New Jeans Fit Levi Well as Profit Doubles

latimes.com ^ | 10.01.03 | Leslie Earnest

[riri]

For Levi Strauss & Co., the future is stacked on the shelves at Wal-Mart.

The struggling San Francisco-based apparel maker said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit nearly doubled, thanks to a new low-priced brand it began selling at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s 3,000 U.S. outlets two months ago.

Earnings in the quarter ended Aug. 24 jumped 95% to $26.7 million, compared with $13.7 million in the year-earlier period. The results, which also were helped by favorable currency rates, were in line with Levi's projections.

[riri]

Chiasson shrugged off that competition. "We are not going after the $9 consumer," he said

LOL. Pretty soon that is going to be the only consumer left.

[Destructor]

Don't forget Levi-Strauss engages in corporate activism by promoting Gun Control. Levi-Strauss was a big supporter of Handgun Control Inc. I wrote the company a letter informing them that I would boycott their products, and I got and unapologetic response that quoted bogus statistics on "Gun Violence."

I urge all Freepers to boycott Levis-Strauss! Don't buy any Levi's jeans, Dockers, or anything with "the Gap" label. Otherwise you are aiding and abetting Levi-Strauss in undermining the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms! Don't let your kids wear that crap either!!

[RushingWater]

What is the brand name on this? I don't buy anything Levi - Dockers, etc. I'm boycotting them for not giving to the Boy Scouts becasue they aren't gay enough. I hope they go out of business!

[The Westerner]

Will do.

[RushingWater]

You should see me in a department store. I'll pick up some clothing that looks nice, notice the Levi label, and it goes back down immediately.

[Destructor]

"I hope they go out of business!"

Me too! I wasn't aware that Levi-Strauss was dissin' the Boy Scouts! Time for another letter.

[sgtbono2002]

I would suppose that if they sell more Jeans now that they have lowered the price, the price was too much for people to pay. Isnt that capitalism?

[CMClay]

They also moved all manufacturing overseas.
No more Levi's for me.

[Destructor]

Thanks. Check out the "Second Amendment Sisters" web site for more info. Those ladies have spearheaded the boycott movement against "activist" corporations that take our money, and donate part of their profits to anti-gun organizations. I keep wondering when the NRA will wake up on the boycott thing? I've written the NRA about starting a boycott, but haven't gotten a response.

[little-green]

I am begining to think that all of our futures are "stacked on the Wal-Mart shelves." It seems Wal-Mart has become the official last chance for manufacturers, as well as people who need work. As helpful as this is to the economy, and unemployment problems, I feel the more investment in Wal-Mart brings us further away from the small business with personality. Will working for a big Wal-Mart some day be the only option? Am I being sentamentally archaic in my nostalgia for the mom and pop shop?

[Spook86]

It only took Levi-Strauss 30 years to learn that Wal-Mart moves product (duh). Interestingly, the new "downscale" jeans don't seem to be flying off the shelves at my local Wal-Mart. Most of the customers seem to be sticking with brands that have been in the store for years. It would be interesting to see store-by-store comparison of the new Levis vs. Wrangler and Lee, lines that have been sold at Wal-Mart for 20+ years.

[marron]

In our town Levis pulled their product from one of the well known stores in town because the clientele was too blue-collar, they wanted a more urban image. There was a stink, and eventually they backed down, but the sour taste remains.

They lost me when they started playing games with the product. Its difficult enough to get the right size when you have to estimate the correct size after washing, but having different products with different shrinkage rates just complicates it. Combine that with their PR contempt for the people that made them, blue collar and ag people, cowboys, working class people, and they have a self-inflicted problem.

People around the world want to wear Levis because Levis were quintessentially American. So Levis has started to drive away the average American... who thought up that strategy?

[iranger]

"I urge all Freepers to boycott Levis-Strauss! Don't buy any Levi's jeans, Dockers, or anything with "the Gap" label. Otherwise you are aiding and abetting Levi-Strauss in undermining the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms! Don't let your kids wear that crap either!!"

I've been a long time Levi's boycotter, but what is the deal with Gap? My understanding is The Gap, Inc. is completely different than Levi-Strauss.

[harpseal]

Ping on or off this list let me know

[Reagan79]

They also stopped giving money to the Boy Scouts of America because they wouldn't coddle the gay agenda.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

I'm boycotting them for not giving to the Boy Scouts becasue they aren't gay enough.

Seems to be an inevitable occurrence for any company that is headquartered in San Francisco.

[KEVLAR]

Stopped buying them when the first factory moved to Mexico.

[Afronaut]

Levi Strauss to eliminate up to 650 jobs

Facing pressure to lower the prices of its clothes, jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. said Wednesday it will cut up to 650 jobs in the United States and Europe to slash its expenses.

The cuts represent 5 percent of Levi's worldwide work force of 12,500 employees and continues an overhaul that has eliminated thousands of Levi's jobs. Just last year, Levi's closed six U.S. manufacturing plants in a move that laid off 3,600 workers.

The San Francisco-based company said about 350 of its salaried U.S. workers will lose their jobs in the latest purge. Levi Strauss also is pursuing a plan to cut 300 European jobs if it can obtain the required approvals from government regulators who oversee layoffs there.

Most of the U.S. cuts probably will be concentrated in San Francisco, company officials said Wednesday. Other jobs will be eliminated in sales offices scattered across the country.

The jeans maker has been struggling to reverse a six-year slide in its sales as consumers began buying more trendy or less expensive clothes.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/979662/posts

[turk99]

Levi's also quit manufactureing products in the United States. I quit buying anything from them years ago.