Kontoor Brands, Inc. (KTB)
Wrangler and Lee: Latin American plants, wholesale brands. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending January 3, 2026, filed March 4, 2026. Ranked 46 of the 161 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
23%
End of 2028
35%
Employees, annual report
10,600
Leading staffing pattern
Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now23%
- End of 202732%
- End of 202835%
- End of 203036%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 64%
- Becomes checking a model's work 23%
- Handed over with lighter checks 11%
Kontoor states approximately 10,600 employees at January 3, 2026, 5,000 of them in Latin America and Mexico supporting its manufacturing facilities, 2,900 in the U.S. and Canada, 1,500 in EMEA and 1,200 in APAC, so the plants take the regional count (a) and the brand, wholesale, distribution and store work the rest by description (c).
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 23% now, 32% at the end of 2027, 35% at the end of 2028, 36% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 36% desk work, 16% people work and 48% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 64% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 23% becomes checking a model's work and 11% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
10,600 employees as of January 3, 2026 (stated). The filing counts approximately 2,900 employees in the U.S. and Canada together (27%), 5,000 in Latin America and Mexico, 1,500 in EMEA and 1,200 in APAC; the U.S. alone is not stated.
The filing: “As of January 3, 2026, we had approximately 10,600 employees worldwide.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing | 47% | The filing counts approximately 5,000 employees in Latin America and Mexico, primarily supporting its manufacturing facilities, the jeans and apparel plants (a). |
| Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers | 38% | The brand, design, sales and corporate work of a wholesaler of Wrangler, Lee and Helly Hansen apparel to retailers, counted by no figure, takes the largest part of the rest by description (c), as VF's wholesale work was read. |
| Warehousing and Storage | 8% | The distribution centers that ship to retailers, counted by no figure, take a share by description (c). |
| Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers | 7% | The brand stores and outlets, counted by no figure, take a share by description (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 4% of employees in international markets are covered by trade-sponsored or governmental bargaining arrangements; by region 5,000 Latin America and Mexico, 2,900 U.S. and Canada, 1,500 EMEA, 1,200 APAC; the count fell from 13,200 in 2024.
What the filing says about AI
3 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI and machine learning among the technologies it must keep up with in its systems and AI-enabled cyber-attacks; nothing on its own use.
- “Our ability to compete within the apparel industry depends on our ability to: anticipate and respond to changing consumer preferences and product trends in a timely manner; develop attractive, innovative and high-quality products that meet consumer needs; maintain strong brand recognition; price products appropriately; provide best-in-class marketing support and intelligence; ensure product ava...”
- “The failure of these systems to operate effectively, improper design or configuration, problems with transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems, our inability to keep up with rapid technological change (including the successful utilization of data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning), difficulty in integrating new systems or systems of acquired businesses or a breach i...”
- “Cyber-attacks, including phishing and other forms of social engineering, denial-of-service attacks and the deployment of ransomware and other malware, are increasingly sophisticated and may utilize artificial intelligence.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20243median 4
- Fiscal 20253median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-03 | 10,600 | 2026-03-04 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-28 | 13,200 | 2025-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-30 | 13,700 | 2024-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 14,400 | 2023-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2022-01-01 | 14,000 | 2022-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2021-01-02 | 14,000 | 2021-03-03 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-28 | 15,100 | 2020-03-11 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The regional count places the plants (a); the wholesale, distribution and store shares are by description (c).
- The data service's segment table (royalty 100%) and geography table (non-U.S. 100%) are not usable; the U.S. share is not stated.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001760965-26-000014, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Kontoor Brands, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Kontoor Brands, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 23% now and 35% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Kontoor Brands, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Kontoor Brands, Inc. employ?
- 10,600 as of January 3, 2026, as its annual report for the period ending January 3, 2026 states.
- What kinds of work make up Kontoor Brands, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 4 industry staffing patterns, the largest Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 36% desk work, 16% people work and 48% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Kontoor Brands, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 3 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 3 and 3 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.