
EXEC: VF Q4 Profits Beat Plan as TNF and Timberland Deliver Healthy Growth
While Vans disappointed, VF Corp. saw a robust revenue performance in the fourth quarter by The North Face and Timberland while profits came in better-than-expected due to payback from its Reinvent transformation program. Outerwear as a “standout” for TNF while Timberland’s sales surged 34 percent on a currency-neutral basis in the Americas region.

EXEC: Vans Hits Fiscal Q4 Turbulence as Brand Recovery Falters
Shares of VF Corp. shed ~13 percent Wednesday after the company reported Vans’ sales fell 20 percent on a currency-neutral basis in the fiscal fourth quarter on top of a 27 percent decline in fiscal Q4 last year.

EXEC: New Hibbett Parent JD Sports Sees Shares Fall as Q1 Disappoints
Group comp store, or like-for-like, sales were down 2 percent for the quarter ended May 3. The market also reacted to potential price increases from higher tariffs affecting U.S. consumer purchasing.

EXEC: Salomon Footwear Continues to Boost the Brand and Parent Amer Sports
The Amer Sports Outdoor Performance segment saw revenues increase 25 percent year-over-year to $502 million in Q1, driven by “very strong performance” in Salomon Softgoods and “good results” in Winter Sports Equipment, following a slow start to the winter season.

EXEC: Amer Sports C-Suite Details Small Tariff Impact and FY Guidance Bump
The parent of the Arc’teryx, Peak Performance, Salomon, Atomic and Wilson Sports brands is far less exposed to U.S. market issues than many other brands and has a far larger Asia, China and Europe component than many others that are more U.S.-centric.

EXEC: Fila/Acushnet Parent Sees 4.6 Percent Growth in Q1
Korea-based Misto Holdings, formerly Fila Holdings Corp., reported sales were up 4.6 percent year-over-year in the first quarter as a strong performance of Acushnet, the parent of Titleist and FootJoy, offset ongoing softness at the Fila brand.

EXEC: Nordstrom, Inc. Shareholders Approve Family’s Take-Private Merger Deal
Following the close of the transaction scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, the Nordstrom Family will have a 50.1 percent majority ownership stake in the company, and Nordstrom will become a private company.

EXEC: Fashion Footwear, LLC Prevails in Appeal Over Pony License Cancellation
The New York Appellate Court’s decision reportedly upheld the lower court’s ruling that Pony’s attempted termination of Fashion Footwear’s license agreement to enter into a license agreement with a new licensee, Genesco, Inc., was improper and invalid.

EXEC: Portland’s Next Adventure Set to Shutter After Epic Summer Retirement Sale
Deek Heykamp and Bryan Knudsen, the owners of Next Adventure, announced this week that their stores would be closing this year and the two friends since childhood would be retiring.

EXEC: Canadian Tire to Keep Hudson Bay Company Brand Alive; Acquires Assets
CTC quietly announced Thursday, May 15 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to become the home of iconic Canadian brands and other intellectual property of the Hudson’s Bay Company

EXEC: Lowa’s Peter Sachs Talks Retirement, Outdoor Industry Changes
Peter Sachs, the longtime U.S. general manager at Lowa, sat down with SGB Executive to talk about his 29-year career building the German boot maker’s U.S. business, the current state of the outdoor industry, and semi-retirement plans.

EXEC: Asics NA Q1 Gains Led by Perf Run and SportStyle as Global Asics Growth Rocks
The growth across the North America run specialty trade channel in Q1 was said to be due to the “significant demand” for the Novablast family of products, along with strong sales of two key legend models: the Gel-Cumulus and Gel-Nimbus.

EXEC: Boot Barn CEO Expects Little China Tariff Impact on Exclusive Goods
The company will only have 5 percent on order from China in the second half of the year, with China exclusive brand product ~$2.3 million of “tariffable product” for the remainder of fiscal 2026.

EXEC: Dick’s SG and Foot Locker Confirm $2.4 Billion Merger Deal
After seeing the global ambitions grow for JD Sports and Sports Direct, now comes the colonists, with Dick’s Sporting Goods fighting the good fight to protect the motherland from the ambitions of the crown while offering a new global vision for the Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker brands.

EXEC: Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. Makes Bid to Acquire Foot Locker, Inc.
The ywo side confirmed the merger deal the morning of May 15 with a total estimated acquisition price of $2.4 billion.