| Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO) is a privately | | | | manufacturing of denim overalls only began in the |
| held clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's | | | | 1870s. |
| brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when | | | | Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s. In the |
| Levi Strauss came from Bavaria, Germany to San | | | | 1950s and 1960s, Levi's jeans became popular among |
| Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of | | | | a wide range of youth subcultures, including greasers, |
| his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although | | | | mods, rockers, hippies and skinheads. Levi's popular |
| the company began producing denim overalls in the | | | | shrink-to-fit 501s were sold in a unique sizing |
| 1870s, modern jeans were not produced until the | | | | arrangement; the indicated size was related to the size |
| 1920s. The company briefly experimented (in the | | | | of the jeans prior to shrinking, and the shrinkage was |
| 1970s) with employee ownership and a public stock | | | | substantial. The company still produces these unshrunk, |
| listing, but remains owned and controlled by | | | | uniquely sized jeans, and they still sell very well. |
| descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss' four | | | | By the 1990s, the brand was facing competition from |
| nephews. | | | | other brands and cheaper products from overseas, |
| <a rel="nofollow" | | | | and began accelerating the pace of its US factory |
| onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(' | | | | closures and its use of offshore subcontracting |
| outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=" stocking</a>Levi | | | | agreements. In 1991, Levi Strauss faced a scandal |
| Strauss & Co. is a worldwide corporation | | | | involving six subsidiary factories on the Northern |
| organized into three geographic divisions: Levi Strauss, | | | | Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth, where some |
| North Americas (LSNA), based in the San Francisco | | | | 3% of Levi's jeans sold annually with the Made in the |
| headquarters; Levi Strauss Europe (LSE), based in | | | | USA label were shown to have been made by |
| Brussels; and Asia Pacific Division (APD), based in | | | | Chinese laborers under what the United States |
| Singapore.The company employs a staff of | | | | Department of Labor called "slavelike" conditions. |
| approximately 10,500 people worldwide, and owns and | | | | Cited for sub-minimal wages, seven-day work weeks |
| develops a few brands. Levi's, the main brand, was | | | | with 12-hour shifts, poor living conditions and other |
| founded in 1873 in San Francisco, specializing in riveted | | | | indignities, Tan Holdings Corporation, Levi Strauss' |
| denim jeans and different lines of casual and street | | | | Marianas subcontractor, paid what were then the |
| fashion. | | | | largest fines in US labor history, distributing more than |
| From the early 1960s through the mid 1970s, Levi | | | | $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees.Levi |
| Strauss experienced explosive growth in its business | | | | Strauss claimed no knowledge of the offenses, then |
| as the more casual look of the 60s and 70s ushered in | | | | severed ties to the Tan family and instituted labor |
| the "blue jeans craze" and served as a catalyst for | | | | reforms and inspection practices in its offshore |
| the brand. Levi's, under the leadership of Jay Walter | | | | facilities. |
| Haas Sr., Peter Haas Sr., Paul Glasco and George P. | | | | The activist group Fuerza Unida (United Force) was |
| Simpkins Sr., expanded the firm's clothing line by adding | | | | formed following the January 1990 closure of a plant in |
| new fashions and models, including stoned washed | | | | San Antonio, Texas, in which 1,150 seamstresses |
| jeans through the acquisition of Great Western | | | | (primarily Latina) some of whom had worked for Levi |
| Garment Co.,(GWG), a Canadian clothing | | | | Strauss for decades saw their jobs exported to |
| manufacturer, acquired by Levi's. GWG was | | | | Costa Rica. During the mid and late 1990s, Fuerza |
| responsible for the introduction of the modern "stone | | | | Unida picketed the Levi Strauss headquarters in San |
| washing" technique, still in use by Levi Strauss. | | | | Francisco and staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in |
| Mr. Simpkins is credited with the company's record | | | | protest of the company's labor policies. |
| paced expansion of its manufacturing capacity from | | | | The company took on multi-billion dollar debt in |
| fewer than 16 plants to more than 63 plants | | | | February 1996 to help finance a series of leveraged |
| nationwide from 1964 through 1974. Perhaps most | | | | stock buyouts among family members. Shares in Levi |
| impressive, however, was that Levi's' expansion under | | | | Strauss stock are not publicly traded; the firm is today |
| Simpkins was accomplished without a single unionized | | | | owned almost entirely by indirect descendants and |
| employee as a result of Levi's' and the Hass families' | | | | relatives of Levi Strauss, whose four nephews |
| strong stance on human rights and Simpkins' use of | | | | inherited the San Francisco dry goods firm after their |
| "pay for performance" manufacturing at the sewing | | | | uncle's death in 1902.[13] Levi's bonds are traded |
| machine operator level up. As a result, Levi's' plants | | | | publicly, as are shares of the company's Japan affiliate, |
| were perhaps the highest performing, best organized | | | | Levi Strauss Japan K.K. |
| and cleanest textile facilities of their time. Levi's even | | | | In June 1996, the company offered to pay its workers |
| piped in massive amounts of air conditioning into its | | | | an unusual dividend of up to $750 million in six years' |
| press plants, which were known in the industry to be | | | | time, having halted an employee stock plan at the time |
| notoriously hot, for the comfort of Levi's workers. | | | | of the internal family buyout. However, the company |
| 2004 saw a sharp decline of GWG in the face of | | | | failed to make cash flow targets, and no worker |
| global outsourcing, so the company was closed and | | | | dividends were paid.[14] In 2002, Levi Strauss began a |
| the Edmonton manufacturing plant shut down.[2] | | | | close business collaboration with Wal-Mart, producing a |
| Dockers was launched in 1986. Sold largely through | | | | special line of "Signature" jeans and other clothes for |
| department store chains, helped the company grow | | | | exclusive sale in Wal-Mart stores until 2006.[15] Levi |
| through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to fade. | | | | Strauss Signature jeans can now be purchased at |
| Levi Strauss attempted to sell the brand in 2004 to | | | | several stores in the US, Canada and Japan. |
| relieve part of the company's $2 billion outstanding | | | | The company is now Wal-Mart's largest worldwide |
| debt. | | | | strategic partner, conforming to Wal-Mart's business |
| Launched in 2003, Levi Strauss Signature features | | | | and labor practices.Levi Strauss & Co. closed 58 |
| jeanswear and casualwear.[5] In November 2007, | | | | US manufacturing plants between 1981 and 1990, |
| Levi's released a mobile phone in co-operation with | | | | sending 25% of its sewing operations overseas. Levi's |
| ModeLabs. Many of the phone's cosmetic attributes | | | | accelerated US plant closings through the 1990s, |
| are customisable at the point of purchase. | | | | closing its last US domestic plant (in San Antonio, |
| Jacob Davis was a tailor who frequently purchased | | | | Texas) in January 2004. |
| bolts of cloth made from hemp from Levi Strauss | | | | According to the New York Times, Levi Strauss leads |
| & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis' | | | | the apparel industry in trademark infringement cases, |
| customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn | | | | filing nearly 100 lawsuits against competitors since 2001. |
| pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce | | | | Most cases center on the alleged imitation of Levi's |
| the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and | | | | back pocket double arc stitching pattern (U.S. |
| at the base of the button fly. Davis did not have the | | | | trademark #1,139,254]). Levi's has sued Guess?, Esprit |
| required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to | | | | Holdings, Zegna, Zumiez and Lucky Brand Jeans, |
| Levi suggesting that they both go into business | | | | among other companies. |
| together. After Levi accepted Jacob's offer, on May | | | | By 2007, Levi Strauss was again said to be profitable |
| 20, 1873, the two men received patent #139,121 from | | | | after declining sales in nine of the previous ten years. |
| the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The | | | | Its total annual sales, of just over $4 billion, were $3 |
| patented rivet was later incorporated into the | | | | billion less than during its peak performance in the mid |
| company's jean design and advertisements. Contrary | | | | 1990s.After more than two decades of family |
| to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi | | | | ownership, rumors of a possible public stock offering |
| Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the | | | | were floated in the media in July 2007. |
| California Gold Rush (which peaked in 1849), the | | | | |