Barington Capital

Nov 22, 2023

Hanesbrands brought a three-and-a-half-month activist standoff to a close last week by acceding to some its hedge fund antagonist’s demands. The innerwear giant agreed to add three fresh faces to its 10-member board, expanding it to 13 before reverting to the original size after next year’s annual shareholder meeting. Barington Capital in August took aim at not only Hanesbrands ’ then $3.6 billion in debt but also its alleged dearth of board directors “with the relevant skills and industry experience” to perk up the company’s share price performance. Colin Browne is perhaps Barington’s biggest win. He joins the Hanesbrands board after occupying several C-suite roles at Under Armour, including serving as the top supply chain and operations officer and a brief stint as the interim chief executive. A board member with Worldly , formerly known as Higg, Browne also spent time at Reebok, Li & Fung and VF Corp., where he was managing director of Asia sourcing. His current duties include co-chairman of the Digital Supply Chain Institute. Hanesbrands also gains a wealth of know-how with the addition of Natasha Chand, who from 2016-2021 “conceptualized and scaled” several in-house labels while co-founder and global CEO of Amazon Softlines Private Brands . The Fair Trade USA board director, who launched her career with McKinsey, also held vice president-level roles with Target Australia and Levi Strauss. She currently is a principal at Nobo LLC, an advisory firm helping emerging and enterprise companies undertake digital and operational transformations. As the former CEO of Vineyard Vines, Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, and Club Monaco, John Mehas knows a thing or two about running marquee apparel companies. After cutting his teeth at Bloomingdale’s, he worked in merchandising at Gap Inc., ran Ralph Lauren Kids for a couple years and was president of Tory Burch from 2017-2019. Related Stories Barington agreed to call of its campaign now that Hanesbrands made some of the changes it wanted. The two struck a “cooperation agreement,” meaning Barington gets to weigh in with advice on the Maidenform parent’s business affairs, operations, strategy, financial matters, corporate governance and board makeup. After the investor’s original salvo, Hanesbrands put Champion under strategic review . Though brand managers including WHP Global and Authentic Brands Group have been floated as possible acquirers of the struggling athleticwear label , there’s no word on whether Hanesbrands will keep the brand or continue trying to shop it. Hanesbrands , which owns Hanes, Playtex, Bali, L’eggs, Just My Size, Barely There, Wonderbra, Maidenform, Berlei, and Bonds in addition to Champion , continues to face tough competition from top rival, Gildan . This year it has cut jobs a few times and closed the final cut-and-sew factory it operated on U.S. soil. Read More About