PVH Plans 1,040 Job Cuts as It Sharpens Growth Plan

By Rebecca Stone

PVH Corp. plans to eliminate about 1,040 positions, equal to 4% of its global workforce and 12% of office-based associates, as the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger begins a cost reduction immediately.

The company began its fiscal year with about 26,000 employees. CEO Stefan Larsson disclosed the plan in a Thursday-morning memo obtained by WWD. The reduction primarily targets non-consumer-facing roles.

How large is the workforce reduction?

PVH expects to reduce global headcount by about 4%, primarily in non-consumer-facing positions, equivalent to around 12% of office-based associates. Because the reduction centers primarily on those roles, the disclosed scope is a back-office reorganization, with no factory closures or sourcing changes specified.

“These are difficult decisions that we do not take lightly,” Larsson said. He said affected colleagues had helped build the progress PVH has achieved. The company committed to treating them with care and respect and providing support, resources and guidance through the transition.

PVH did not specify severance terms, country allocations or the functions involved. Nor did it set a savings target. For staffing planners, the immediate commercial fact is the 12% office reduction; no factory closures or supplier changes were announced.

What sits behind the restructuring?

Larsson has led a multi-pronged plan to drive hero products through large-scale marketing and digital capability while sharpening operations. The company has divested non-core businesses to focus fully on Calvin and Tommy.

Across the portfolio, Larsson said PVH had strengthened relevance with younger consumers, built social followings and engagement, grown e-commerce and key product franchises, elevated the shopping experience, and strengthened global capabilities. The announcement did not provide separate figures for those gains.

His central operating claim is that improvements work when they run through product, consumer engagement and the doors and stores. “When we lean in and drive improvements to the consumer offering all the way through to our doors and stores, it works,” Larsson said.

He said consumers respond to that focus and that PVH grows revenue and margin across both brands and all three regions. He called scaling those practices across more of the company the largest current opportunity.

How does the latest performance compare?

PVH reported second-quarter revenue of $2.1 billion for the period ended Aug. 2, down 3% on a constant-currency basis. The decline was better than the company’s projected 4% to 5% drop and matched analyst estimates.

The quarter produced a narrower decline than management expected, although the 3% constant-currency fall still represented a group-level contraction and the announcement offered no quantified margin bridge. PVH cited improving performance in Calvin Klein’s underwear and jeans businesses and gains in Tommy Hilfiger key categories. It did not size those improvements.

The disclosed revenue result offers only a partial check on Larsson’s broader claim about growth and margin expansion. His comments describe the direction of the portfolio; the second-quarter figures show only the consolidated revenue outcome.

What changes immediately?

PVH named three actions:

• Simplify how the company works.
• Back and scale high-priority growth opportunities.
• Build a more efficient cost structure.

The changes start immediately and continue through the first quarter. Larsson said leadership had aligned around stronger products, stronger consumer engagement and stronger marketplace execution. The goal is to increase impact at every consumer touchpoint and turn what PVH calls the consumer flywheel across Calvin and Tommy.

He said the simplification would bring PVH closer to key partners and consumers. He also framed the plan as giving the company greater control over how it works, where it focuses and how it delivers while the wider environment changes. His previous operating push included divesting non-core businesses, so the next test is organizational execution around the two remaining brands.

The announcement did not attach dollar savings to the restructuring or identify factory, supplier, production-volume or lead-time effects, leaving procurement and production teams without a measurable operating brief. Through the first quarter, the test will be whether PVH can complete the simplification while scaling the product and marketplace gains it cites across Calvin and Tommy.