About Joseph Cavaliere
In September 2022, Joseph Cavaliere, Group President of Global Innerwear at Hanesbrands, was referenced in comments by CEO Steve Bratspies regarding the company's performance and challenges. Bratspies stated that the company had a strong first quarter with more demand than supply, and that consumer interest in brands remained strong. He noted that inflation was creating pressure and that the company was taking a wait-and-see approach to how consumers would respond.
Bratspies also discussed ongoing supply chain disruptions, saying that container transit times from China to the West Coast had doubled compared to pre-COVID norms, and that ports in Los Angeles still had over 40 ships at anchor. He cited a specific example in the Champion business, where the company missed a $40 million opportunity due to insufficient inventory. Bratspies added that the company was continuing to invest in media, brands, and product innovation as part of its "Full Potential Plan" strategy.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Joseph Cavaliere's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
Transcript (8 segments)
D
David0:01
More than 20% for the year. Steven, always good to have you with us. You know, we have a good view of a number of different things from you. I think on the conference call, you said you were taking a wait-and-see a bit, but you certainly had good demand in the first quarter. What's the wait and see about them?
S
Steven0:24
David, thanks for having me back and good morning. We had a strong first quarter, and I was pleased with the results. Underlying that, we had more demand than we could supply. We're still seeing really good consumer interest in the brands; consumer spending has really continued. When you look underneath, consumers are responding to innovations, to brands, and to people vetting behind that. We expect that demand to continue. That said, there's certainly pressure—the inflation we all know is out there—so we kind of have to wait and see exactly how the consumer responds. But as we look forward, we're seeing a good lineup for back to school, about 18% more inventory back there. We had good solid bookings for the back half, so we're cautiously optimistic, I would say, about the consumer, but how they respond to the significant inflation out there is still yet to be determined.
D
David1:28
Yeah. So, again, the jury's out on whether they're going to change their behavior, but you certainly want to be prepared if that is in fact the case.
S
Steven1:37
Yeah, absolutely. We're not stopping what we're doing. One of the key parts of our three-year strategy, which we call our Full Potential Plan, is to invest behind the consumer and invest in the business. We continue to invest in media, spending on our brands, and product innovation, so we're leaning in with the consumer and making sure that we're there to meet their needs and be prepared for the back half of the year.
D
David2:09
Things you can control like accelerating—logistical challenges were other things you noted in these earnings that continue to have an effect. Is the worst over? Do you think, or could it potentially play out and potentially gain steam, with everything we're seeing with Ukraine and the China COVID lockdowns?
S
Steven2:39
I certainly hope so. The supply chain is definitely still disrupted. An average container from China to the West Coast is about 73 days—that's what we saw in Q1. Normally before COVID, it was 35 days, so it's 2x. The ports out in LA, they're still 40-plus ships out there at anchor or slow-steaming their way in. COVID is still disruptive. At the same time, we're trying to take advantage of the disruption and execute our plan faster and faster. The back half of this year will tell us a lot about how the consumer behaves. If the consumer stays strong, that will help us work through it.
D
David3:33
Have you been able to restock?
S
Steven3:36
We are still trying to restock. If you think about our results in the first quarter, in our Champion business specifically, we missed a $40 million opportunity just because we didn't have the inventory. That business grew 14% in the first quarter; there is more demand than supply. So we're working through that. We have a lot of inventory—we call it in-transit—in our supply chain that should hit and have...
