VF Corp. has appointed Kevin Bailey to the position of global brand president of Vans. Bailey will continue to report to VF chairman, president and CEO Steve Rendle and will serve on the company’s executive leadership team.
With this appointment, Bailey returns within the group to the Vans brand after holding several leadership positions within VF during his total 17-year tenure. After spending 8 years at Nike as director of retail operations and 1 year at Golfsmith, Bailey first joined Vans in 2002 and was vice president of retail when the then brand of skateboard shoes from Southern California was acquired by VF in 2004 for $396 million. After a brief hiatus from Vans in 2008-2009, he returned in 2009 and was named president of the brand, a role he held until 2016. Under Bailey’s leadership, sales more than doubled to $2.2 billion. Most recently, he was president of VF for Asia Pacific and emerging brands. In that role, he was responsible for VF’s Asia Pacific regional platform and VF’s emerging brands platform, and had responsibility for the Altra, JanSport and Smartwool brands on a global basis. Previously, Bailey served as president of VF’s Action Sports Coalition, as well as the company’s Canadian, Mexican and Central/South American business units.
Bailey replaces Doug Palladini, who served as Vans’ global brand president since 2016 and has worked for the brand for a total of nearly 18 years. Under the action and boardsports specialist Palladini’s leadership, the brand’s business grew globally to about $4 billion per year. Most recently, however, the Active segment, which includes Vans, had fallen short of expectations and VF again lowered its forecast for the segment.
