Vans chased off-price retail growth for years — then admitted it devalued its own brand

Vans was VF Corp's best-performing brand for years, built on skate-shop credibility and limited distribution. To keep growing after the pandemic, VF pushed Vans into discount department stores and off-price 'value' retail doors, alongside heavy promotional pricing at its own stores. Sales rose in the short term, but the brand's scarcity and cachet went with them.

By fiscal 2024, Vans revenue had fallen 24% to $2.79 billion. The slide continued into fiscal 2025: fourth-quarter revenue dropped 22% to $493 million, and full-year Vans revenue fell a further 16% to roughly $2.35 billion, dragging VF Corp's total quarterly revenue down 5% even as every other major brand — The North Face (+2%), Timberland (+10%) — grew.

In May 2025, VF Corp global brand president Sun Choe named the cause without softening it: 'We expanded into value channels and devalued the brand itself. It was a mistake, and we're fixing it.' The company's response was to reverse course — exiting roughly 1,800 low-value wholesale doors while adding 800 higher-value ones, closing stores, and cutting China inventory, which accounted for 60% of the quarter's decline by VF's own accounting.

The correction came with layoffs: VF Corp cut 400 jobs company-wide in 2025, including 82 at its Costa Mesa headquarters, as part of CEO Bracken Darrell's 'Reinvent' turnaround plan targeting $300 million in savings.