Haggar is investing more than $50 million in a full retrofit of its Fort Worth distribution center — the single-largest capital investment in the 100-year-old brand's history — as it targets faster fulfillment and expanded capacity under owner Randa Apparel & Accessories.

The project will bring automation and robotics to the Texas facility. "We're going to be able to process orders 30 percent faster, and our capacity will increase by 50 percent," said Haggar chief executive officer Michael Stitt, who has led the company for 15 of his 27 years there. "We operate and plan the business with a very long-term outlook."

The investment follows Randa's 2019 acquisition of Haggar from Taiwan-based footwear manufacturer Pouchen, a deal that marked a deliberate diversification for what was then an accessories-only business with 116 years of its own history. "We had gained such large market share in the accessories business, how do you continue to grow? One of the [ways] was to be in the apparel business," said David Katz, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Randa.

Randa lacked apparel expertise, Katz acknowledged, but "we understood the distribution. We understood their skill at sourcing, and we knew we had to be in that business."

The numbers suggest the bet is working. Haggar's market share in dress pants and suit separates rose from 16 percent in 2019 to 24 percent today — meaning one in four dress or suit pants sold in the U.S. carries the Haggar brand. Unit share in sport coats and suit jackets climbed from 6 percent to 11 percent over the same period. Annual sales exceed $750 million.

Channel strategy

Haggar sells across a broad retail spectrum: mid-tier merchants Kohl's and JCPenney, department stores Macy's and Belk, and Target, where it operates under the H26 name as a nod to the centennial. A Pro Football Hall of Fame tailored clothing collection created last year with Kohl's is selling well, Stitt said, and forms part of the current growth initiative.

Tailored clothing is "the biggest growth vehicle for us today," according to Stitt. He pushed back on pandemic-era forecasts that formalwear demand would collapse: "If you ask virtually any retailer what their best men's department has been in the last five years, the answer is tailored clothing and dress-up. It has incredible momentum and continuous year-over-year growth."

The demand is driven by recurring occasions — weddings, proms, graduations, which Stitt called "annuities" — and by younger consumers. Forty-eight percent of Haggar consumers in the last 12 months were between 18 and 44.

Performance product is another growth lane, under the banner of "polished casual." Haggar Sport's chino, introduced 18 months ago, is now the top-selling pant in the mid-tier channel in America by both units and dollars, Stitt said.

International and multibrand plans

Haggar currently sells outside the U.S. only in Canada and Mexico. Katz said international expansion is planned, leveraging Randa's global footprint in the U.K., continental Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The company is also weighing a higher-end collection as it enters its second century.

Randa expects Haggar to become multibranded over time. "There's no reason they couldn't have a brand that would be appropriate for Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, and a brand that would be appropriate for Walmart and some other customers," Katz said. "Randa is very good at managing multichannel, multibranded businesses."

A century of product firsts

Joseph Marion Haggar founded the company in Dallas in 1926 in a one-room office with four employees and two sewing machines; within two years it was producing 75,000 pants annually. The company trademarked the term "slacks" in 1938, and holds patents on more than 50 innovations, including product firsts such as the hemmed pant, stretch waistband, machine washable suit, wrinkle-free pant, fully recyclable dress pant and suit separates.

The Haggar family ran the business until 2005, when Joe Haggar 3rd exited as CEO and the company was sold to Pouchen and private equity firm Perseus. Pouchen bought out Perseus before selling to Randa in 2019. Haggar has made the Pro Football Hall of Fame Gold Jacket for inductees since 1978.

Stitt credits Randa as a patient owner willing to fund growth: "It's not too often you're a 100-year-old company and you get acquired by a company that's been around longer. Randa is very long-term and strategic in all of their thinking."

The brand will mark the anniversary with a gala in Dallas on Wednesday, honoring both its history and the expansion agenda Randa has laid out for its next century.