VF Corporation

Consumer Durables and Apparel

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

Summary:

VF Corporation, including its brands Vans, The North Face, Supreme, and more, have canceled business relationships and discriminated against based on views and beliefs. VF fired a board member who disagreed with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The North Face denied an order to an oil and gas company. VF also denied a conservative shareholder from attending its shareholder meeting. VF brands fund ideological groups and require employees to take "unconscious bias" trainings. VF does not have viewpoint protections for its employees. For these reasons, VF Corporation receives a "High Risk" rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

VF Corporation received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. Among other requirements, this means the company has pledged to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies (1). North Face, which is directly owned by VF, denied a jacket order for the Innovex Downhole Solutions oil and gas company in 2020 (2). VF also dismissed board member Veronica Wu after an Axios leak of a year-old email revealed her disagreements with BLM (3). VF officers physically barred conservative investor and National Center for Public Policy Research member Justin Danhof, from a shareholder’s convention in 2018, despite the fact that he displayed the appropriate credentials for entry (5). VF brands also fired employees who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine (6).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

VF Foundation does not disqualify religious institutions from consideration for grants (1).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

VF Corporation does not protect its employees from viewpoint discrimination (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

VF Corporation joined the Color of Change-led #StopHateForProfit boycott of Facebook and its subsidiary platforms in 2020, halting its advertisements on social media sites in protest of an unspecified “bigotry” (1). The company also conducts “unconscious bias training” among employees (2).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

The North Face donated $50,000 of corporate funds to the American Civil Liberties Union in 2020 (1). VF Corporation also fully owns Vans, which gave $50,000 of corporate funds to Color of Change (2). Supreme, yet another of VF’s major brands, donated $500,000 to a variety of racial justice organizations, including ideological groups such as BLM (3). VF Corporation also covers travel and lodging expenses for employees getting an abortion (4).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

VF Corporation does not have a PAC, although its lobbying contributions are bipartisan and business-focused (1)(2).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 26, 2022

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

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