Lee
More than one company trades under this name.
Reported Owner from a secondary source, or a register entry whose current status wasn’t checked.
Checked
Ownership
- 1889 Founded
- Now Kontoor Brands, Inc. (sale to Authentic Brands Group for $750m plus up to $250m earn-out announced 21 May 2026; completion not confirmed in opened sources) Operating company
- 2026 Checked
- Kind of name
- Name collisionCheck which one you’re holding before you lean on the reputation.
- Market tier
- Mass market
- Outlet line
- VF Outlet / Lee outlet stores
- Label tells
- Lee (US, Kontoor/ABG) is unrelated to Lee Cooper (UK-origin brand owned by Iconix); both sell cheap denim at off-price in the UK.
- Seen at off-price
- Often
- Also appears as
- Lee Jeans · H.D. Lee · Lee Cooper (unrelated)
Notes
Founded in Salina, Kansas as H.D. Lee Mercantile; part of VF until the 2019 Kontoor spin-off; in Australasia the mark is owned separately by Pacific Brands. The May 2026 ABG deal would move Lee to a licensing model like Reebok, Champion and Dockers.