V
F Corporation, the parent company of The
North Face, Smartwool, Timberland and
Vans, has reached an agreement to buy
Altra, the upstart footwear brand that has
cracked the competitive running business
with its Zero Drop shoe designs. Altra has
been owned by ICON Health & Fitness since 2011.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
VF has been said to be on the hunt for a running
shoe brand for years. The publicly traded conglomerate
was in the hunt for Saucony in 2012 before losing out
to a bid by Wolverine Worldwide. And VF's name is
mentioned as a possible acquirer whenever a running
brand is rumored to be for sale.
In Altra, VF has acquired a brand that has cap-
tured the imagination of the run market since it was
launched in 2011 by Brian Beckstead, Jeremy Howlett
and Golden Harper. Golden is the son of Hawk and
Cheryl Harper, owners of Runner's Corner, a run
specialty store in Orem, UT.
The concept behind the first Altra shoe was devel-
oped in 2009 when the trio shaved down the heels of
existing running shoes to create a "zero drop" from
heel to toe. Harper chose the name "Altra" based on
the Latin word "altera", which means "to fix or mend
something that is broken
The Altra brand was picked up by early adapter
stores such as Playmakers in Michigan and the brand's
founders sold to ICON in 2011 so they would have
the resources of a big company to keep up with the
growing demand.
Today, Altra is sold in 55 countries through more
than 1,600 specialty retail locations and generated
$50 million in revenue for the trailing 12 months.
"The acquisition of the Altra brand is another
example of our efforts to reshape and evolve our port-
folio of powerful brands to align with our enterprise
value creation model," said Steve Rendle, chairman,
president and CEO of VF Corporation. "The active
outdoor and performance sector is a large and attrac-
tive growth space. The addition of the Altra brand
brings to VF a unique and differentiated technical
footwear brand and a capability that when applied
across VF's outdoor footwear, direct-to-consumer
and international platforms will serve as a catalyst
for growth."
ICON executives say the sale of Altra will allow
them to focus on its core fitness brands of NordicTrack
ProForm, its Freemotion commercial business, and
iFit, its connected fitness subscription brand. n
VF to Buy Altra Brand
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