Dive Brief:
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Longtime Nike veteran Archie McEachern on Thursday joined Timberland as vice president and chief merchandising officer, the VF Corp. brand said in an emailed press release.
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In the newly created role, reporting to global brand president Susie Mulder, McEachern will lead the brand’s merchandising team and work in close collaboration with its product team, the company said.
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McEachern, the company said, spent nearly 30 years at Nike in various product and merchandising roles. Most recently he was chief executive officer of startup basketball company 360 Hoops, which developed a three-sided hoop for training and play, according to the press release.
Dive Insight:
Timberland has stuck around in a portfolio that parent VF Corp. has shaken up several times in recent years. That has meant expanding, most notably with the 2020 acquisition of Supreme, as well as divesting. Earlier this year the company said it would likely put its backpack brands Kipling, Eastpak and JanSport up for sale.
The conglomerate’s standout continues to be The North Face, with its Vans skate brand in need of a turnaround. GlobalData Apparel Analyst Alice Price in emailed comments last month noted that Timberland, along with the Dickies workwear brand, have “struggled to gain influence in the market.” The brand’s sales were down 9% year over year, according to VF’s most recent quarterly report.
In its email Thursday, the company noted that earlier this year the brand consolidated the management of its footwear and apparel, led by Chris McGrath, vice president of global product design and development, and said that “McEachern’s hire completes the transformation of Timberland’s global product organization.”
“Over the past two years we’ve worked hard to build a best-in-class global product team led by Chris McGrath. With Archie’s breadth of merchandising experience, not to mention his strong leadership skills and boundless energy, we are now running on all cylinders and ready to propel our brand, and business, into the future,” Mulder said in a statement.
