Scabbia Guerrini (Vf): 'Reinventing yourself is fun. Innovation and design at the centre'

Reinvent yourself: a dream, a declaration of intent, a project. A verb that can open up worlds or at least new horizons, but which is often used lightly, if not inappropriately. This is certainly not the case with the plan embraced by Vf, one of the world's largest sportswear and activewear groups. The strategy of the New York-listed company is called Reinvent to grow and looks ahead to 2028. Strongly desired by Bracken Darrell, former CEO of Logitech and CEO and president of Vf from June 2023, and developed in collaboration with Martino Scabbia Guerrini, global chief commercial officer (cco) for the past year, the strategy serves to re-launch the group, a process that is also necessary due to external conditions and signs of a slowdown in the global fashion industry, which is not sparing the high-end segment, considered the most resilient until last year. Difficult times, says Scabbia Guerrini, are the most suitable for, precisely, reinventing oneself, a process from which one should not be frightened (it is true for companies, but basically also for people) and which can even be fun, or at least trigger virtuous circles of energy and enthusiasm.

Let's start with the latest figures, which indicate a turnaround.
In late October, we announced the second-quarter figures for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, covering the July-September period, and the board of directors authorised a quarterly dividend of $0.9. Revenues for the quarter were down 6% to $2.757 billion, and revenues for the six-month period, the May-September period, were down 7% to $4.527 billion. These numbers are an improvement on the more pronounced slowdown of the previous months. In the first quarter, revenues were down 10% and, as Bracken Darrell pointed out, we intend to follow the priorities of the Reinvent plan and are aligned with the goal of closing the fiscal year with $300 million in savings, and these numbers are also positively reflected in the stock's performance on the stock exchange.

As chief commercial officer, on what fronts did you work?
I have been working at Vf for many years and I could answer that never before have I felt like a 'liaison officer' in this role, or rather, a safe bridge between Europe and the United States. Or rather between the US and the rest of the world, since I had been in charge of Vf's international markets for years. We created a new organisation, exporting the best practices we had successfully adopted in the Emea and Apac areas for which I was responsible.

How would you summarise Reinvent's priorities as mentioned by the ceo?
We are a listed company, so some priorities are definitely financial, but equally important is the work on the individual brands, starting with Vans, the one that had suffered the most recently. As far as the balance sheet is concerned, optimising the operating model is acondition sine qua nonn order to achieve an operating margin of over 10% by 2028. But we are also looking beyond that date: we want to build long-term capabilities to create a sustainable competitive advantage, beyond the current difficulties and the many geopolitical and economic unknowns. We do this by investing in technology and at the same time seeking out and nurturing talent, because managing a portfolio like ours means developing innovation and design in parallel, and this applies to all brands, from Timberland to The North Face, from Napapijri to Vans. Returning to stakeholders, we aim to reduce leverage and generate sustainable value for shareholders.

How do you explain the sale of Supreme to EssilorLuxottica?
I believe that the Supreme brand has great potential and I think Essilux will be able to lead the brand on a global growth path. As our ceo mentioned, the divestment in Supreme (the transaction was completed on 1 October, ndr) allows us to meet our commitment to repay the billion in loans coming due at the end of this year.