Global apparel company VF to leave Martinsville in 2025

VF Corp., a Denver-based global apparel and footwear company with brands including Vans, The North Face, Timberland and Dickies, plans to close its distribution center in Martinsville in March 2025, the company confirmed Wednesday.

“As part of VF’s Reinvent strategy, we have evaluated how we are shipping products to best meet the needs of our customers,” VF spokesperson Ashley McCormack explained in a statement. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close the Martinsville … Distribution Center. This transition will deliver operational efficiencies, consolidate our operations and reduce real estate costs.”

During a conference call Wednesday afternoon, Bracken Darrell, who joined VF as the company’s president and CEO last summer, called the strategy “tough medicine that we needed to return to growth.”

VF’s plans include “fixing the Americas,” turning around the Vans brand, reducing costs and paying down debt, according to a news release issued about the company’s earnings for the fourth quarter, which closed March 30. VF experienced a 13% decline in revenue for the fourth quarter, compared with the same period last year.

“We closed the fiscal year with further inventory reductions, helping us deliver $1 billion in operating cash flow and over $800 million in free cash flow,” Darrell said in the press release.

McCormack did not immediately confirm how many employees will be impacted by the Martinsville operations closing. VF has between 250 to 500 employees in Martinsville, according to the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. website.

The lost jobs will sting less than in the past because Henry County, once known for its thriving textile and furniture industries, has strived not to be dependent on any one type of employer in recent years, according to Henry County Administrator Dale Wagoner.

“While we don’t like the news of the business departing, I think our intentional diversity of industry over the past many years will help soften the blow,” he said.

Wagoner pointed to Eastman Chemical, which makes window and paint protection films and established a facility in Henry in 2013, and Pennsylvania-based metal packaging tech company Crown Holdings, which announced plans in 2021 to build a $145 million facility at Commonwealth Crossing in Martinsville.

Henry also has focused on recruiting smaller businesses, Wagoner said, rather than depending on a single business with thousands of employees, “where you know it’s going to wipe our entire community with one business leaving.”

County officials are actively working with VF to find a tenant for the 500,000-square-foot building, according to Wagoner.

“It is a modern, well-maintained facility,” he said. “[VF] used a state-of-the-art distribution methodology, so it would be a good fit for a distribution style business to walk right in and get up and running quickly.”

In 2021, VF undertook a $10.2 million expansion at the Martinsville facility to increase distribution capacity and speed. Then-Gov. Ralph Northam approved a $225,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Henry County in winning the expansion.

Wagoner said the employees who are losing jobs should be able to find new opportunities locally: “There are many job opportunities in our community. Many of them are very good jobs with some of our top industries here in the area.”

Wagoner stressed that Patrick Henry Community College offers workforce training programs. The layoffs, he said, “may encourage some folks to learn some new skills and some new trades that can readily be put to work in our community.”

The biggest focus for VF during the “transition” will be the plant’s workers, McCormack said.

“We will support the team through the final days of operations,” the statement said. “The entire VF organization extends its deepest gratitude and appreciation to our teammates who work within the facility for their steadfast dedication and commitment for over the last two decades.”