When investors look for stocks with long streaks of growing dividends, the fashion and apparel industry isn’t exactly at the top of their list. After all, consumer tastes change rapidly. Today’s trend can be tomorrow’s fashion “road-kill.” Just ask investors in Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) how sales are doing these days.
Therefore, when a clothing company has a streak of growing dividends nearly 50-years long, we should take notice.
Multi-brand clothing firm VF Corporation (VFC ) is almost there, and has thrived in the notoriously fickle apparel industry. Offering a stable of brands including a few with billion dollar sales numbers, VFC has the goods to keep on paying that dividend for years to come. For investors, VFC could truly be one of the unsung heroes in the dividend world.
VFC Is All About Branding
When it comes to fashion stocks, the old “Vanity Fair” isn’t a household investor name. However, while the corporate parent is for the most part ignored, its stable of brands certainly isn’t. Ever hear of North Face? Or Vans, the popular sneaker choice? What about Timberland, Wrangler, Lee or Nautica? Now these are names that we should at least be familiar with. They also happen to all be owned by VFC – and are billion dollar revenue generators for the company.
This is how VFC is a major winner in the industry today – branding.
