North Face and Timberland retail giant VF hit by cyberattack 

'Unauthorised occurrences' were detected on a portion of the company’s information technology system on December 13, the North Face, Timberland and Vans parent said.

Struggling clothing and footwear retailer VF, which owns the North Face, Timberland, and Vans outlets, said it’s working to restore its ability to fulfill orders following a cyberattack, though the company hasn’t yet determined the full scope of the incident. 

VF retail stores around the world remained open for business and the company says customers can place online orders, but fulfillment has been affected. The company has also put workarounds in place for some offline operations.

The disruption had caused — and is “reasonably likely” to continue to have — a material impact on operations, the company said in a stock market filing.

VF had already pulled its revenue and earnings guidance for its 2024 financial year when it announced its quarterly results at the end of October. The Denver-based company put a transformation plan in place to address weak performance in North America and turn around the Vans brand. 

Included in the plan was a cost-reduction commitment of $300m (€275m) for brand building and innovation, chief executive Bracken Darrell had said. 

The shares fell over 8% at one stage in New York trade and are now down 28% from a year ago. That compares with a gain of 41% for the S&P index that tracks it peers and rivals. 

“Unauthorised occurrences” were detected on a portion of the company’s information technology system on December 13, the North Face, Timberland and Vans parent said in a filing. 

The “threat actor” also stole personal and other data. The company is working with external cybersecurity experts and has shut down some systems. 

Bloomberg