Free Republic

Yes--the Boy Scouts are discriminatory and prejudiced. But what's wrong with that? Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Levi Strauss--and now, apparently, First Interstate Bank has joined the pack--all have made a decision to withhold funds they'd previously earmarked for support of the Boy Scouts of America. Why? The Boy Scout's have a policy not to allow avowed homosexuals into their leadership. The banks charge that the Boy Scouts are discriminating, and they cannot support discrimination. You know my views on homosexuality. I'm not going to discuss them here, per se. Instead, I want to encourage you to look at this ...

Levi Strauss & Co., the closely held maker of Levi's jeans, is seeking a buyer for its Dockers slacks business, sales of which declined last quarter, to help reduce debt and focus on the company's namesake clothing lines. The company hired Citigroup Inc. to help with the sale, San Francisco-based Levi said in a statement. The Dockers brand, introduced in 1986, generates about $1.4 billion in annual sales, or about a third of Levi's total revenue. Chief Executive Phil Marineau has moved production overseas and cut jobs and unprofitable product lines to trim costs and pare debt, which totaled about...

<p>SAN ANTONIO — Levi Strauss & Co., the California Gold Rush outfitter whose blue jeans are a globally recognized symbol of America, closed its last two U.S. sewing plants Thursday.</p> <p>About 800 workers at the 26-year-old San Antonio plants lost their jobs in the move, which was announced last September.</p>

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Levi Strauss & Co., the California Gold Rush outfitter whose trademark blue jeans have been an American clothing staple for generations, on Thursday closed its last two sewing plants in the United States. The financially troubled company has been steadily shifting production to overseas contractors for several years to cut costs and invigorate drooping sales in the ultra-competitive apparel market. About 800 workers at the 26-year-old San Antonio plants have lost their jobs in the move, which was announced in September. Jeff Beckman, a Levi Strauss spokesman, said the 150-year-old company was making a delayed but...

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.

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.San Francisco blue jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. said Thursday it would close its remaining North America manufacturing and finishing plants, firing nearly 2,000 employees in the process, or about 11 percent of its global workforce. The news comes days after the company said it would cut bout 350 salaried jobs in the U.S., with about 300 additional jobs cut in Europe in an effort to reduce costs in the face of reduced product pricing. In April 2002, Levi Strauss closed six of its eight U.S. manufacturing plants, including its oldest...

BUTTENHEIM, Germany, Aug. 28 (JTA) — This year marks a century and a half since a young German Jewish immigrant named Levi Strauss settled in San Francisco, became an American citizen and opened a dry goods store. It also marks 130 years since Strauss and an associate, Jacob Davis, took out a joint patent for “riveted waist-overalls” — heavy-duty work pants reinforced with metal rivets at the corners of pockets, the base of the fly and other stress points. Today, we call their invention jeans. A century after his death, Levi Strauss is a household name around the world. His...

American businesses continue to march in lock step with homosexual ideals.America's top corporations continue to take on policies pleasing to homosexual activists. A new ranking shows more companies than ever are rewriting employee manuals to include gay ideals. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation found that two out of every of three companies on the Fortune 500 list of America's top corporations now specifically protect sexual orientation in their employee codes. The group rated companies on seven criteria, such as offering domestic-partner benefits or diversity training. More than 20 companies scored a perfect 100, representing a 91 percent increase over last...

Levi Strauss stands accused Levi Strauss has shifted production abroad to cut costs Two ex-employees of Levi Strauss are suing the clothing firm, alleging they were sacked for refusing to cover up fraudulent accounting practices at the jeans maker. The suit was filed by tax lawyer Richard Schmidt and accountant Thomas Walsh in the San Francisco Superior Court. Levi Strauss has denied their allegations. Corporate America has been rocked by a series of scandals in the last 18 months as false accounting triggered the collapse of some its most revered names, including Enron and Worldcom. *False claims* Levi Strauss chief...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) - Levi Strauss & Co., the world's No. 1 maker of brand name clothing, saw its bonds drop 12 points Tuesday after a news article was published detailing allegations of accounting fraud. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that two former high-level tax managers recently fired from Levi Strauss claim in a lawsuit that the company booked hundreds of millions of dollars in questionable income and tax deductions that artificially inflated its profit. According to the newspaper, Levi called the allegations completely false and said it had investigated the ex-employees' complaints last year while they still worked...