The departure of Martin Berendsen, who formerly headed up VF Corporation’s action sports brands outside the USA, has triggered the establishment of a new organizational structure for the international operations of its “outdoor and sportswear coalition,”, which are still headed up by Karl Heinz Salzburger out of Lugano, Switzerland. Under the new structure, all the eight outdoor and sportswear brands that have been in VF’s non-jeans portfolio in the past few years will be steered outside the USA by “Topher” Gaylord and Martino Scabbia Guerrini, focusing on brand-building and reporting to Salzburger

Christopher Gaylord, a group veteran who has made his marks by running the European operations of The North Face out of their head office in Italy, has been named president of international operations for VF’s outdoor and action sports brands. In addition to TNF, he will also have international responsibility for Vans and Reef, making up a trio of California-based brands with big sales volumes.

Martino Scabbia Guerrini, who joined the group last summer as president of international sportswear operations, is named as president of international sportswear and packs, adding Eastpak and JanSport to the three brands that he was previous taking care of – Napapijri, Nautica and Kipling.

Berendsen, a “flying Dutchman” who ran Reebok in the Netherlands and then moved over to the USA to run the local operations of Dr. Martens and Caterpillar footwear, had moved back to Europe about one year ago to work for VF based Lugano. Berendsen took on international responsibilities for Eastpak, Reef and Vans. Eastpak and JanSport were previously handled by a Brussels-based executive, Jim Thomsen, who left the group. Nelson took charge of JanSport briefly after his departure. Berendsen, whose family is still based in the USA, has left VF for personal reasons.

With Nelson extending his functions to two other important brands, VF has promoted Patrik Fisk as vice president and general manager of TNF for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Previously in charge of sales for TNF Europe since October 2004, he will assume overall responsibility for marketing, product, sales and retail for the brand throughout the region.

A new sales manager is to be appointed soon for TNF EMEA. Fisk will work with three dedicated executives for the other functions, including Francesco Navach as retail director. TNF has an ambitious retail program in Europe. While the majority of the future TNF stores will continue to be in partnership with local retailers, between 5 and 10 more could well be company-owned within the next five years, like the one recently inaugurated in Chamonix.

Meanwhile VF has announced the completion of its acquisition of Eagle Creek, the American brand of luggage, bags and other travelwear based in California. It will add annual global sales of about $30 million. Eagle Creek still has an office in Germany in charge of European sales, headed up by Oliver Messing since 2003, with distribution directly and through agents in the Germanic countries, Benelux, France and the UK. It has distributors in Spain, Russia and some other countries. VF has not yet decided how to integrate Eagle Creek into its international structure.