Levi Strauss & Co. and its subsidiaries operate as an apparel company worldwide.
Under the company’s Levi's, Dockers, Levi Strauss Signature, Denizen and Beyond Yoga brands, the company designs, markets and sells – directly or through third parties and licensees – products that include jeans, casual and dress pants, activewear, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jackets and related accessories for men, women and children around the world. In the first quarter of 2024, the company announced the stra...
Levi Strauss & Co. and its subsidiaries operate as an apparel company worldwide.
Under the company’s Levi's, Dockers, Levi Strauss Signature, Denizen and Beyond Yoga brands, the company designs, markets and sells – directly or through third parties and licensees – products that include jeans, casual and dress pants, activewear, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jackets and related accessories for men, women and children around the world. In the first quarter of 2024, the company announced the strategic decision to discontinue the Denizen brand. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the company was undertaking an evaluation of strategic alternatives to the global Dockers business, including a sale or other strategic transactions.
The company’s Levi's Brands business, which includes the Levi's, Levi Strauss Signature and Denizen brands, is defined geographically in three reportable segments: Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Global Reach
The company’s products are sold in approximately 120 countries. The company services its customers through its global infrastructure, developing, sourcing and marketing the company’s products around the world. Although the company’s brands are recognized as authentically ‘American’, the company derived over half of the company’s net revenues from outside the United States in fiscal year 2024.
The company’s products are sold in approximately 50,000 retail locations worldwide, including approximately 3,400 brand-dedicated stores and shop-in-shops. In the United States, chain retailers and department stores have traditionally been the primary distribution channels for the company’s Levi's and Dockers products. Outside the United States, department stores, specialty retailers, franchised or other brand-dedicated stores and shop-in-shops have traditionally been the company’s primary distribution channels. Levi's and Dockers products are also sold through the company’s brand-dedicated company-operated retail stores and through the company’s global digital business, which includes the company-operated e-commerce sites, as well as the online businesses of the company’s wholesale customers, including those of traditional wholesalers as well as pure-play (online-only) wholesalers. Beyond Yoga products are sold in the United States primarily through specialty retailers, pure-play wholesalers, brand-dedicated company-operated retail stores and a company-operated brand dedicated e-commerce site. The company distributes Levi Strauss Signature and Denizen brand products primarily through mass channel retailers in the Americas, including the e-commerce sites operated by some of the company’s key wholesale customers and other pure-play customers.
Business Strategies
The company’s strategies are to continue elevating and strengthening all of the company’s brands through integrating product, design, positioning, marketing and consumer experience to ensure they are the ‘Center of Culture’; continue building a harmonized omni-channel marketplace where each channel reinforces the other, driving consumer engagement and increasing their satisfaction; and accelerate the company’s global reach while ensuring its U.S. operations continue to deliver steady growth, including unlocking the potential of Beyond Yoga.
Brands and Products
The company offers a broad range of products, including jeans, casual and dress pants, activewear, tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, jackets, footwear and related accessories. Across all of the company’s brands, pants – including jeans, casual pants, dress pants and activewear – represented 67% of the company’s total units sold in fiscal year 2024. Tops – including shirts, sweaters, jackets, dresses and jumpsuits – represented 27% of the company’s total units sold in fiscal year 2024. The remainder of the company’s products are footwear, which represented 2% of the company’s total units sold in fiscal year 2024, and accessories. Men's products generated 63% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024. Women's products generated 36% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024. The remainder of the company’s products are non-gendered. Products other than denim bottoms – which include tops, footwear and accessories and pants excluding jeans – represented 39% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024.
Levi's Brand
The Levi's brand epitomizes classic, authentic American style and effortless cool. Levi's is an authentic and original lifestyle brand and the #1 brand globally in jeanswear. Consumers around the world instantly recognize the distinctive traits of Levi's jeans, including the Arcuate Stitching Design and the Red Tab Device. The Levi's brand continues to evolve to meet the tastes of consumers, driven by its distinctive pioneering and innovative spirit. The company’s range of leading jeanswear, other apparel items and accessories for men, women and children is available in approximately 120 countries, allowing individuals around the world to express their personal style.
The Levi's brand encompasses a range of products. Levi's Red Tab products are the foundation of the brand, consisting of a wide spectrum of jeans and jeanswear offered in a variety of fits, fabrics, finishes, styles and price points intended to appeal to a broad spectrum of consumers. The line includes the iconic 501 jean, the original and best-selling five-pocket jean of all time. The line also incorporates a full range of jeanswear fits and styles designed specifically for women. Sales of Red Tab products represented the majority of the company’s Levi's brand net revenues globally in fiscal year 2024. The company offers premium products around the world under the Levi's brand, including a range of premium pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear, and related accessories.
The company’s Levi's brand products accounted for 89% of the company’s net revenues in the fiscal year 2024.
Levi Strauss Signature and Denizen Brands
In addition to the company’s Levi's brand, the company offers the Levi Strauss Signature and Denizen brands, which are focused on value-conscious consumers who seek quality craftsmanship and great fit and style at affordable prices. The company offers denim jeans, casual pants, tops and jackets in a variety of fits, fabrics and finishes for men, women and children under the Levi Strauss Signature brand through the mass retail channel primarily in the United States and Canada. The Levi Strauss Signature brand was introduced in 2003. The Denizen brand was introduced in the United States starting in 2011, and includes a variety of jeans to complement active lifestyles and to empower consumers to express their aspirations, individuality and attitudes. The Denizen brand is sold through wholesale accounts primarily within the United States. In the first quarter of 2024, the company announced the strategic decision to discontinue the Denizen brand with operations winding down during fiscal year 2024 and into 2025.
The company’s Levi Strauss Signature products accounted for 3% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024. The company’s Denizen brand products accounted for 1% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024.
Dockers Brand
The Dockers brand continues to be the authority on khaki and offers a wide range of apparel and accessories, for men and women, with no compromises in quality – always superior comfort and versatile style. While the brand remains focused on the classic khaki style and its founding principles, Dockers has evolved its offerings to include more variety and appeal to a broader set of shoppers in both their professional and personal lives. There are approximately 100 company-operated retail stores – predominately in the south of Europe and Latin America. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the company was undertaking an evaluation of strategic alternatives to the global Dockers business, including a sale or other strategic transactions.
The company’s Dockers brand products accounted for 5% of the company’s net revenues in each of the fiscal year 2024 and are sold in approximately 50 countries.
Beyond Yoga Brand
The company’s Beyond Yoga brand is a body positive, premium athleisure apparel brand focused on quality, fit and comfort for all shapes and sizes. Beyond Yoga was founded in 2005 to promote body positivity, honoring and celebrating every body from XXS-4X. The brand produces clothing that fosters well-being in luxuriously soft, no-hassle care fabrics for styles that keep up with the toughest workouts and beyond. Beyond Yoga is about more than just comfort and performance; the brand has created an inclusive community centered on body positivity, the celebration of diversity, and giving back to causes in which it believes. The company is female-founded, female-run and nearly 90% female-led. The brand has seven total stores.
The company’s Beyond Yoga brand products accounted for 2% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024.
Sales, Distribution and Customers
The company recognizes wholesale revenue from sales of its products through third-party retailers such as department stores, specialty retailers, third-party e-commerce sites and franchise locations dedicated to the company’s brands. The company also sells its products directly to consumers through a variety of formats, including the company’s own company-operated mainline and outlet stores, company-operated e-commerce sites and select shop-in-shops located in department stores and other third-party retail locations.
Sales to the company’s top ten wholesale customers totaled 26% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024.
The company also sells its products directly to consumers through shop-in-shops located in certain of the company’s wholesale customers’ and other third-party retail locations. The company operated approximately 600 of these shop-in-shops as of December 1, 2024.
Dedicated Stores and E-commerce Sites
Retail stores dedicated to the company’s brands are important for the growth, visibility, availability and commercial success of the company’s brands, and they are an increasingly important part of the company’s ‘DTC First’ strategy. The company’s brand-dedicated stores are either operated by the company or by independent third parties such as franchisees. In addition to the dedicated stores, the company maintains brand-dedicated e-commerce sites that sell products directly to consumers.
Company-operated brick-and-mortar retail stores. The company-operated retail stores, comprising both mainline and outlet stores, generated 31% of the company’s net revenues in fiscal year 2024. As of December 1, 2024, the company had 1,276 company-operated stores located in 39 countries. The majority of the stores are dedicated to the Levi's brand, with 458 stores in the Americas, 299 stores in Europe, and 406 stores in Asia. The company had 106 Dockers brand-dedicated stores globally and 7 Beyond Yoga stores as of December 1, 2024. During 2024, the company added 157 company-operated stores and closed 53 stores.
Franchised and other stores. Franchised, licensed, or other forms of brand-dedicated stores operated by independent third parties sell Levi's and Dockers products in markets outside the United States. There were approximately 1,300 of these stores as of December 1, 2024, and they are a key element of the company’s international distribution. In addition to these stores, the company considers its network of brand-dedicated shop-in-shops, which are located within department stores and other third-party retail locations and may be either operated directly by the company or third parties, to be an important component of the company’s retail distribution in international markets. Outside the United States, approximately 110 of these shop-in-shops were operated by third parties as of December 1, 2024.
E-commerce sites. The company maintains brand-dedicated e-commerce sites, including www.levi.com, www.dockers.com and www.beyondyoga.com, that sell products directly to consumers across multiple markets around the world. These sites represented 10% of total net revenues in fiscal year 2024 and 21% of DTC channel net revenues in fiscal year 2024.
Seasonality of Sales
The company typically achieves its largest quarterly revenues in the fourth quarter (year ended December 2024). In fiscal year 2024, the company’s net revenues in the first, second, third and fourth quarters represented 24%, 23%, 24% and 29%, respectively, of the company’s total net revenues for the fiscal year.
The company typically achieves a significant amount of revenues from its DTC channel on the Friday following Thanksgiving Day, which is commonly referred to as Black Friday.
Marketing
The company’s marketing organization includes both global and commercial marketing teams. The company’s global marketing team is responsible for developing a toolkit of marketing assets and brand guidelines to be applied across all marketing activities, including media, engagement, brand environment and in-store activation. The company’s commercial marketing teams adapt global tools for local relevance and execute marketing strategies within the markets where the company operate.
Intellectual Property
The company has more than 6,100 trademark registrations and pending applications in approximately 180 jurisdictions worldwide, and the company acquires rights in new trademarks according to business needs. The Levi's, Dockers, Beyond Yoga and 501 trademarks, the Arcuate Stitching Design, the Tab Device, the Two Horse Design, the Housemark and the Wings and Anchor Design are among the company’s core trademarks.
The company protects these trademarks by registering them with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and with governmental agencies in other countries, particularly where the company’s products are manufactured or sold. The company is pursuing approximately 320 infringement matters around the world.
As of December 1, 2024, the company had 82 issued U.S. patents, 17 issued foreign patents and 23 U.S. patent applications pending. The company’s patents expire between 2025 and 2043. The company also had 16 international and foreign patent applications pending.
History
Levi Strauss & Co. was founded in 1853. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1970.