Was Former Logitech CEO Bored When He Walked Earlier This Year, Now Shoes Are An Important Part Of His Life

Bracken Darrell transformed Logitech, via acquisitions and product innovation, then out of the blue he suddenly quit to flog shoes, theses were no ordinary shoes with the former CE industry CEO now the new driving force, behind VF the owner of Vans, a shoe that was once famous and in demand, but during the past decade got lost among a sea of sneakers and new brands, he is also set to inject new life into old brands such as Timberland and North Face.

Darrell’s new mission is set to see him have a crack at bringing the skills that transformed Logitech to be a key player in the gaming accessory, B2b communication market and their traditional mouse and keyboard markets to a fading brand. Scott Browning the former Marketing Director at JB Hi Fi who was credited with creating the JB Hi Fi brand with handwritten tickets did a similar switch when he left to move into the fashion business via the Diesel brand of clothing.

His task ahead is seen by analysts as “daunting” VF’s net income in the most recent fiscal year declined more than 90% from a year earlier, partly because of the devaluation of its streetwear brand Supreme.

VF shares are down about 75% since the end of 2021, making it one of the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 index over that period.

Debt has ballooned to $6.7 billion.

VF got its start as a glove and mitten Company that went public in 1951 and later became a conglomerate of clothing brands, spending billions to swallow Wrangler and Lee jeans among others, these are brands.

According to the Wall Street Journal one of Bracken Darrell’s first stops as CEO of the company that owns Vans was a visit to the son of its co-founder.

Darrell inspected the memorabilia in the office of Steve Van Doren, who is the brand’s ambassador, including photos of Warped Tour, a music festival Vans used to sponsor that helped burnish its counterculture status.

Since the company stopped sponsoring the tour and similar events, it has lost more young people than any other age group.

Darrell believes that he has the unlock key to restore the brand to its past glory despite the product he’s got to work with losing it’s cool.

The 60-year-old Darrell now has the task of resuscitating the $11.6 billion dollar Company that also owns North Face and Timberland.

He doesn’t have much time. Activist investors are urging him to cut costs and jettison brands claims the WSJ.

Richard Carucci, Chair of the Board at VF said after his appointment “VF’s Board of Directors couldn’t be more pleased with our appointment of Bracken as VF’s 12th CEO in the company’s 124-year history,”.

“We conducted an extensive search and determined that Bracken has all the attributes to excel in this role. He is a transformational and visionary business leader with a strong track record of performance across multiple industries”

“Throughout his career, he has demonstrated an outstanding ability to enhance design capabilities, delight consumers, and accelerate revenue growth and margin expansion. His broad executive management and deep international experience make him uniquely suited to partner with and guide VF’s executive team and 35,000 talented associates around the world to fuel an exciting new future for the company. We are highly confident that under Bracken’s leadership, VF will achieve new levels of success that will make its associates, investors, and stakeholders proud.”

One analyst told ChannelNews that Darrell appeared to have become “bored” with the CE industry and the margin squeeze affecting brands.

As for Logitech they appointed Hanneke Faber as their new Chief Executive Officer to replace Bracken Darrell with her job made harder by the downturn affecting the industry.

Darrell believes that the key to fixing VF is turning around Vans, which is its largest brand and accounts for nearly a third of total revenue. Vans’ performance has been hurt by a shift in the way VF operates, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees as well as industry executives.

“People running the brands started to feel like they had to ask permission to do everything,” Darrell said in an interview, explaining that the corporate entity had become a gatekeeper of resources rather than a facilitator.

Darrell spends much of his time at Vans’ California campus trying to diagnose its problems and figure out how to fix them.

He visits stores to talk to customers and works in the company cafeteria, where he shares his mobile number with employees.

He plans to steer more investment into the brand and is pushing executives to develop new products faster.

He is urging Vans employees to recapture the outsider mindset that many current and former employees say has slipped away as the brand has gone more mainstream.

As one senior executive has told staff, “Bring back the f— you attitude.”