VF Corp. has ironed out another wrinkle in its portfolio.
On Monday, the apparel conglomerate that owns brands such as Vans and The North Face announced it will sell the Dickies workwear label to brand management firm Bluestar Alliance for $600 million in cash.
Dickies, founded in 1922 and distributed across 55 countries, has firmly implanted itself in both the workwear and streetwear worlds. The brand’s history ranges from producing World War II uniforms to having its slacks embraced by skateboarders and West Coast hip-hop culture.
But Dickies has struggled since being acquired by VF Corp. in 2017 for $820 million. On an earnings call in January, VF Corp.’s chief executive Bracken Darrell said the brand was in the midst of a “deep turnaround.” In March, VF Corp. laid off 125 Dickies employees after it shut down the label’s headquarters in its hometown of Forth Worth, Texas, and relocated them to VF Corp.’s campus in Costa Mesa, California.
“As I’ve said before, we continuously evaluate our portfolio and this transaction will enable us to bring our net debt level down and will be accretive to our growth on a pro-forma basis,” Darrell said in a press release.
The brand’s relevance within streetwear makes it an apt pick-up for its new owner Bluestar Alliance, which also acquired the luxury (and distressed) streetwear brands Off-White and Palm Angels within the past year.
“We have followed the brand for many years and have a deep appreciation for its history and legacy, which VF Corporation has successfully begun to rebuild over the past few years,” Bluestar Alliance CEO Joseph Gabbay said in a statement.
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The struggling luxury-streetwear pioneer will join Bluestar’s stable of brands, including names like Tahari and Scotch & Soda.