VF Corporation’s New Incubator Launches Innovation Competition
DENVER – June 15, 2021 – VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC), a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories, today announced that its Venture Foundry incubator is launching an Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR) Innovation Challenge to identify and validate high-growth opportunities that furthers VF’s purpose of powering sustainable and active lifestyles for the betterment of people and the planet. To apply and learn more about the EIR Innovation Challenge, please visit: https://bit.ly/2StMWYt.
The EIR Innovation Challenge is looking for smart, creative, and resilient entrepreneurs to help build the future of active and sustainable living by solving the challenges related to:
- Overcoming Obstacles to the Outdoors
- Preserving Unstructured Play in Nature
- Enable Sustainable Movement
- Personalizing the Process
U.S. based founders and entrepreneurially minded leaders from diverse backgrounds who have the creativity and curiosity to ignite change and disrupt industries are encouraged to apply.
“We’re excited to invite entrepreneurs into the collaborative environment we’ve built around Venture Foundry,” said Kent Bassett, VP and Head of Venture Foundry. “Venture Platforms along with Venture Foundry was created to help build new, disruptive businesses in high-growth spaces with the ability to rapidly experiment and validate new market opportunities. We want to continue to incubate and invest in new, leading-edge, consumer-led ideas that will serve both our brand portfolio and new markets that we find worthwhile.”
The newly created Entrepreneur-in-Residence role will have access to the resources needed in building an early stage startup business, but with the backing of VF’s larger infrastructure to develop and commercialize new business models, marketplaces, platforms, and ecosystems. All Innovation Challenge proposals should center around new forms of consumer engagement that deliver against or outside of VF’s current portfolio of brands.
The EIR Innovation Challenge follows the recent announcement of the launch of Venture Platforms, an innovation capability that will focus on identifying, developing, and investing in new, future-focused opportunities for VF and its portfolio of brands.
Built with the backing of the world’s most iconic brands, Venture Foundry is a new incubator under Venture Platforms focusing on new or evolving business models, platforms, experiences, and services. VF Venture Foundry is interested in ideas and approaches that meet broad-scale consumer needs, advance fast-growing technologies, and create new and innovative business models. To learn more about Venture Platforms, check out Venture Foundry here.
About VF Foundry
Venture Foundry is a new incubator backed by the power of VF. We work with fearlessly curious entrepreneurs and founders hungry to build the future. Our resources, capabilities and tools provide unique advantages to founders eager to ignite change.
About VF Corporation
Founded in 1899, VF Corporation is one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies connecting people to the lifestyles, activities and experiences they cherish most through a family of iconic outdoor, active and workwear brands including Vans®, The North Face®, Timberland® and Dickies®. Our purpose is to power movements of sustainable and active lifestyles for the betterment of people and our planet. We connect this purpose with a relentless drive to succeed to create value for all stakeholders and use our company as a force for good. For more information, please visit vfc.com.
Media Contact:
R/GA Ventures
Shanice Graves
Associate Director, Corporate Communications
shanice.graves@rga.com
Released June 15, 2021