VF Corp. sees no conflict between Timberlands lingering image as an urban brand via its iconic yellow boot business and its current positioning as a heritage outdoor brand with roots in New England, CFO Bob Shearer told his audience last Tuesday at the Jefferies & Co. Global Consumer Conference.


It is absolutely not a conflict, Shearer said. There was a strong urban following to the brand for a period of time. Actually, there is still a fairly significant urban following. But what the company has done is a terrific job, and it is reflected in the results over the recent past year, in terms of bringing the brand absolutely back to its roots and heritage.


It is clearly really clear to us, Shearer continued. This brand, its orientation is in the outdoor side of things, and that is exactly what we will build the brand story around.


Shearer noted that there are many The North Face customers who never intend to climb Mount Everest and that is okay, as long as you stay true in terms of product that is being developed, to your brand and its heritage. And that is exactly what theyre doing.


Shearer declined to elaborate on the future of Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz.  Under Swartz, operating margins at TBL rose to 9 percent last year, but remains way below the 20 percent level achieved by VFs Outdoor & Action sports coalition. Shearer reiterated that VFC expects to achieve most of a projected $35 million in annual cost savings by reducing TBLs SG&A ratio to 33 percent from 39 percent.  


>>> Using keen spider sense and VFC executives repeated mention of Timberlands rugged New England heritage makes us wonder whether  VFC will use Timberland to take on L.L. Bean more directly…

 

>>> The continuing obsession of some analysts with Timberlands faded yellow boot business belies a surprising lack of understanding of the active outdoor lifestyle market that has driven so much of VFCs growth these last five year and where Timberland is finally starting to see some gains after years of investment…