EXCLUSIVE: Beneath Armour Names John Varvatos Chief Design Officer

In what might be among the many trade’s most unorthodox pairings, Beneath Armour is bringing John Varvatos on board as its chief design officer, efficient Sept. 11.

The award-winning designer has been consulting for the sports activities model because the spring and can now formally come on board to supervise the design path throughout the corporate’s total portfolio of attire, footwear and equipment — each on subject and off — and oversee its design studios in Baltimore, New York and Portland, Oregon.

Though recognized extra for his rock ‘n’ roll-inspired menswear than activewear, Varvatos identified in an unique interview with WWD that his background contains 15 years working with Converse in addition to expertise at each Polo Sport and the RLX assortment throughout his years at Ralph Lauren. He’s additionally credited with creating the boxer transient whereas at Calvin Klein.

He stated that this new position happened after a gathering with Beneath Armour founder and govt chairman Kevin Plank, the place they shortly developed a connection.

“I had a protracted lunch with Kevin in December and we realized we had been each followers of one another,” he stated. “We talked about probably collaborating.”

That led to him becoming a member of the corporate as a advisor, the place he shortly immersed himself within the product and the tradition. “I actually acquired into the weeds and fell in love with the corporate,” he stated, including that he has “been a fan of Beneath Armour since 1999,” when he noticed youngsters on basketball courts sporting the model and he began sporting the product himself.

Varvatos stated his first process as a advisor was to design a premium golf assortment to complement what Beneath Armour already gives for the game. Though the model already has a big golf enterprise — it sponsors the favored PGA professional Jordan Spieth, amongst others — this might be extra “a extra pinnacle, elevated group,” Varvatos stated.

This led to him taking over the design path for the remainder of the product classes. “It’s been a enjoyable studying expertise for me,” Varvatos stated. “I like the staff however it’s time to pivot a bit and transfer in slightly completely different path from a method and element standpoint.”

He pressured that he gained’t be as concerned with the technical properties of the gathering as a result of Beneath Armour has “an incredible tech improvement staff” already in place.

He additionally pointed to the complementary nature of sportswear and activewear, particularly on this post-pandemic interval when consolation and efficiency are paramount for patrons. “If you take a look at avenue fashion at the moment, a number of sportswear is impressed by activewear,” he stated. “Sports activities fashion is the best way you set issues collectively reasonably than a uniform. And sneakers are the largest a part of the footwear enterprise at the moment.”

He acknowledged that whereas the majority of his profession has been in males’s, he additionally labored in womenswear at each Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren in addition to at his just lately shuttered model, On This Day. “If you consider sports activities fashion, youthful girls are leaning extra to males’s sizing,” he stated, including that his 15-year-old daughter is keen on oversize sweatshirts and pants.

He stated the primary product that can have his contact will arrive subsequent summer season, with the majority making its arrival in fall 2024, and he’s already engaged on spring 2025. Though he might be overseeing the design, his identify is not going to seem on the product anyplace, he stated. “I’ll be behind the scenes,” he stated.

Varvatos had a protracted historical past of ups and downs over the course of his profession. He grew up in Detroit and joined Polo Ralph Lauren in 1984. He was recruited by Calvin Klein in 1990 to be head of menswear design. In 1995, he returned to Polo as head of menswear design for Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Black Label and the Polo Denims Co. He launched his personal eponymous assortment in 2000, the identical yr he obtained the Perry Ellis Award for New Menswear Designer from the Council of Style Designers of America. He obtained his second CFDA award for Menswear Designer of the Yr in 2001.

The John Varvatos model loved years of success and continues to be in operation, however the designer is not concerned. For the previous three years, the model has been owned by London-based Lion/Hendrix Cayman Ltd., an affiliate of the model’s majority accomplice Lion Capital, following the chapter submitting of John Varvatos Enterprises in Might 2020. On the time of the submitting, the corporate, which had been in enterprise for 20 years, cited as the explanation for the submitting falling gross sales and on-line revenues that began in 2015 and got here to a head in the course of the pandemic. 

Only one yr after exiting his namesake label, in October 2021, Varvatos launched a brand new model, On This Day, or OTD. The enterprise had an bold launch that included a primary assortment that includes greater than 200 inventory protecting models for women and men in addition to two sizable brick-and-mortar places on each coasts. Nonetheless, the corporate was shuttered in March of this yr.

Final week, Varvatos attributed the failure to the truth that the model launched in the course of the pandemic and whereas it loved some “good early success,” provide chain points prompted manufacturing and supply delays that in the end led to its demise.

“However I’m excited concerning the future and the chance to do one thing recent with an incredible model like Beneath Amour, which is an American success story,” he stated. “I’m glad to be a part of the following chapter in its journey.”

The appointment of Varvatos is the newest transfer instituted on the Baltimore-based firm since Stephanie Linnartz joined as chief govt officer in February. Linnartz, who spent 25 years at Marriott earlier than becoming a member of Beneath Armour, has already shaken up the C-suite, naming Jim Dausch, one other veteran of Marriott, govt vice chairman and chief shopper officer, and parting methods with chief product officer Lisa Collier final month.

Linnartz has additionally instituted a brand new technique referred to as Defend This Home 3 that’s centered round elevating consciousness of the Beneath Armour model, delivering elevated designs and merchandise to spice up U.S. gross sales and sustaining the corporate’s constructive momentum abroad. Varvatos seems to be key to that plan.

“We’re thrilled to welcome John into the Beneath Armour household,” Linnartz stated. “His observe report and 30-year profession speaks for itself. John will work in partnership with our product staff to deliver attire, footwear and equipment from idea to commercialization, mixing efficiency and elegance.”

Linnartz’s predecessor, Patrik Frisk, had a distinct sport plan, focusing practically completely on sports-related product to capitalize on the corporate’s longstanding energy. Nonetheless, its rivals, notably New Stability, Adidas and Puma, have all managed to juggle each life-style product in addition to technical efficiency merchandise. Living proof is the return of Rhianna as an envoy for Puma in addition to New Stability’s Made in USA assortment designed by buzzy designer Teddy Santis of Aime Leon Dore. And Adidas has partnered with everybody from Wales Bonner to Stella McCartney.

Beneath Armour’s largest transfer into the life-style house got here in 2015 when it introduced designer Tim Coppens on board to launch UAS, a line it billed as fashionable American sportswear that blended efficiency options with fashion-forward silhouettes. However the line was costly and didn’t resonate with Beneath Armour’s core buyer.

Since then the sports activities model has confronted different struggles, together with Plank giving up the CEO put up, investigations about executives expensing visits to strip golf equipment, and declining gross sales, significantly in North America. In July, Beneath Armour reported internet losses for the second quarter hit $95.5 million, or 21 cents a share, from $12.3 million, or 3 cents, a yr earlier. Excluding the monetary affect of the corporate’s restructuring efforts, losses tallied $34 million. Gross sales had been up 8 % to $1.2 billion with a lift from attire, which noticed gross sales enhance 10 % to $747 million. However its house market of North America continues to battle with the corporate now on the lookout for revenues to extend this yr by 3 % to 4 %, reflecting a low- to mid-single-digit decline in North American and development of greater than 25 % overseas.

In February, Beneath Armour laid out a plan to retool the corporate that will result in pretax costs of $110 million to $130 million, however the firm prolonged these efforts this summer season by one other $80 million.

On high of that, buzz was excessive final week on account of the unsealing of paperwork in a  shareholder swimsuit concerning the connection between Plank and Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC, who had beforehand labored at Bloomberg. The swimsuit, which was filed in 2017, alleges the corporate inflated its inventory value by deceptive traders when gross sales had been poor and highlights the connection between the 2. Based on revealed reviews, Plank supplied Ruhle with a personal cellphone and a particular e-mail handle, she flew on his non-public aircraft and suggested him to supply different media with data to counteract destructive reporting concerning the firm.

The lawsuit is ongoing.