 Here's why a major apparel company bought a super-hip brand and is now selling it at a loss. I'm Jeff Colvin of Fortune Magazine with the Fortune Business Update. The big apparel company is VF Corporation, owner of the North Face, Vans, Timberland, and many more brands. In 2020, it bought Supreme, a cool streetwear brand, for $2 billion, thinking it would teach the other labels in VF's portfolio