A fashion novel about what happens when American budget jeans brands Lee and Wrangler team up with Norwegian outdoor specialist Helly Hansen might leave one struggling to see just where the plot was headed.

The brands come from two different worlds and the age of the big houses of brands has dimmed in the U.S. as VF Corp. shrank, Tapestry Inc.’s deal to buy Capri Holdings fell apart and producers like PVH Corp. focused in on their biggest brands.

But Scott Baxter, president, chief executive officer and chair of Kontoor Brands Inc., believes he knows where it’s all going.

In large part, that’s because he’s been there before.

Baxter, architect of the $900 million deal that brought Helly Hansen into the Kontoor fold, is a VF veteran who helped buy and sell brands and was ultimately

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