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Dickies, the iconic workwear manufacturer founded in Fort Worth more than century ago, is moving headquarters to California.

The move will impact about 120 employees in Fort Worth, but Dickies will still maintain a “strong employment presence” here.

Dickies’ parent company, VF Corp., said Dickies will relocate to an existing campus in Costa Mesa, California, where it already has a headquarters for its Vans shoes brand. The company said the change “will help us revitalize Dickies so we can carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come.”

The relocation is expected to be complete by May 2025.

“These kinds of decisions are never made lightly. We are deeply grateful for our Dickies associates’ dedication and hard work and want to recognize the camaraderie and commitment they have shown to the brand,” VF’s director of external communication Ashley McCormack said in a statement.

The surprising news comes just over a year after Dickies moved from its historic West Vickery Boulevard campus into a new top-floor headquarters on Taylor Street in downtown, spending about $4.5 million on renovations of the 65,000-square-foot space with room for 220 employees. It has maintained its retail store at 521 W. Vickery Blvd.

North Carolina-based VF Corp. has struggled in recent years. The apparel and footwear maker with brands including Vans and North Face is in the middle of a turnaround plan that includes focusing on core brands, selling other businesses and cutting $300 million.

Fort Worth leaders aren’t happy about the news.

Mayor Mattie Parker suggested in a statement that the company will regret its decision to leave business-friendly Fort Worth.

“Great success stories have their roots in Fort Worth and Dickies is just one example. While we understand companies are sometimes forced to make difficult budget decisions under new leadership, we think VFC will find – as others have – that Fort Worth, Texas is ultimately a more competitive place to do business,” Parker said.

Robert Allen, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, noted that hundreds of companies have left California for Texas over the past two decades.

“Change is always a part of business. Fort Worth has enjoyed its relationship with Dickies and we wish them well. It’s worth noting that since 2005, more than 230 companies have left California and more than half of them have relocated to Texas,” Allen said.

“VF Corporation has made its choice, but it goes against the trend of the massive amounts of companies heading to Texas. And we in Fort Worth continue to experience exponential growth with the recent announcements of Siemens, DrinkPAK, Embraer, the creation of Texas A&M Fort Worth, and the expansion of UTA West.”

A statement from city hall said Dickies’ strong Texas roots and success story is likely what made it attractive to VF Corp. when it acquired the brand in 2017 for $820 million in cash. “The company is a true Texas original – everything from its iconic, internationally-known workwear to its local legacy reflects the spirit of Fort Worth and what our city will always stand for,” read the statement.

Williamson-Dickie started as a family-owned company in Fort Worth over 100 years ago, and has navigated through several inflection points over the decades. After World War II, Dickies took the brand international, introducing its work wear line into the European market. In the 1980s, Dickies saw hip-hop artists like N.W.A. adopt its clothing. By the ‘90s, Dickies had infiltrated skateboarding culture as the go-to for durability and comfort.

When Dickies announced its move to downtown Fort Worth in early 2023, the company emphasized it has been a proud part of the Fort Worth community since its infancy, and the move to the Tower complex “will allow us to collaborate more freely, build deeper relationships with makers in our own backyard, and access top talent as we continue to grow. We’re proud to call Fort Worth home and can’t wait for this new chapter to unfold.”

The space also includes an archive room with old pictures and clothing spanning the company’s 102 years.

The brand has remained synonymous with Fort Worth and North Texas. Dickies makes the clothing for Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. The company holds the naming rights for Dickies Arena, which opened in 2019.

VF Corp.’s most recent quarterly earnings report in October showed the company met expectations with “broad-based improvement in year-on-year trends.” It said it was on track to reach $300 million in savings by the end of fiscal 2025. Year-over-year revenue for the quarter ending in September was down 6% among all its brands; for Dickies, it was down 11%.

McCormack, the VF Corp. spokeswoman, said the company remains “proud” of Dickies’ roots in Fort Worth.

“The brand will maintain a strong employment presence in the area, with associates who will continue to work in the Fort Worth distribution facility, as well as the warehouse and stores in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area,” she said.

This story is developing and will be updated. Staff writers Brayden Garcia and Harrison Mantas contributed reporting.

This story was originally published November 21, 2024, 4:26 PM.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Kate Marijolovic covers North Texas business and economic development at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Her position is funded through a philanthropic partnership with the R4 Foundation as part of the Crossroads Lab.

A historic work-wear brand in Fort Worth is moving its headquarters to California.

Dickies, whose roots reach back to 1922, is moving its headquarters to Costa Mesa, Calif., according to a spokesperson. The move will affect about 120 employees.

The Fort Worth company is part of VF, which owns other clothing brands, and will be joining the campus of Vans, one of its sister companies. The relocation is expected to be completed in May of next year.

“This move allows VF to further consolidate its U.S. real estate portfolio as part of its stated business turnaround strategy,” the spokesperson said. “But more importantly, by co-locating Dickies with our Vans team in Costa Mesa, we will create an even more vibrant campus where creativity and best practice sharing can thrive through greater collaboration and connections.”

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The impact on employees are “never made lightly,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company “will provide resources and assistance to help them navigate the next steps in their careers.

VF, whose brands also include The North Face and Timberland, has been under pressure as sales have been declining and it takes steps to become more efficient. Revenue fell 6% in the quarter ended Sep. 28.

The change follows the acquisition of Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co., one of Fort Worth’s oldest family-owned companies, for $820 million in cash in 2017. Its roots go deep in the region. For example, Dickies has been the official outfitter of the State Fair of Texas’ Big Tex. Also, there’s the Dickies Arena, a large venue for concerts and other events in Fort Worth.

Williamson-Dickie started out selling bib overalls to ranch hands in Texas. Twenty years later, it added women’s and children’s apparel. It expanded to dress oilfield workers all over the world including the Middle East and North Sea. In the 1990s, Dickies became a big pop culture brand worn by teens and young adults. Rappers have favored its work pants, and skaters liked its bib overalls.

The brand will maintain a “strong employment presence” in the Fort Worth area with a distribution facility, as well as a warehouse and stores in North Texas, the spokesperson said.

“While this was a tough call, we are confident this change will help us revitalize Dickies so we can carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come,” the spokesperson said.

Williamson-Dickie, a storied 102-year-old Fort Worth-based clothing company specializing in tough workwear, is leaving Cowtown for the West Coast.

A company representative confirmed to NBC 5 on Thursday that VF Corporation, the branded apparel company that bought Dickies in October 2017 for $820 million, was moving the headquarters to Costa Mesa, California so that they could share space with other brands.

"By co-locating Dickies with our Vans team in Costa Mesa, we will create an even more vibrant campus where creativity and best practice sharing can thrive through greater collaboration and connections – creating a dynamic and innovative environment similar to our other VF co-branded offices," the Dickies representative said in a statement.

Dickies said about 120 employees who work at the headquarters in Fort Worth will lose their jobs as a result of the consolidation move.

"These kinds of decisions are never made lightly. We are deeply grateful for our Dickies associates’ dedication and hard work and want to recognize the camaraderie and commitment they have shown to the brand," the representative said. "Our priority is to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and care throughout this process. We will provide resources and assistance to help them navigate the next steps in their careers."

Dickies said the move does not impact employees working at a local distribution facility, local warehouses, and stores in the Metroplex.

City officials said they were aware of the proposed move and said Dickies is a true Texas original and an example of the kind of success stories that businesses can find in Fort Worth.

“Great success stories have their roots in Fort Worth and Dickies is just one example," said Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker. "While we understand companies are sometimes forced to make difficult budget decisions under new leadership, we think VFC will find – as others have – that Fort Worth, Texas is ultimately a more competitive place to do business.”

The company said the move to California will be carefully managed over an "extended transition period" and is expected to be completed by May 2025.

"We remain proud of Dickies storied Fort Worth roots," the company said. "While this was a tough call, we are confident this change will help us revitalize Dickies so we can carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come."

In 1980, the company moved its headquarters to a historic two-story brick building on Lipscomb Street. Before Dickies moved in, the Romanesque-style building served as Stephen F. Austin Elementary School from 1892 until 1977. Dickies remained at the building until 2020, when they moved to their current headquarters on West Vickery Boulevard. The Lipscomb Street headquarters, the oldest standing school building in Tarrant County, has been rebranded as The Schoolhouse on Lipscomb and is named in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Six months before the company was sold to VF Corp., Dickies secured the naming rights to a new 14,000-seat arena being built in the Fort Worth Cultural District. The area opened in 2019 and has since been known as Dickies Arena.

Along with Dickies and Vans, VF Corp. owns lifestyle brands The North Face, Timberland, Jansport and Eastpak.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said VF Corp owned the Wrangler and Lee brands. In 2018, VF Corp spun off its denim business into a new company, Kontoor Brands. We regret the error.

Longtime Fort Worth workwear brand Dickies will relocate its headquarters to Costa Mesa, California.

VF Corp., the company that acquired Dickies in 2017, confirmed the move in an email to the Fort Worth Report.

“VF has decided that it will be relocating the Dickies brand’s headquarters from Fort Worth, Texas, to an existing brand campus the company maintains in Costa Mesa, California,” said Ashley McCormack, director of external communications for VF Corp. “This move allows VF to further consolidate its U.S. real estate portfolio as part of its stated business turnaround strategy.

“While this was a tough call, we are confident this change will help us revitalize Dickies so we can carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come.”

The move will affect about 120 employees, according to a VF Corp. spokesperson. It will be complete in May 2025.

Dickies will continue to have employees in the area at its Fort Worth distribution facility, as well as the warehouse and stores in the area.

In a statement, the city said its leadership “is aware of the proposed move of Dickies’ headquarters as a result of a corporate consolidation by VF Corporation.”

“Dickies has been on the job in Fort Worth for more than a century,” according to the statement. “The company is a true Texas original — everything from its iconic, internationally-known workwear to its local legacy reflects the spirit of Fort Worth and what our city will always stand for. These qualities were undoubtedly part of what made Dickies such an attractive brand to VFC, spurring their 2017 acquisition, and Dickies is just one example of the kind of success stories that businesses find here in Fort Worth.”

Mayor Mattie Parker called Dickies a Fort Worth success story.

“Great success stories have their roots in Fort Worth and Dickies is just one example,” Parker said in a statement. “While we understand companies are sometimes forced to make difficult budget decisions under new leadership, we think VFC will find — as others have — that Fort Worth, Texas is ultimately a more competitive place to do business.”

Robert Allen, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, said change is always a part of business, and that Fort Worth wishes them well.

“It’s worth noting that since 2005, more than 230 companies have left California and more than half of them have relocated to Texas,” Allen said in a statement. “VF Corp. has made its choice, but it goes against the trend of the massive amounts of companies heading to Texas. And we in Fort Worth continue to experience exponential growth with the recent announcements of Siemens, DrinkPAK, Embraer, the creation of Texas A&M-Fort Worth, and the expansion of UTA West.”

Dickies was established in Fort Worth in 1922. After decades at its West Vickery Boulevard location, the manufacturer moved downtown last year. The company leased about 84,000 square feet on the top floor of The Tower complex at 500 Taylor St. That suite has a market value of $609,517, according to records from the Tarrant Appraisal District.

District 9 City Council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents the area of downtown Fort Worth where Dickies currently headquarters, said the impact of the company’s departure is significant.

“Their contributions to our city’s culture, economy and identity are immeasurable,” Beck wrote in a statement. “While we understand their business decision, it is bittersweet to see a company that started right here in Fort Worth take this next step. We are committed to supporting the employees who remain here and will work to honor the lasting imprint Dickies has left on our community.”

The brand emerged in 1918, when founding business partners C.N. Williamson and E.E. “Colonel” Dickie launched a vehicle and harness business, creating equipment for horses. Four years later, the company shifted its business strategy to create durable denim bib overalls for ranchers and other farm workers.

The change was good for business and the company began to grow.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Dickies expanded its workforce and output by offering all-you-can-eat meals free to workers on the production line.

In World War II, the company was sequestered by the U.S. government for military uniform production, halting its consumer business.

The brand resurfaced to consumers post-war and gained an international following when Texas oilmen introduced the denim overalls to Middle East oil fields in the 1950s.

“As the Dickies name spread around the world, it became synonymous with the type of rugged Texas lifestyle from which it was born,” the company said in its history.

The brand expanded in the late 1960s to include the signature 874 twill work pants that the company said were “considered practically indestructible.” That item became a bestseller and remains a popular apparel item.

The iconic work pants became a fashion favorite during the rise of hip-hop and skateboard culture in the 1980s, when its reputation revolved around durability and toughness. During the 1990s and beyond the brand became a high-fashion staple among trendsetters and influencers, a popularity that took it to big city runways around the world.

The company celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2022. The anniversary also saw the workwear company celebrated in Vogue Business. This year, GQ magazine named the brand as must-have clothing.

“The world became their playground, and Dickies became their pant of choice,” the company said.

But while the thread that ran through the company’s aesthetic remained recognizably durable workwear, ownership changed hands in 2017. That was the year Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. was purchased for $820 million by VF Corp., the parent company of notable brands such as Vans, The North Face and Timberland.

Dickies continues to have a strong presence in Fort Worth. The city’s largest arena bears its name, thanks to a naming rights agreement approved in 2017, the revenue from which goes toward operations, maintenance and capital improvements. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Matt Homan, president and general manager of Trail Drive Management Corporation, the organization behind the development of Dickies Arena, said the relocation won’t have any impact on the arena.

“We’re just grateful for everything the Williamson family and the Dickie family has done for Fort Worth,” Homan said. “Obviously we are sad to hear this news.”

The Dickies Skate Plaza in the Near Southside is also named for the company. The VF Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Dickies’ parent company, VF Corp., donated $300,000 for the construction of the plaza and park.

Philip Williamson, the fourth generation of Williamsons to lead the company, remains active in the city. He was formerly chairman, president and CEO of Williamson-Dickie Mfg. until the company was sold to VF Corp. He is currently brand ambassador for Dickies and was recently named chairman of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show, the organization behind the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

In recent years, VF Corp. has seen revenues decline. VF is currently revamping its business model under the leadership of CEO Bracken Darrell, who was appointed in 2023. VF Corp. has been selling non-core businesses, including streetwear brand Supreme for $1.5 billion in July after acquiring the label for $2.1 billion in 2020.

In its second quarter earnings results, posted in late October, VF said its revenue reached $2.8 billion, down 6% from last year’s results. The company said sales of its North Face and Vans brands were down 3% and 11% respectively compared to last year.

For fiscal year 2025, VF said it expects free cash flow from continuing operations plus proceeds from non-core physical asset sales that are expected to garner $425 million.

Appraisal district records show the company owns two other properties in Tarrant County, including one $223.8 million distribution center at 9400 Blue Mound Road and another $1.9 million center at 201 Intermodal Parkway in Haslet.

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org. Emily Wolf is the local government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at emily.wolf@fortworthreport.org

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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Bob FrancisBusiness Editor

Robert Francis is a Fort Worth native and journalist who has extensive experience covering business and technology locally, nationally and internationally. He is also a former president of the local Society... More by Bob Francis

Emily WolfGovernment Accountability Reporter

Emily Wolf is a local government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Originally from Round Rock, Texas, she spent several years at the University of Missouri-Columbia majoring in investigative... More by Emily Wolf

Eric E. GarciaSenior Business Reporter

Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His work has appeared in the Dallas Times Herald, the Dallas Morning News, Arlington Morning News, Temple Daily Telegram and Killeen... More by Eric E. Garcia

Next fall, University of Texas System schools, which includes UT Arlington, UT Austin and UT Dallas, will begin offering full tuition scholarships to admitted students who come from families who make $100,000 or less in adjusted gross income.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved the move Nov. 21 at their board meeting. The scholarships are part of its Promise Plus program.

“The Regents are not only addressing immediate needs of our current students, but they are taking the long view, ensuring that future generations will continue to benefit from this remarkable program,” said UT System Chancellor James Milliken in a statement. “Across UT institutions, enrollment is growing, and student debt is declining, indicating success in both access and affordability.”

The scholarships for tuition and mandatory fees are for in-state undergraduate students who will attend college full time. Students must apply for applicable federal and state financial aid. The scholarships will be offered this coming fall.

At UTA, the average cost for undergraduate tuition and fees for the 2024-25 academic year is $12,208, according to the university’s website.

“This year, 49% of all UTA undergraduate students had their tuition and fees fully covered. Thanks to the Board of Regents, even more Texans will be able to experience the transformative power of a UTA education tuition-free,” said UTA President Jennifer Cowley. “We are thrilled to create the opportunity to help even more students achieve their dreams of a college degree.”

The move from the Regents expands the number of students eligible for UTA’s Blaze Forward scholarship that began in 2022. Students must be Texas residents and eligible for the TEXAS Grant program to qualify.

Previously, students from families with adjusted gross incomes of up to $65,000 received scholarships to cover tuition and mandatory fees.

Now, the move increases the income limit by $35,000, to $100,000 or less in adjusted gross income. Adjusted gross income means total gross income minus certain types of payments such as student loan interest, retirement contributions and health savings account contributions.

A group of state lawmakers — including state Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, and newly elected David Lowe, R-Fort Worth — wrote a Nov. 21 letter to the board of regents expressing that they were “extremely troubled” by the move and wanted to know why the decision was made.

The letter poses several questions to the board about cost estimates and whether non-citizens and students enrolled in the “LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies Minor” will be eligible for the full tuition scholarship.

Also earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that there will be another round of tuition freezes at all public universities. Tuition will not increase this upcoming 2025-26 academic year and the next, Abbott vowed.

Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.