All companies have their day of reckoning. Levi-Strauss recently slipped when it lost market share particularly among younger consumers. It slashed its North American work force by 34% and closed almost a third of its US plants. The Wall Street Journal noted that “after more than a century of dominance, Levi’s had grown complacent, ceding ground to megabrands like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and the Gap and fresh names like Paris Blues, Mudd, and JNCO.”[i]
What happened? Levi’s invented jeans and developed the market. The problem is that younger consumers believe that Levi jeans belong to the boomer generation and younger consumers want a newer look, feel, and fit. As well, Levi’s was slow to market the new wide leg jeans at the right time. These missteps allowed new brands with attitude and panache to enter and capture marketshare. So what did Levi’s do? They responded with new ads that proclaimed: “our models can beat up their models.”[ii]
[i] Bounds, Wendy, “Inside Levi’s Race to Restore a Tarnished Brand,” Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1998, p. B1.
[ii] Bounds, Wendy, “Inside Levi’s Race to Restore a Tarnished Brand,” Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1998, p. B1.