V.F. Corporation (VFC) is one of the largest publicly traded apparel corporations in the world.

The company was founded in 1899 and now as a market cap of $30 billion.  The company has a long history of success…  And of rewarding shareholders with rising dividends.  V.F. Corporation has paid increasing dividends for 42 consecutive years.

Finding long-term success in the fickle apparel industry is difficult.  American Apparel is the latest example of a large clothing company failing.

The apparel industry is difficult because styles and clothing preferences change.  As they change, brands associated with the ‘old’ style lose their ability to generate strong sales – resulting in high turnover.

V.F. Corporation has found a way to not only stay relevant – but to thrive – for over 100 years.  The company’s 42 year streak of dividend increases is testament to its competitive advantage in the apparel industry.

Competitive Advantage

The story behind V.F. Corporation’s long-term success is the durability of their brands.  The image below shows the company’s major brands:

Source:  V.F. Corporation Investor Relations

Many of the company’s most popular brands have tremendous longevity.  That’s because they exist in slow-changing niche industries of the apparel industry.

As an example, jeans have not changed substantially in the last 100+ years.  The Lee and Wrangler brands take advantage of this fact.  Several of the company’s longer-lived brands are listed below:

All five of the brands listed above generate more than $1 billion a year in revenue.  Four of the five brands above are slow-changing.