August 9, 2021: -The casual clothing boom that increased out of the Covid pandemic will keep leading apparel sales, Wrangler President and CEO Scott Baxter told CNBC.

“You’ve seen a global casualization that’s taking hold right now, so I tell people it’s not cyclical; this is here to stay. This is how the world goes to look going forward,” Baxter added on “Power Lunch.”

“People are going to dress casually and more comfortably,” he said.

Sales soared for clothing items like pajamas and T-shirts when consumers started spending most of their hours at home in the year 2020, and apparel companies popularized the comfort-cozy wardrobe trend. Americans keep a pandemic-inspired “work-leisure” style as they return to the office this fall, and major brands and department stores offer more everyday items.

Kontoor Brands primarily sells denim under the Wrangler, Lee, and Rock & Republic brands, which reported $491 million in second-quarter revenue, a 41% increase compared with the previous year. Wrangler’s global revenue was up by 24%, to $311 million, in this period compared to the previous year, and Lee’s was up by 105%, to $176 million.

The stock price of the company soared over 165% over the last year.

“We’re just building better products that people are paying more for and buying more of,” Baxter said. He added that Wrangler gained traction in digital and international sales, developing a better product that could sell for a higher price across multiple categories and cleaning up its sales channels to boost revenue.

Kontoor is expanding beyond jeans to sell outdoor gear, T-shirts, and workwear to keep up with adapting consumer preferences, Baxter said.

“We did a survey of a bunch of our consumers and founded the 84% of the people are going to increasing their wardrobe, and a lot of that is going to be in the casual sector,” Baxter said.

Baxter said that although supply chains have been squeezed amid the pandemic, Kontoor has struggled more petite than most in the apparel industry because it owns manufacturing plants in Mexico and Nicaragua.

“It was a strategic option” made in the company’s spinoff from VF Corporation in 2019, which ultimately helped during the pandemic.

“We’re doing the best that we can to meet the demand in addition to the fact that there is increased demand and also to the fact that our brands are amplifying right now,” Baxter said.