have the advantage because of a single business focus. So multi brand means you have to leverage the fact that you have multiple brands,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Drawing parallels to consumer goods giants, he added: \u201cThere is a way, if you look at FMCG you will never buy a product called Unilever or P&G\u2026 In this industry that has not happened, so to me the challenge of making a multi brand company even better is how you take a business that has best in class processes and apply them to all those brands and create an engine that feeds out and back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really our goal, to create a company that is stronger than mono brands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Execution, he stressed, comes down to alignment and communication. Darrell emphasized a hierarchy that favors direct interaction over digital overload, reserving email as a last resort because of its impersonal nature.<\/p>\n

Crucially, he tied technology back to brand authenticity, a key issue for VF as it works to reignite cultural relevance, particularly for Vans.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur brands are not luxury brands, everyone can afford them. We\u2019ve brought back the Vans tour and, in a world where you don\u2019t know what\u2019s real or not, the tour, the NBA, the World Cup are all real,\u201d he said. \u201cI think these will have more and more value, that they are really experiences and we need to make the brands even more human.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VF Corp. CEO Bracken Darrell speaking at World Retail Congress, Berlin. Mark Faithfull At the World Retail Congress…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,38701,190,14779,38702],"class_list":{"0":"post-71144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-bracken-darrell","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-vf-corp","12":"tag-world-retail-congress"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116488164219476225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}