VF Image is a division of VF Corporation, the world's largest apparel company and home to The North Face, Wrangler, Lee, Nautica, Van's, Seven for Mankind, Majestic and many more of today's leading apparel brands.
VF Image is a leading provider of workwear serving industrial, service, protective and public safety markets with our family of leading workwear brands including Red Kap, Bulwark, and Horace Small.
2. VF Image… North America’s leading provider of work wear. Serves a wide variety of industries with a vast assortment of garments from suits, to industrial work pants to police uniforms to flame resistant coveralls and thousands more. Deep and diverse customer base of over 7,500 partners including Cintas, Aramark, Grainger, Comcast, Fastenal, AT&T, FedEx, American Airlines, Duke Energy, TSA, Customs and Border Patrol, and NY Fire Department and many more. Serves well over a million businesses and government agencies through our customer base. Over 25 million people go to work in VF Image garments everyday. Nobody serves the work wear market better than VF Image!
3. VF Image: Driven to Serve Wearers Garments specifically designed by job type and industry for fit, functionality, durability and value. Businesses & Governments World class garment design, manufacturing and distribution that delivers superior value and performance. Unprecedented selection, service and speed keeps our partners working, not waiting. Distributors & Direct Customers In-depth understanding of our distributor and customer needs drive unprecedented service and assortment tailored to each channel. Legendary brands that are admired across the supply chain. “Succeeding in the work wear market requires adding value and serving the entire supply chain… from wearers through each channel partner”
22. ConstructionIndustry “VF Image focuses specific brands against key sectors and job types. This focus drives deeper understanding of wearers and channel dynamics resulting in better garments, stronger service and greater brand relevance.”
23. Key Brands: Red Kap Serving America’s workers for over 85 years. Foundation is in industrial laundry channel outfitting those who do the “real” work in manufacturing, automotive, maintenance, construction, and other manual labor type jobs. Serves a growing customer base outside of the laundry channel in hospitality, food processing, food service, and healthcare. Key garments include traditional uniform work shirts and pants, coveralls, jackets, and jeans. Red Kap’s leadership is driven by unprecedented service, availability, assortment and value. The Red Kap brand positioning is built on a value shared across the entire supply chain….“pride in work”. It’s the belief that any job worth doing, is worth doing right.
24. Key Brands: Bulwark Founded in 1971, Bulwark was one of the original brands serving the flame resistant (FR) market. Foundation is in the electric utility and oil/gas industry which are served by laundry and reseller distributors. FR apparel is worn by utility lineman, refinery workers, drilling personnel, electric transmission staff and more. Key garments include coveralls, shirts and jeans. Bulwark’s market leadership is driven by technical leadership, unprecedented service, availability, assortment and value. Brand is experiencing unprecedented growth in its core markets, in fact it was the fastest growing brand in VF in 2010, and is planning international and category expansion in 2011. Bulwark’s brand positioning is build on the over-arching need for trust in this category. Trust extends beyond garment efficacy, to the consistency and reliability of the garment manufacturer. Bulwark is uniquely able to own all aspects of trust in this category.
25. Key Brands: Horace Small Founded in 1937, Horace Small was the original provider of mass produced police uniforms. The brand primarily serves the law enforcement community at a state and local level through a special channel of “blue goods” distributors. Horace Small provides a wide range of uniforms serving this market from “dress” to everyday “duty” uniforms. Horace Small provides superior service, availability, and value. The brand is currently working to recapture leadership with a renewed sales focus, marketing and improved garment quality. The brand is positioned on “respect” and captures the desire of public servants to be treated with respect by those they serve.
26. How We Work: A Case Study Red Kap is the world’s largest automotive apparel company serving every major automotive brand with image programs for their dealerships. Red Kap automotive designs had been frequently lauded for their inventive features and modern style. Our customers were satisfied, but we weren’t! In late 2009, Red Kap merchandising uncovered the opportunity to further improve the durability and design of automotive shirts. Working with fabric mills, Red Kap merchandising developed an innovative rip stop fabric that improved fabric strength by 75% . Working with wearers, Red Kap merchandising designed a shirt full of features that reflect the unique work automotive service environment
27. Red Kap Crew Shirt Covered button placards to prevent scratching Underarm gusset to reduce inadvertent “untucking” when a mechanic reaches up into an engine New color blocking to diminish stains when they happen Squared, vented bottom to allow for neat appearance, even when untucked. New pocket design to reflect true needs for gauges, etc. “Ripstop” Weave Detail
28. Marketing the Crew Shirt Launch Marketing Plan (March-May 2011) Target: 1) Existing automotive customers 2) New accounts in the independent and franchise service market. New sales literature focused on automotive product line. New tradeshow (SEMA) which caters to the independent market (100k in attendance). National sponsorship of Powerblock, the leading TV program for automotive lifestyle (4 million weekly viewers). Facebook promotion targeted against automotive enthusiasts (many of which work in the industry) Viral website designed to attract automotive enthusiasts. Multi-faceted sales kit designed to launch the automotive initiative (and new shirts) to our key distribution partners. Purchase of 70k prospect mailing lists to be shared with our distribution partners. Email marketing and online advertising. Additional marketing will be fielded in across 2011 to sustain momentum. SEMA
29. Doing It Right! Develop innovative garment rooted in insights from wearers and the channel. Deliver superior value and service delivered through VF Image service system. Build awareness and interest among targeted users. Work with distribution partners to ensure interest results in sales. That’s workwearDone Right!