South American Wranglers

VF Corp., maker of Wrangler and Lee jeans and JanSport backpacks, inked a deal with a leading Chilean apparel company to make Wrangler jeans a more familiar name in South America. VF will now book sales from its branded merchandise instead of collecting licensing fees for VF apparel marketed in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia.

The venture, called VF Chile S.A., comes after a two-year effort to regain control of its brands, according to a company spokesperson. VF expects Wrangler jeans sales in South America to hit the $80 million mark in 1999 as a result. The company posted South American sales of "a couple of million" a few years ago, and $5.5 billion worldwide in 1998, says the spokesperson.

The Lee jeans business will be wrapped into the new venture in Chile and Bolivia, but not Peru, which remains under license. VF has begun marketing its brands in Brazil, and is gathering extensive research for promotion and marketing efforts that will launch in the next few months, says a spokesperson.