Major fashion group eyes Manchester base

VF Corporation, which owns brands including The North Face, Vans, and Napapijri, is planning to open an office at Express Building on Great Ancoats Street. 

The company, which turned over almost $12bn in 2022, is understood to be close to agreeing terms to occupy the 9,000 sq ft fifth floor at Wittington Investments’ Manchester office building.   

Plans lodged with Manchester City Council show VF plans to cut the space up into five showrooms for Vans, The North Face, Timberland, Napapijri, and Altra. 

The rest of the space will provide “coworking office space with hot desking facilities, and a large meeting room with additional amenities for the staff welfare,” according to a planning statement by ML Projects. 

VF Corporation, whose other brands include Dickies and Supreme, is headquartered in Denver and also has offices in Stabio, and Shanghai. 

The group opened its first UK site in London in 2019. 

In Manchester, the company would join Huckletree in the Express Building. The flexible workspace provider operates 40,000 sq ft of the 77,500 sq ft block. 

VF was contacted for comment. 

To learn more, search for planning reference number 135730/LO/2022 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.