Iconic Texas brand Dickies to relocate to California

Well-known workwear brand Dickies is slated to move out of its Cowtown headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, its home for more than century, in a relocation to the West Coast.

VF Corp., a publicly traded portfolio company with brands including the North Face, Vans and Timberland, plans to relocate its Dickies-brand headquarters to its Costa Mesa, California, hub as part of a larger consolidation of its U.S. real estate portfolio. The office campus, designed for skateboarding brand and shoe manufacturer Vans, spans more than 160,000 square feet at 1588 S. Coast Drive in Orange County.

The relocation of Dickies from its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, also known as Cowtown, is expected to impact about 120 employees, said Colin Wheeler, vice president of corporate affairs and communications at VF, in an email to CoStar News.

"This move allows VF to further consolidate its U.S. real estate portfolio as part of its stated business turnaround strategy," Wheeler told CoStar News, adding the move is also aimed at "greater collaboration and connections — creating a dynamic and innovative environment similar to our other VF co-branded offices."

The relocation, including the potential move of employees to California, is expected to be complete by May 2025.
 
VF, based in Denver, has a revitalization strategy that's centered on its Vans brand that was down 11% in the second quarter ending Sept. 28, a marked improvement from the prior quarter when the brand was down 22%, executives told investors during its earnings call last month. The Dickies brand was also down 11% in the second quarter compared to a 14% decline in the first quarter.

"While this was a tough call, we are confident this change will help us revitalize Dickies so we can carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come," Wheeler said, adding the company remains proud of Dickies' storied Fort Worth roots, where the brand opened its doors in 1922. VF acquired the Dickies brand in an $820 million deal in 2017.

"The brand will maintain a strong employment presence in the area, with associates who will continue to work in the Fort Worth distribution facility, as well as the warehouse and stores in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area," he added.

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November 14, 2024 05:00 PM

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The departure of Dickies from Texas to California marks a shift, as some West Coast companies have opted to relocate to the Lone Star state in recent years, including Google's Verily Life Sciences moving from San Francisco to the Dallas area and Chevron also deciding to make the move to the Houston area from California in August. Texas has been a popular relocation spot for companies wanting to escape regulations in California, though the state's relocation activity recently hit a five-year low, as CoStar News has reported.

Last year, Dickies moved its headquarters to downtown Fort Worth, as CoStar News has previously reported, after the company upgraded a new office space through a $4.5 million renovation. It wasn't immediately clear what VF planned to do with the Fort Worth office after the company's planned relocation.