Levi Strauss & Co.

File:Levis logo 1892.png

German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss began business at 90 Sacramento Street in San Francisco, then moved to 62 Sacramento Street.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rUkYYVjEf3AC&q=Levi+Strauss+started+the+business+at+the+90+Sacramento+Street+address+in+San+Francisco&pg=PA199 |title=Inspiration from Lives of Famous People |access-date=13 April 2020 |last=Virk |first=Azhar Saleem |date=February 2003 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=9780595268245}} In 1858, the company was listed as Strauss, Levi (David Stern & Lewis Strauss) importers clothing, etc. 63 & 65 Sacramento St. (today, on the current grounds of the 353 Sacramento Street Lobby{{cite web |title=353 Sacramento Street | 353 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA, 94111-3620 | JLL PowerSearch |url= https://powersearch.jll.com/us-en/property/31335/353-sacramento-st |website=JLL PowerSearch - United States of America commercial KIKI real estate listings}}) in the San Francisco Directory with Strauss serving as its sales manager and his brother-in-law, David Stern, as its manager.{{cite web|title=David Stern & His Sons: Prime Movers of Levi Strauss & Co. |work=Museum of the American West |url= http://www.jmaw.org/stern-levi-strauss-san-francisco/ |access-date=April 17, 2018}}

Jacob Davis, a Latvian-Jewish{{cite web |title=Jacob Davis: Pioneer Jewish Tailor of Nevada & His Copper Rivets That Made History |url= http://www.jmaw.org/jacob-davis-levi-rivets-jewish/ |access-date=March 28, 2015 |publisher=Jewish Museum of the American West}} immigrant, was a Reno, Nevada,{{cite web|url= http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=710&Itemid=418 |date=September 1999 |title=Levi' 501 jeans: a riveting story in early Reno |work=Nevada Archives |first=Guy |last=Rocha |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120305203817/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=710&Itemid=418 |archive-date=March 5, 2012}} tailor who frequently purchased bolts of denim cloth from Levi Strauss & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis's customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he thought of using copper rivets to reinforce points of strain, such as on pocket corners and the base of the button fly.{{cite web |url= http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=710&Itemid=418 |title=Levi pants invented in Reno, Nevada |via=State of Nevada Archives |work=Sierra Sage, Carson City/Carson Valley, Nevada |date=March 1999 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120305203817/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=710&Itemid=418 |archive-date=March 5, 2012 |access-date=March 7, 2018}} Davis lacked sufficient funds to obtain a patent, so he wrote to Strauss proposing a business partnership. After Strauss accepted Davis's offer, the two men received {{US patent|139121}} from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on May 20, 1873. The copper rivet was incorporated into the company's jean design and advertisements. Contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush (which peaked in 1849), the manufacturing of denim overalls began in the 1870s. In 1890, the rivet patent went into the public domain; the same year, lot numbers were assigned to company products, and "501" was used to designate the famous copper-riveted waist overalls. The company lost its records in the 1906 earthquake and there is no information why that number was chosen.{{cite web|url= https://www.levistrauss.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/History-of-Levis-501-Jeans.pdf |title=History of The Levi's 501 Jeans |access-date=December 9, 2021}}

There are urban legends claiming that the first pair of Levi's jeans were made of hemp, in despite being made from cotton by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.{{cite book |last=George Waldo Browne |url= http://archive.org/details/amoskeagmanufac00browgoog |title=The Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. of Manchester, New Hampshire: A History |date=1915 |publisher=Amoskeag Manufacturing}} This misinformation was likely spread by Jack Herer.{{cite book |last=Deitch |first=Robert |url= http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780875862064 |title=Hemp: American history revisited [electronic resource]: the plant with a divided history |date=2003 |publisher=Algora Publishers |location=New York |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87586-226-2}} The first hemp jeans from Levi's were manufactured in March 2019.{{cite web |last=Velasquez |first=Angela |date=2019-03-06 |title=Levi's Wellthread and Outerknown Introduce Cottonized Hemp Denim |url= https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-brands/levis-outerknown-introduce-cottonized-hemp-denim-142199/ |access-date=2024-05-06 |work=Sourcing Journal}}

File:Levi Strauss sign.JPG]]

Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the working people of the western US, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers. Levi's jeans were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales (and usually examples) of the hard-wearing riveted denim pants. Another boost came in World War II when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and sold only to people engaged in defense work.

Between the 1950s and 1980s, Levi's jeans became popular among a wide range of youth subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers, and hippies. Levi's popular shrink-to-fit 501s were sold as labeled, sized as manufactured, and had substantial shrinkage upon laundering.{{cite news|url= http://www.fashionintime.org/history-jeans/ |title=History of Jeans and Denim |date=2015-01-17 |work=History of Fashion |access-date=2017-06-12}} Although popular lore (abetted by company marketing) holds that the original design remains unaltered, the crotch rivet, watch pocket rivets, and waist cinch were removed during World War II to conform with War Production Board metal conservation rules and only the watch pocket rivets restored after.{{cite web |title=History of Denim Through the Ages - Western Wear Goes Hollywood |url= http://selvedgeyard.com/2009/10/17/history-of-denim-through-the-ages-western-wear-goes-hollywood/ |website=selvedgeyard.com |date=October 18, 2009 |access-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131024074201/http://selvedgeyard.com/2009/10/17/history-of-denim-through-the-ages-western-wear-goes-hollywood/ |archive-date=24 October 2013}} Additionally, the back pocket rivets, which had been covered in denim since 1937 to prevent scratching furniture, were removed in the 1950s (and replaced by bar tacks) as they eventually wore through and caused the problem anyway.{{cite web|url= http://www.levistrauss.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/History-of-Levis-501-Jeans.pdf |title=History of The Levi's 501 Jeans |access-date=March 11, 2016}}

File:Levi's 501 raw jeans.jpg

From the early 1960s through the mid-1970s, Levi Strauss experienced significant business growth as the casual look of the 1960s and 1970s ushered in the "blue jeans craze". Levi's, under the leadership of Walter Haas, Peter Haas Sr., Paul Glasco, and George P. Simpkins Sr., expanded the firm's clothing line by adding new fashions and models, such as "stone-washed" jeans through the acquisition of Great Western Garment Co. (GWG), a Canadian clothing manufacturer, a technique still in use by Levi Strauss. Simpkins is credited with the company's record-paced expansion of its manufacturing capacity from 16 plants to more than 63 in the US – and 23 overseas – from 1964 to 1974.

In the 1980s, the company closed approximately 60 manufacturing plants because of financial difficulties and strong competition.{{cite news|url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/Levi-Strauss-and-Co |title=Levi Strauss & Co. {{!}} American company |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2017-06-12}}

The Dockers brand, launched in 1986 and sold primarily through department store chains, helped the company grow through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to wane. Dockers were introduced into Europe in 1996 and led by CEO Jorge Bardina. Levi Strauss attempted to sell the Dockers division in 2004 to relieve part of the company's $2.6 billion outstanding debt.

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By the 1990s, Levi's faced competition from other brands and cheaper products from overseas and began accelerating the pace of its US factory closures and its use of offshore subcontractors. In 1991, Levi Strauss became implicated in a scandal involving pants made in the Northern Mariana Islands: some 3% of Levi's jeans sold annually with the "Made in the USA" label were shown to have been made by Chinese laborers under what the U.S. Department of Labor called slave-like conditions.{{cite news |last1=Shannon |first1=Phillip |title=Made in the U.S.A.? -- Hard Labor on a Pacific Island/A special report.; Saipan Sweatshops Are No American Dream |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/world/made-usa-hard-labor-pacific-island-special-report-saipan-sweatshops-are-no.html |access-date=22 October 2023 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 18, 1993 }} {{As of|2016}}, only a few of the costlier higher-end styles are made domestically.

Cited for sub-minimum wages, seven-day work weeks with 12-hour shifts, poor living conditions, and other workplace abuses, Tan Holdings Corporation, Levi Strauss' Marianas subcontractor, paid what were then the largest fines in US labor history, distributing more than $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees.{{cite web|url= http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/levi5-5-98.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061028011357/http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/levi5-5-98.htm |url-status=dead |title=May 1998, Case file Levi Strauss & Co |archive-date=October 28, 2006}}{{cite web|url= http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Weekend/FL18Jp16.html |title=The island that lost its shirts |work=Thestandard.com.hk |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090209010134/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Weekend/FL18Jp16.html |archive-date=February 9, 2009}}{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/world/made-usa-hard-labor-pacific-island-special-report-saipan-sweatshops-are-no.html |title=Made in the U.S.A.? Hard Labor on a Pacific Island/A special report.; Saipan Sweatshops Are No American Dream |work=The New York Times|date=July 18, 1993 |access-date=March 16, 2010|first=Philip |last=Shenon}} Levi Strauss claimed no knowledge of the offenses, severed ties to the Tan family, and instituted labor reforms and inspection practices in its offshore facilities.

The activist group Fuerza Unida (United Force) formed following the January 1990 closure of a plant in San Antonio, Texas, in which 1,150 seamstresses – some of whom had worked for Levi Strauss for decades – saw their jobs exported to Costa Rica.{{cite web|url= http://www.accd.edu/pac/lrc/chicanaleaders/fuerzaunida.htm |title=Fuerza Unida |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080929184743/http://www.accd.edu/pac/lrc/chicanaleaders/fuerzaunida.htm |archive-date=September 29, 2008}} During the mid-and late 1990s, Fuerza Unida picketed the Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco and staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in protest of the company's labor policies.{{cite web|url= http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/147.html |title=Fuerza Unida, Mujer a Mujer: Firsthand Account of Levi's |website=Hartford-hwp.com |access-date=March 16, 2010}}

The company took on multibillion-dollar debt in February 1996 to help finance a series of private leveraged stock buyouts among family members determined to consolidate the company under their ownership. At the time, shares in Levi Strauss stock were not publicly traded. As of 2016, the firm was owned almost entirely by indirect descendants and collateral relatives of Levi Strauss, whose four nephews inherited the San Francisco dry-goods firm after their uncle died in 1902.{{cite web|url= http://www.levistrauss.com/Financials |title=Levi Strauss & Co. – Financials |website=LeviStrauss.com |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100326004434/http://www.levistrauss.com/Financials/ |archive-date=March 26, 2010}} The corporation's bonds are traded publicly, as are shares of the company's Japanese affiliate, Levi Strauss Japan K.K.

In June 1996, the company offered to pay its workers an unusual dividend of up to $750 million in six years, having halted an employee-stock plan during the internal family buyout. However, the company failed to make cash-flow targets, and no worker dividends were paid.{{cite news |title=Levi Strauss Offers To Pay A Dividend To Workers |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 13, 1996 |first=James |last=Sterngold}}

The annual sales of the brand increased in 1997 to $7.1 billion.{{cite web|url= https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40945709 |title=How jeans giant Levi Strauss got its mojo back |last=Hotten |first=Russell |date=2017-09-25 |work=BBC News |access-date=2017-10-03 |language=en-GB}}

{{Proseline section|date=January 2024}}File:Levi's in Chadstone Shopping Centre 2017.JPG in Melbourne, Australia]]

File:Levi'sOutletStore.JPG in Vaughan, Ontario]]

In 2002, Levi Strauss began a close business collaboration with Walmart, producing a line of "Signature" jeans and other clothes for sale only in Walmart stores until 2006.{{cite web |url= http://www.cio.com/article/31948/Supply_Chain_Partnerships_How_Levi_s_Got_Its_Jeans_into_Wal_Mart |title=Supply Chain Partnerships: How Levi's Got Its Jeans into Wal-Mart |website=cio.com |date=July 15, 2003 |access-date=March 16, 2010 |last=Girard |first=Kim |archive-date=April 23, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100423040722/http://www.cio.com/article/31948/Supply_Chain_Partnerships_How_Levi_s_Got_Its_Jeans_into_Wal_Mart? |url-status=dead }}

In 2002, the company closed its Valencia Street plant in San Francisco, which opened in 1906, the year of the city's devastating earthquake.{{cite news |title=Levi Strauss buttoning up its S.F. operations / Valencia Street factory to close by summer |url= http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Levi-Strauss-buttoning-up-its-S-F-operations-2853739.php |first=Jenny |last=Strasburg |date=April 9, 2002 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=May 22, 2014}}{{cite news |title=Levi's set to close last U.S. factory |url= https://www.baltimoresun.com/2003/10/19/levis-set-to-close-last-us-factory/ |date=October 19, 2003 |agency=New York Times News Service |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=May 22, 2014}} By the end of 2003, the closure of Levi's last U.S. factory in San Antonio ended 150 years of jeans made in the United States.{{cite news|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uXtfAAAAIBAJ&pg=3597%2C2603574 |newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |agency=Associated Press |title=Levi Strauss closes last two U.S. plants |date=January 11, 2004 |page=2E}} Production of a few higher-end, more expensive styles of jeans resumed in the U.S. several years later.

In 2002, Levi Strauss closed several factories worldwide and took control of GWG's operations.{{cite news|newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=May 24, 2002 |page=B10 |title=Levi Strauss & Co. (Canada) to Resume Responsibility for GWG Brand Apparel}} Attempts to make the GWG brand profitable again were unsuccessful, and the Edmonton GWG factory, along with all remaining Levi Strauss factories in North America, closed in 2004.{{cite web |first=Catherine C. |last=Cole |year=2009 |title=Piece by Piece The GWG Story |url= http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/virtualExhibit/GWG/en/history/thelevisera.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110716182027/http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/virtualExhibit/GWG/en/history/thelevisera.html |archive-date=2011-07-16 |accessdate=2010-11-24 |publisher=Royal Alberta Museum}}

By 2007, Levi Strauss was again profitable after declining sales in nine of the previous ten years.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url= http://www.mercurynews.com/2007/07/11/wire-feed-levi-strauss-profit-up-home-depot-lowers-outlook/ |title=Levi Strauss profit up; Home Depot lowers outlook |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |date=July 11, 2007 |access-date=January 10, 2017}} Its total annual sales of just over $4 billion were $3 billion less than during its peak performance in the mid-1990s.{{cite news|url= http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-levi11apr11,1,293145.story |archive-url= https://archive.today/20090206120510/http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-levi11apr11,1,293145.story |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 6, 2009 |title=Levi Strauss earnings rise 61% in 1st quarter |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=August 26, 1985 |access-date=March 16, 2010}} After more than two decades of family ownership, rumors of a possible public stock offering appeared in the media in July 2007.{{cite web|url= http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/07/11/PM200707114.html |title=Marketplace: Levi's may be dressed up to go public |website=marketplace.publicradio.org |date=July 11, 2007 |access-date=March 16, 2010}}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

{{As of|2007}}, Levi Strauss leads the apparel industry in trademark infringement cases, filing nearly 100 lawsuits against competitors over six years from 2001.{{cite news |last1=Barbaro |first1=Michael |last2=Creswell |first2=Julie |date=January 29, 2007 |title=Levi's Turns to Suing Its Rivals |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/29jeans.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0 |access-date=September 27, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times}} Most cases center on the alleged imitation of Levi's back pocket double arc stitching pattern (U.S. trademark No. 1,139,254), which Levi's filed for a trademark in 1978.{{cite web |title=Latest Status Info |url= http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=registration&entry=1139254 |access-date=March 16, 2010 |website=tarr.uspto.gov}} Levi's has successfully sued Guess, Polo Ralph Lauren, Esprit Holdings, Zegna, Zumiez, and Lucky Brand Jeans, among other companies.

In 2010, the company partnered with Filson, an outdoor goods manufacturer in Seattle, to produce a high-end line of jackets and workwear.{{cite news|title= Filson signs clothing deal with Levi's|url= http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2010/08/02/daily16.html |work=Puget Sound Business Journal |access-date= April 21, 2012 |date= August 3, 2010}}

In 2011, the firm hired Chip Bergh as the president and chief executive of the brand.{{cite news|url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2017/09/28/how-the-retail-industry-can-learn-from-levi-strauss-transformation/#7edf67a745bf |title=How The Retail Industry Can Learn From Levi Strauss' Transformation |last=Loeb |first=Walter |work=Forbes |access-date=2017-10-03}} In that same year, they established more than 20 different waterless manufacturing techniques, reducing the exceptionally high amounts of water used to create denim. Levi's is now the world's most sustainable brand of jeans in terms of water usage.{{cite web|url= http://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/article/born-in-2011-still-saving-water|title=Born in 2011. Still Saving Water |website=levi.com}}

On May 8, 2013, the NFL's San Francisco 49ers announced that Levi Strauss & Co. had purchased the naming rights to their new stadium in Santa Clara, California. The naming rights deal called for Levi's to pay $220.3 million to the city of Santa Clara and the 49ers over 20 years, with an option to extend the agreement for another five years for around $75 million.{{cite news|last=Rosenberg |first=Mike |title=Levi's Stadium: 49ers' new Santa Clara home gets a name in $220 million deal |url= http://www.mercurynews.com/southbayfootball/ci_23198944/levis-stadium-49ers-new-santa-clara-home-gets?source=rss |access-date=May 8, 2013|newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |date=May 8, 2013}}

{{As of|2016}}, Levi Strauss Signature jeans were sold in 110 countries. In 2016, the company reported revenues of $4.6 billion.

On July 13, 2017, Levi Strauss heir Bill Goldman died in a private plane crash near Sonoma, California.{{cite web|url= http://www.jta.org/2017/07/14/news-opinion/united-states/bill-goldman-38-historian-philanthropist-and-levi-strauss-heir-killed-in-plane-crash |title=Bill Goldman, 38, historian, philanthropist and Levi Strauss heir, killed in plane crash |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=Jul 14, 2017}}

In 2017, Levi Strauss & Co. released a "smart jacket", an apparel they developed in partnership with Google. After two years of collaboration, the result was a denim jacket set at $350.{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/26/jacquard-google-levis-smart-jacket-denim |title=Jacquard: Google and Levi's 'smart jacket' that you can only wash 10 times |date=2017-09-26 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2017-10-03 |language=en-GB}}

In March 2019, Levi's debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "LEVI".{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/business/levis-jeans-ipo.html |title=Levi's, Whose Jeans Are a Rugged Symbol of Americana, Prepares to Go Public |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 18, 2019 |last1=Maheshwari |first1=Sapna}} Levi Strauss was valued at $6.6 billion as its IPO priced above the target.{{cite news|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-levi-strauss-ipo-idUSKCN1R12U5 |title=Levi Strauss valued at $6.6 billion as IPO prices above target |date=2019-03-21 |work=Reuters |access-date=2019-03-21}}

In September 2019, Levi's won a final judgment on a trademark infringement in Guangzhou, China. The case centered on the "arcuate design on two pockets at the back of jeans", which has been protected in China since its registration there in 2005. The company won damages and costs in addition to a ban on future infringements. The infringer's ignorance of the trademark was no bar to punishment.{{cite news |title=LEVI's Prevails in Double Arcs Trademark Infringement Case |url= https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1c49b0f4-9482-4ef0-91f9-eb2a2d7fb78a |agency=lexology |publisher=Law Business Research |date=16 September 2019}}

In 2019, Levi's became one of only two major clothing companies with commitments in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.{{cite web|last=Cernansky |first=Rachel |title=Only two big brands do enough to fight climate change, report claims |url= https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashion-climate-change-sustainability-standearth-paris-agreement |access-date=2021-05-05 |website=voguebusiness.com |date=October 17, 2019|language=en-GB}}

In 2020, Levi Strauss & Co. was expected to have completely replaced chemical usage as well as using lasers to cut, and design ripped parts of jeans.{{cite news|url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/levis-wants-lasers-not-people-to-rip-your-jeans-1519740001 |title=Levi's Wants Lasers, Not People, to Rip Your Jeans |first=Suzanne |last=Kapner |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=February 27, 2018}} In December 2019, the Engage for Good (formerly Cause Marketing Forum) organization awarded the company the Golden Halo Award for 2020{{cite web|url= https://engageforgood.com/halo-awards/ |title=Halo Awards – CSR Awards |website=engageforgood.com |access-date=2019-12-16}} for their advancements in corporate social impact.{{cite web|url= https://www.ecotextile.com/2019121325439/fashion-retail-news/levi-s-named-winner-of-golden-halo-award.html |title=Levi's named winner of Golden Halo Award |last=Glover |first=Simon |website=ecotextile.com |date=December 13, 2019 |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-12-16}}

On August 5, 2021, Levi Strauss & Co. announced the acquisition of Beyond Yoga, entering the activewear market. They expect the acquisition will contribute more than $100 million in net revenue per year.{{cite web|url= https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/levi-strauss-to-buy-yoga-apparel-brand-beyond-yoga-.html |title=Levi Strauss to buy apparel brand Beyond Yoga, launching into activewear |work=CNBC |date=August 5, 2021 |access-date=2021-08-06}} It was announced senior executives are to speak with AI expert Blake Van Leer at the LA eCommerce Summit about their digital strategies and AI in 2023.{{cite web |title=Speakers announced Los Angeles eCommerce Summit |url= https://rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com/story/48144580/blake-van-leer-announced-the-speaker-for-the-los-angeles-ecommerce-summit |website=rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com}}{{cite web |title=Los Angeles eCommerce Summit – Retail Summits |url= https://retailsummits.com/events/los-angeles-ecommerce-summit/ |website=retailsummits.com |date=March 21, 2023 }} It was announced in January 2023 that Levi would begin accepting old pairs of jeans to recycle into more denim in a campaign to go green.{{cite web |last1=Button |first1=Danni |title=Levi Strauss & Co. is Testing a New Compostable Package |url= https://www.thestreet.com/retailers/iconic-american-brand-goes-green-in-a-surprising-way |website=TheStreet |date=January 17, 2023}} Levi's Autumn/Winter 2023 WellThread capsule aimed to show the brand's engagement to sustainability as it included items made from 100% transitional cotton as well as plant-based natural dyes.{{cite web |title=Levi's Autumn/Winter 2023 WellThread collection is more than just a sustainable line |url= https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/fashion/levi-s-autumn-winter-2023-wellthread-collection-more-than-just-sustainable |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=lofficielmalaysia.com}}

Levi's have been worn by people of all backgrounds – from miners to actors to Nobel Prize recipients. Marlon Brando and Albert Einstein wore Levi's, and Einstein wore a 1930s-era Levi's leather jacket, which sold at auction house Christie's in July 2016 for £110,500.{{cite web|url= https://www.stuartslondon.com/blog/2016/07/15/einsteins-levis-jacket-sells-for-over-110000/ |title=Einstein's Levis Jacket Sold For Over £100k |work=Stuarts London}}

Levi's is aggressive in advertising, marketing, and trademark protection. It has used its signature arched stitching on the back pockets of its jeans since 1873. In 1943, the firm trademarked the design in the U.S. and has done so in more than 100 total jurisdictions as of 2019. It has also trademarked various word marks, including "Levi's", "Red Tab", "Orange Tab", "Silvertab", "501", "505", "517", "550", "569", and "Dockers".{{cite news |title=Levi's Trademarks |url= https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/apparel/levis/#72313992 |access-date=4 February 2021 |agency=Gerben Trademark Library |website=gerbenlaw.com}}

During the Cold War, Levi's became a symbol of the west in the Soviet Union. According to historian Kristin Roth-Ey, the association stemmed from the 1957 World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow: Americans wore Levi's jeans to the event, resulting in widespread interest within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic that prompted the Soviet government to condemn the brand as a symbol of western decadence.{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Brianna |last2=Intagliata| first2=Christopher |last3=Fox| first3=Kathryn |title=Levi's pulling out of Russia reminds people of the country's jean smuggler era |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/03/10/1085838486/levi-s-pulling-out-of-russia-reminds-people-of-the-country-s-jean-smuggler-era |access-date=18 May 2024 |work=All Things Considered |publisher=National Public Radio |date=10 March 2022 |ref=Scott 2022}} Continued demand for the jeans resulted in both genuine articles and bootlegs becoming commonplace in Soviet black markets, and in 1979, the Soviet government struck deals with Levi's and the VF Corporation to manufacture jeans for consumers in the region; however, this deal fell through due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott following the onset of the Soviet–Afghan War.{{cite news |last1=Gordon |first1=Text |title=Exploring the USSR's underground obsession with Levi's 501s |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/32495/1/exploring-the-ussr-s-underground-obsession-with-levi-s-501s |access-date=18 May 2024 |work=Dazed |publisher=Dazed Media |date=19 August 2016 |ref=Gordon 2016}}

In 2022, it was reported that a pair of Levi's jeans from the 1880s found in an abandoned mine shaft was sold for $87,400 at an auction in New Mexico.{{cite web |url= https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/19th-century-levis-jeans-intl-scli/index.html |title=19th-century Levi's jeans found in mine shaft sell for more than $87,000 |work=CNN |date=13 October 2022 |accessdate=13 October 2022}} The vintage Levi's bore a label with the inscription "the only kind made by white labor", a detail which helped date the jeans to the period between 1882, which was after the U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning Chinese laborers seeking to immigrate to the U.S., and the 1890s, when the company "reversed [its] policy and company leaders began speaking out against the nation's racist policy".{{cite web |date=2022-10-15 |title='Made by white labor': the vintage Levi's that point to America's dark past |url= https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/oct/15/vintage-denim-jeans-chinese-exclusion-white-labor |access-date=2022-10-15 |work=The Guardian}}

File:Levi Plaza.jpg in San Francisco, the location of the company's corporate headquarters]]

Levi Strauss & Co. is a worldwide corporation organized into three geographic divisions: Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), which is headquartered in San Francisco; Levi Strauss Europe (LSE), which is based in Brussels; and Levi Strauss Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Strauss passed the company to his nephews, Jacob, Sigmund, Louis and Abraham, the four surviving sons of David Stern, upon his death in 1902. Walter A. Haas, who married Elise Stern, the daughter of David's son, Sigmund Stern, became president in 1928, and the company remained under the ownership of the Stern-Haas family until first going public in 1971. However, in 1985, the Haas family recaptured ownership of the company, taking it private once again for the next 34 years.{{cite web|url= http://www.levistrauss.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Levi-Strauss-and-Co-Timeline.pdf |title=Levi Strauss & Co Timeline}}{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/12/business/levi-strauss-may-go-private.html |title=Levi Strauss May Go Private |first=Isadore|last=Barmash |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 12, 1985}} In February 2019, the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LEVI.{{cite news |last1=Lucas |first1=Amelia |title=Levi Strauss plans to go public — again. Files IPO under symbol LEVI |url= https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/levi-strauss-files-for-ipo.html |access-date=February 13, 2019 |work=CNBC |date=February 13, 2019}}{{cite web |author1=Levi Strauss & Co. |title=Form S-1: Registration Statement under the Securities Act of 1933 |url= https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/94845/000119312519037135/d632158ds1.htm |website=EDGAR |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |access-date=February 13, 2019 |date=February 13, 2019}} It was held on March 21, 2019, selling for $17 per share.

The company is also well known for promoting progressive causes.{{cite web|title=Levi Strauss & Co.'s Diversity Problem — And Our Plan to Fix It|url= https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/article/levi-strauss-co-s-diversity-problem-and-our-plan-to-fix-it/ |access-date=2020-10-08 |website=levi.com}} It was one of the earliest private sector institutions to support LGBTQ causes and, during the 2016 presidential campaign, donated $1 million to support immigration and LGBTQ rights. In 2018, CEO Chip Bergh published an op-ed in Fortune magazine, speaking out against gun violence.{{cite web |last1=Bergh |first1=Chip |title=Why Business Leaders Need to Take a Stand on Gun Violence |url= http://fortune.com/2018/09/04/levi-strauss-gun-violence-parkland/ |work=Fortune |access-date=8 April 2019}}

However, the company is alleged to make use of Uyghur forced labor provided by the China-based supplier Beijing Guanghua Textile Group from a report by the Helena Kennedy Center for International Justice, the socialists and democrats in the European Parliament.{{Cite book |url= https://www.shu.ac.uk/-/media/home/research/helena-kennedy-centre/projects/eu-apparel/eu-tailoring-responsibility-february-24.pdf |title=Tailoring Responsibility: Tracing Apparel Supply Chains from the Uyghur Region to Europe |date=December 2023 |publisher=Uyghur Rights Monitor, the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, and the Uyghur Center for Democracy and Human Rights |pages=20}} Levi's has disputed{{cite web|url= https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-brands/levi-strauss-forced-labor-uyghur-xinjiang-canada-core-ombudsman-nike-456301/ |title=Levi's: Forced Labor Probe Based on 'Outdated' Intel|date=September 20, 2023 }} these claims.

In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company experienced a 62% drop in sales and recorded a $364 million loss. Some 700 office jobs were pared to reduce expenses by $100 million.{{cite news|url= https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53329555 |title=Levi's cuts 700 jobs due to falling sales |work=BBC News |date=July 7, 2000}}

As of 2019, Levi's are made in many developing countries, including Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico. Some top-end styles in the "Levi's Premium" and "Levi's Vintage Clothing" lines are produced in the United States.{{cite web|url= https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/search/%22made%20in%20the%20usa%22 |title=Levi Strauss.com |access-date=July 20, 2019}}

In addition to jeans, Levi's sells a full line of shirts, jackets, sweaters, underwear, socks, eyeglasses, accessories, dresses, skirts, and leather products. All jeans and pants are categorized by fit – skinny, slim, straight, bootcut, taper, relaxed, flare, and "big & tall" – identified by trademarked three-digit numbers. The 501, the company's original modern design, is available in styles for both men and women. The rest of the 500 series is designed for men, and the 300, 400, 700, and 800 series for women.{{cite web|url= http://www.levi.com/US/en_US |title=Levi Strauss.com|access-date=June 18, 2016}}

File:Photo étiquette Levi's 501.jpg|Tag from a pair of Levi 501 button-fly jeans

File:Levis (46055456934).jpg|Detail of the back of a pair of Levi jeans

• Jean jacket

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=Carin T. |last=Ford |year=2004 |title=Levi Strauss: The Man Behind Blue Jeans (Famous Inventors) |publisher=Enslow Publishers |isbn=0-7660-2249-8 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/levistraussmanbe0000ford}}
• {{cite book|first=Elizabeth |last=Van Steenwyk |year=1988 |title=Levi Strauss: The Blue Jeans Man |publisher=Walker |isbn=0-8027-6795-8 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/levistraussbluej0000vans}}
• {{cite book |first=Ed |last=Cray |year=1978 |title=Levi's: The Shrink to Fit business that stretched to cover the world |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=0-395-26477-4}}

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