North Face 2011 Annual Report Download - page 17

such a large organization that if one of our
associates has a question, chances are there’s
another associate somewhere in the world who
has either seen it before or is already working on
an answer,” he explains.
Techniques such as design thinking, an approach
for creating new products and services through
deep consumer empathy, are also making an
impact. “Adopting and incorporating design
thinking into how we solve problems and create
value for consumers is one of the most signicant
changes we’re making,” says Dull. Design thinking
is enabled by the use of other techniques such as
ethnographic research, which yields better insights
and, ultimately, many more and better-targeted
ideas. “We have a much greater degree of consumer
centricity in how we approach our businesses,
which is leading to stronger, more protable
growth,” he says.
“  ,   ”   
used by Dull to crystalize another  accom-
plishment: a signicant degree of culture and
behavior change to encourage risk taking.
at’s the goal of the VF Innovation Fund,
which has funded  projects to date and is
already beginning to provide a positive return
on investment. Equally important is what VF is
learning in the process. “We’re learning how to
fail fast and cheap through rapid prototyping
of everything from products to store design,”
says Dull. Projects funded by the Innovation
Fund include a fully interactive digital product
catalog for tablet computers and smartphones,
experiments with advanced materials and rapid
prototyping of new women’s jeans t solutions.
“We’re just at the beginning of instituting a
comprehensive, holistic agenda, with much
more to come,” says Dull. “We have many more
interesting initiatives in the hopper to help us
accomplish our innovation agenda.” at agenda
includes boosting VF’s innovation culture;
identifying new platforms for growth; better
connecting people internally and broadening
connections to outside expertise; building new
innovation processes; and building innovation
talent through training and new hiring.
“Businesses get into trouble when they let
others innovate their core business,” says Dull.
“We don’t intend to let that happen to us.” 
 |  
 
—
Vice President—
Strategy & Innovation
We’re such a large organization
that if one of our associates has
a question, chances are there’s
another associate somewhere in
the world who has either seen
it before or is already working
on an answer.
ven during the worst of the
recession we saw that new
and relevant products still
continued to sell well,”
says Stephen Dull, Vice
President— Strategy and
Innovation. “Even today, we realize we can’t rely
on raw demand growth anywhere, so in order to
meet our targets we need to focus on growing our
market share. And to do that, we need products
and services that oer clear and tangible benets
to consumers.” In studying the success of other
companies VF realized that there was untapped
potential to use innovation more aggressively to
drive additional revenues, increase margins and
improve brand strength. e company’s own
trends and research pointed to vast new areas
of opportunity—if VF stretched to seize them.
VF started with a very simple roadmap. “is kind
of transformation program can get complicated,”
says Dull. “We boiled it down to one singular
message—to go outside for new ideas. And our
people have really responded to it.”
         ’
innovation agenda, important progress has already
been made. “We have signicantly improved the
quantity and quality of ideas we can commer-
cialize by using a new set of diverse experts and
techniques,” says Dull. “We have fuller pipelines,
bigger ideas than we had before and new ideas we
could not have imagined.” VF is working with a
number of outside experts such as the MIT Media
Lab. As the only apparel company sponsor of the
Lab, VF has unique access to the Lab’s research and
technologies. Teams from each of VF’s coalitions
have visited the Lab to learn about topics such
as how technology can sense human emotion,
how visualization of supply chain data can lead
to more sustainable decisions and how smart
electronic price tags will transform retail. VF’s
marketing and retail leaders have participated in
master classes with Hollywood screenwriters,
directors, costume designers and theater lighting
designers to learn how the art of storytelling can
help their brands resonate more strongly with
consumers. Associates at every level have gone
outside to visit dozens of other organizations,
from Procter & Gamble to NASA. According
to Dull, these trips have made a big impact, both
in generating ideas and in changing culture and
behavior. Finally, new collaboration tools are
connecting VF associates across brands, coalitions
and regions, enabling them to share and generate
new ideas. What Dull describes as “going outside
by staying inside” is yet another way to transform
VF’s diversity into a strategic advantage. “We’re
  | 
An investment from the VF Innovation Fund
allowed a team of VF and outside researchers
and designers to spend weeks studying the
unique motorcycle culture of India. The
insights from this immersion helped the
Wrangler® team uncover opportunities to
meaningfully connect with Indian consumers
through a new brand positioning and new
“road-ready” products featuring water-repellent
storm denim technology.
Over the last two years, Jeanswear has
generated more than $100 million in organic
revenue growth using a repeatable, best-in-class
product innovation process to spot opportunities,
shape ideas, build solutions and scale products.
This process has created a string of successful
new products for both men and women such
as Lee® Premium Select, Booty Up®, Wrangler
Premium Performance Cowboy Cut ®, the Wrangler ®
Comfort Solutions Series, and Wrangler Retro®.
Working with a variety
of outside experts gives
VF the inside track on
emerging research and
technologies. VF is the
only apparel company
sponsor of the MIT Media
Lab, which generates an
average of 20 patents
per year.
Breakthrough
Sustaining
Commercial
Cost VF defines innovation simply as “something
new that creates value.” All types of
innovation are on VF’s agenda, from creating
new products and using new materials to
developing new marketing strategies and
finding new efficiencies.