Kevin Bailey is new Vans global President

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 18, 2022

VF Corp’s Kevin Bailey — who’s recently been President, Asia-Pacific Region and Emerging Brands — is moving to a major new role at the firm as he steps up to be Global Brand President, Vans.

Bailey will continue reporting to VF’s Chairman, President and CEO, Steve Rendle and serving on its Executive Leadership Team.

He replaces Doug Palladini, who has been in the role since 2016. The company didn’t give a reason for the move or where Palladini might be headed but Rendle did say: “We thank Doug for his dedicated and passionate service to the Vans brand for the past 18 years and are grateful for his many contributions to its success during his tenure. We wish him all the best in his next chapter.”

Bailey’s appointment marks his return to the label after holding several enterprise leadership roles at VF. He was VP of Retail for Vans when the brand was acquired by VF in 2004. He was later President of the label between 2009 and 2016 and in that time, revenue for it more than doubled to $2.2 billion.

Rendle said he “brings a deep level of knowledge and understanding of the brand, its consumer, and the global business to this role. He will work closely with the Vans leadership team and our enterprise functions as we focus on re-energising the brand’s global growth.”

Bailey has now been at VF for 17 years and, as mentioned, was most recently President, Asia-Pacific Region and Emerging Brands. In this role, he was responsible for VF’s Asia-Pacific regional platform as well as VF’s Emerging Brands platform, with responsibility for the Altar, JanSport and Smartwool labels on a global basis. Previously, he was President of VF’s Action Sports Coalition, and the company’s Canada, Mexico, and Central/South America businesses.