VF Corporation, the parent of the Altra, Jansport, The North Face, Smartwool, Timberland, and Vans brands, may have characterized its fiscal 2027 first quarter as a “solid start” to its fiscal year but it appears Wall Street had different ideas despite the company beating its top-line guidance for the period as VF came up short on the bottom line.

VFC shares declined 6 percent in pre-market trading on Wednesday, July 29 after gaining 6.6 percent on Tuesday, but closed down nearly 17.4 percent at $15.08 per share after the company’s quarterly conference call where company President and CEO Bracken Darrell also announced that company CFO Paul Vogel was transitioning out of his current role during the current quarter and company COO Abhishek Dalmia adds the CFO title to his current responsibilities.

By late Friday, July 31, VFC shares were sitting near the lows for the day and week at $14.47 per share.

It is not a stretch to assume the finance department may need some additional focus from Dalmia, a former managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and a former executive at Dell, Citi, and Lululemon, as he has been credited with bringing a powerful combination of strategic, operational and financial perspective to reengineering the company’s technology and supply chain organizations. As Darrell noted, Dalmia “will soon focus his efforts on finance.” See more on the CFO transition at the bottom of this article.

As the business evolves into the next phase of growth, Darrell said he expects the new CFO’s ability to blend financial acumen with change management and transformative thinking will be “just the right cocktail” for VF’s ongoing transformation.

Fiscal First Quarter Summary
Revenue for the quarter grew 5 percent year-over-year (y/y) to $1.67 billion on a better-than-expected performance at The North Face. and revenue excluding the recently divested Dickies business was up 1 percent y/y and was said to be flat on constant-currency (CC) basis. Revenue x-Dickies was said to be ahead of prior guidance calling for revenues to decline in low-single digits y/y on a CC basis.

Channel Summary

  • Global direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel reported a “continued positive performance,” with revenues up 2 percent y/y, or up 5 percent in CC terms x-Dickies.
  • Global Wholesale channel reported a 10 percent y/y revenue decline in Q1, with revenues down 4 percent in CC terms x-Dickies.

Region Summary

  • The Americas region was down 4 percent y/y with x-Dickies revenues up 4 percent on a CC basis with growth across both channels (DTC and Wholesale).
  • The EMEA region saw consolidated revenues fall 7 percent in both reported and CC terms x-Dickies.
  • The APAC region was down 3 percent y/y on a consolidated basis, and dow down 1 percent in CC terms x-Dickies.

Brand Summary
Altra was the brand darling for the first quarter, posting double-digit growth for the first quarter.

The North Face
The North Face (TNF) reportedly grew 4 percent year-over-year (y/y) in constant-currency (CC) terms during VF Corp.’s fiscal 2027 first quarter ended June 27. Reported revenue grew 6 percent y/y to $590.9 million for the period versus $557.4 million in the year-ago first quarter. Sales growth was said to be led by the Americas region and the direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel.

Growth was said to be present in both the DTC and Wholesale channels on a global basis.

  • In the Americas, TNF increased 8 percent y/y in both reported and CC terms in the fiscal first quarter, with growth evident in both the DTC and Wholesale channels.
  • EMEA revenues grew 3 percent in reported terms and inched up 1 percent in CC terms for the quarter.
  • APAC revenues grew 5 percent in reported terms in Q1 but were flat in CC terms for the period.

Darrell said the brand’s performance came in stronger than the prior expectations for a flat quarter.

“You might recall that the primary driver of our flat quarter expectation was orders that would normally occur in Q1 actually shipped in Q4’26,” Darrell noted on a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, July 29. He went on to say they expected the stronger Q4 would result in lighter first quarter due to the pull-forward.  Darrell said they expect to see timing shifts across the quarters again this fiscal year, with the second quarter now expected to be flattish versus the year-ago Q2 period.

However, the CEO said they still expect the full year to be “roughly in line” with last year’s growth rate.

From a product standpoint, The North Face growth was said to be led by transitional outerwear, shells and equipment. The category grew globally, which was said to be reflective of initiatives to drive more seasonally-relevant product offerings.

“And we barely tapped the many opportunities to bring in strong spring and summer categories in the years ahead that we don’t do much in today, which makes a solid quarter like this even more satisfying,” Darrel quipped, while imagining what a broader assortment of warm season product in stores and online would mean to the business.

Darrell said TNF saw strong momentum in new footwear franchises as well, with the Altamesa v2 launching globally during the quarter with “a strong debut across all regions.”

Looking ahead, VF expects the full year for The North Face to be in line with its growth rates from last year, “plus or minus a point or two on either side.”

For the fiscal second quarter, Dalmia said The North Face will be “flat to slightly up” year-over-year, primarily driven by Wholesale timing.

Timberland
Timberland was up 4 percent (+3 percent CC) y/y to $256.1 million in fiscal Q1, with growth said to be driven by the Americas region. Vogel said Timberland’s growth was impacted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as well as ongoing work with one of VF’s distributors, which had a roughly 3 points impact to Timberland in the quarter.

The brand saw global growth in both the DTC and Wholesale channels.

  • In the Americas, Timberland increased 11 percent y/y in reported terms and up 10 percent y/y in CC terms in the fiscal first quarter.
  • EMEA revenues were down 4 percent y/y in reported terms and and down 6 percent y/y in CC terms for the quarter.
  • APAC revenues were flat y/y in reported terms in Q1 but were up 1 percent y/y in CC terms for the period.

“As expected at this stage, the 6-inch premium boot is the growth engine, while ‘behind the scenes’ our initiatives to build and diversify around this strength are taking hold,” Darrell shared. “Outside of the boot, shoes continue to perform strongly in all regions, led by the boat shoe. As we get into the Fall 26 season and beyond, you’ll begin to see more of the new product line-ups being developed, from below the ankle to sneakers in footwear and across apparel.”

He said in his prepared remarks that, alongside these product initiatives, VF continues to develop the brand distribution network, and in the first quarter, opened three new full-price DTC stores in the Americas, taking the total number of full-price stores to 14 in the region. He hinted “there are more to come.”

“We are driving brand energy with our social-first marketing strategy while leveraging the brand’s cultural relevance,” Darrell said. “Search interest [for Timberland] was up in all key markets. The brand continues to play a central role in big cultural moments; during the quarter, the Yellow Boot became a symbol of New York during the NY Knicks championship run and an associated social media post generated the brand’s highest engagement ever.”

The CEO said he expects another good year of growth for Timberland as VF continues to take steps to unlock the true potential of the brand over the next few years.

Looking ahead, Dalmia said the company expects Timberland’s full year to be in line with its growth rates from last year, “plus or minus a point or two on either side.”

Vans
The Vans brand was down 8 percent (-9 percent CC) y/y to $459.8 million, with continued growth in Americas DTC said to be more than offset by Wholesale declines.

The brand saw global growth in both the DTC and Wholesale channels.

  • In the Americas, Vans dipped 3 percent y/y in reported terms and declined 4 percent y/y in CC terms in the fiscal first quarter. Americas DTC up  again in the fiscal quarter.
  • EMEA revenues were down 15 percent y/y in reported terms and and down 17 percent y/y in CC terms for the quarter.
  • APAC revenues were down 14 percent y/y in reported terms in Q1 and down 15 percent y/y in CC terms for the period.

Editor’s Note: For additional insights and detail on Vans, see more at the bottom of this article or access HERE.

Outside the “Top 3”

  • Altra grew double-digits in Q1, said to reflect continued growth across regions and channels
  • Icebreaker revenue up y/y, supported by ongoing strength in DTC
  • Napapijri reset underway as planned; brand capitalizing on the road to the 2027 America’s Cup in Naples
  • Packs up y/y, driven by growth at JanSport and Kipling ahead of the back-to-school season
  • Smartwool up double-digits y/y across DTC and Wholesale

Profitability & Expenses Summary
Gross margin (GM) reached 54.9 percent of revenue in fiscal Q1, up 100 basis points y/y. Adjusted GM x-Dickies was also 54.9 percent, up 10 basis points y/y.

“Our core underlying gross margin is actually stronger than it appears as this quarter’s margin was impacted by 140 basis points as a result of unfavorable FX,” Vogel explained, while reminding the call participants that “there is roughly no incremental advantage or disadvantage of tariffs in Q1 this year vs. Q1 last year.”

SG&A stepped up year over year as Vogel said VF “deliberately invested in the business to drive growth,” while pointing to first-half investments in brand-building initiatives. The current CFO said the $225 million of structural SG&A savings since fiscal 2024 remain in the run rate. This has been a choice to reinvest on a lower fixed base to drive growth.

The company posted an operating loss of $83 million in fiscal Q1, amounting to an operating margin (OM) of negative 5.0 percent, which was down down 10 basis points y/y. The Adjusted operating loss x-Dickies was $95 million, which was said to be slightly ahead of guidance expecting a $100 million loss. The operating margin x-Dickies was negative 5.7 percent, or down down 210 basis points y/y.

VF Corp. posted a loss of 25 cents per diluted share in the fiscal 2027 first quarter. The Adjusted loss per share was 27 cents diluted, compared to 25 cents in Q1 last year.

Balance Sheet Summary
Net debt at quarter-end was down $1.1 billion (down 20 percent) y/y and net debt excluding lease liabilities was down $1.1 billion (down 27 percent) y/y.

Inventories, excluding Dickies and FX, were down 4 percent.

Free cash flow was up approximately $75 million in Q1 year over year; this was said to include approximately $50 million benefit from tariff refunds.

Outlook
The company is raising its fiscal 2027 full-year guidance and now sees:

  • Revenue growth of 2 percent or better y/y in constant currency terms, reflecting an upgrade from prior guidance of up 1 percent to 2 percent in constant-currency terms. Revenue performance excludes Dickies in fiscal 2026 and includes 53rd week in fiscal 2027.
  • Adjusted operating margin of approximately 8 percent of revenue.
  • Free cash flow of $405 million is forecast at “flat to up” year-over-year. Fiscal 2026 excludes $100 million net impact of pension termination during the year and also excludes any net impact from tariff refunds in fiscal 2027.
  • Fiscal year-end leverage ratio of 2.6x to 2.9x.

Image courtesy Altra/VF Corp / Data and Tables courtesy VF Corp.

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See below for additional SGB Media coverage of VF’s fiscal first quarter and the company’s CFO transition.

VF Corp. COO Abhishek Dalmia Adding CFO Title to Current Role as Paul Vogel Plans Exit

EXEC: Vans’ Post-Covid Rocky Road and VF’s CEO Look at What’s Ahead