How VF Corporation's Acquisition Strategy Created a Backpack Monopoly
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Warm and crisp on the edges. A bagel with a bit of bite.
Summary
The article reveals how VF Corporation, originally a lingerie manufacturer, systematically acquired major backpack brands including JanSport, The North Face, Eastpak, Kipling, and Eagle Creek, eventually controlling 55% of the US backpack market. The piece examines how this corporate consolidation led to reduced competition, homogenization of products, and potentially intentional degradation of backpack quality across multiple brands under single ownership.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledVF Corporation started as Vanity Fair Mills. Bras and underwear. They paid $762 million for a company called Blue Bell and picked up JanSport in the deal.
By the time they were done, VF Corporation controlled an estimated 55% of the US backpack market. More than half. One company.
Every time you stood in a store in the 2010s and compared a JanSport to a North Face to an Eastpak, you were comparing products all owned by the same parent company.
In 1986, a corporation that made women's lingerie bought every backpack brand you've ever trusted.
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