Lee and Wrangler’s history together could be coming to an end soon. On Thursday, parent company Kontoor Brands announced it has initiated a competitive process to divest the Lee business. The Greensboro, N.C.-based company began the process in Q1 2026 and has reportedly attracted interest from multiple parties. It anticipates entering into a definitive agreement to divest the business in 2026. As a result, the company has reported the results of the Lee business in discontinued operations. Kontoor expects the divestiture of Lee to be immaterial to earnings per share over a 12-to-18-month period. The company said earnings contribution of the Lee business will be offset through strong capital deployment and mitigation of overhead and other expenses through restructuring and other mitigating cost actions to offset the costs that were previously allocated to the Lee business.…