«Design, supply chain and logistics VF’s strategies for growth»- Corriere.it

Stabio (Switzerland) Large open spaces, interrupted by numerous areas for coffee and snacks; the bistro in addition to the company canteen; the gym with personal trainer and mindfulness room; a real red gondola lift (accessed from the first floor) used as a meeting room is even suspended in the entrance hall; and then no jacket and tie — not even the president wears it — but casual clothing for everyone (the average age is 35): it seems to be inside a hi-tech company in Silicon Valley, instead we are in Stabio, in Canton Ticino, where the headquarters for the EMEA area is located VF Corporaton, the American group listed on Wall Street with a turnover of 11.8 billion dollars and 12 brands, from North Face to Timberland, from Vans to Napapijri and Supreme.

The headquarters in Stabio, which today houses more than 1,100 employees from the initial 300, was inaugurated in 2013: it includes 4 buildings where all the clothing for the global market of Timberland and Napapijri is created and designed and over two thirds of North Face’s products for Europe. But here the fabrics for the entire group are also tested in the laboratory.

«Europe is the geographical area that grows the most, +13% last year and an average double-digit increase in the last 7 consecutive quarters. But we continue to grow and hire, especially in the design, merchandising and digital sectors. Six years ago there were 600 of us in Stabio, in the last year alone we have hired over 150 people, so much so that we have started the construction of a fifth building», says Martino Scabbia Guerrini, president of EMEA and from January also for the Asia area Pacific (Apec) and for the so-called «Emerging Brands», in addition to being executive vice president of VF Corporation, which he joined in 2006 and today he is the only non-American on the board of the Denver-based company, and over 120 years of history.

«The thing I’m most proud of is having brought the concept of design and globality into strategic decisions of a company that is very strong in terms of operating machinery and governance, less so in terms of creativity and content, with a culture centered above all on finance and the US market», which today accounts for 52% of revenues, claims the manager. «Today VF is a beautiful synthesis between the American governance of a public company and the Italian push towards the soft part of company management, represented by marketing, creativity, contents, organizational models».

THEL his goal is to raise the EMEA share — Italy is the third European market with about 15% — up 50% from the current 29%.

Thanks to the mix of heritage, community on social media and sustainability, VF has been able to conquer the new generations with iconic brands, while the company shed its skin, reorganizing the portfolio, reduced from 30 to 12 brands (but a month ago the intention was also announced to sell Eastpak , JanSport and Kipling without excluding new acquisitions) and selling more than twenty owned factories, to transform into a retailer, thanks to the push of digital.

«The real challenge for the next three years, however, is no longer technologybut logistics and its costs and supply chains», acknowledges Scabbia Guerrini.

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