Manny Chirico’s Purpose and Profit at PVH
Manny Chirico has worked to put PVH Corp. at the intersection of profit and purpose — and is looking for more companies in fashion to join him.
“We’ve defined our corporate purpose as, ‘We power brands that drive fashion forward for good,’” said Chirico, who leads PVH as chairman chief executive officer and is preparing to hand over the ceo title to Stefan Larsson in February.
“When we’re making difficult decisions in this polarized world, that’s been our barometer,” said Chirico, who has led the transformation of a business known for making men’s shirts into the powerhouse owner of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. “We think about how we’re impacting our associates, how we’re impacting our customers, how we’re impacting the communities we operate in.”
That includes viewing decisions in areas as far-ranging as diversity and inclusion and layoffs and furloughs through the lens of purpose.
It’s a priority that has to live side by side with PVH’s bottom line.
“We have a very important requirement to give strong financial gains to our shareholders,” Chirico said. “We need to balance that profit and purpose in everything we do. Having that corporate purpose in front of us, defined for us as we’re making those decisions allows us to really walk the walk. It allows us to live by our values while delivering appropriate financial returns.”
It’s a journey that Chirico has been calling the rest of the industry to join him on for some time.
“I encourage all of us to really work together,” Chirico said. “We have a big opportunity to really leverage our collective strengths in these areas where we can have an impact, on racial equity, on social justice, where we can have an impact on the environment together.
“Every day on the selling floor we compete against each other, day in and day out, but there are benefits we can gain together,” Chirico said, referring to a broader industry move into the future, but with purpose.
More from WWD:
Stefan Larsson Takes on Analysts as Manny Chirico Steps Back at PVH
PVH Names Allison Peterson and George Cheeks to Board
PVH’s Emanuel Chirico on Capitalism
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