VF Sales of Industrial Uniforms Falls

Wednesday 29th of April 2009 05:35:52 PM

The clothing industry is suffering as the recession continues to lead to falling sales. It is not just consumer sales either that are being impacted. The sales of commercial use clothing are also falling. This is evidenced by the VF Corp. report that forecasts falling revenue from the sales of industrial uniforms and Lee jeans. VF is the largest garment maker in the world.

The company has announced it expects its profits to drop in 2009 due to the declining sales of uniforms and high end denim. The drop in profit predictions is causing the earnings per share to decline. The company is based in Greensboro, North Carolina in the United States. The Chief Financial Officer is Bob Shearer. He was quoted as saying, “The luxury consumer has scaled back.” Because of the concern future profit estimates could further erode sales, the company is going to temporarily suspend giving quarterly financial forecasts.

Declining sales are due to a number of factors. The increase in unemployment around the world is one of the main reasons. In addition, a stronger US dollar has hurt exports. The uniforms are sold to a variety of businesses including manufacturing and the recession has caused many plants to scale back, temporarily close, or even file bankruptcy. The sales of Lee jeans have declined in both the US and Europe. The VF Chief Executive Officer predicted a 5 to 7 percent decline in 2009 revenue.

The garment industry has been hard hit by the recession. Besides the manufacturing sector contraction, many specialty stores carrying Lee jeans are going out of business. Sales have dropped across the board from the US to Europe including Eastern Europe. The largest revenue declines in denim have been in the international market.(c ) Image by (Name Hidden) IMG_4802.JPG, www.sxc.hu/