They don’t have the company’s trademark red tab or stitching on the pocket.) Of course, there’s something in it for Wal-Mart. They have fewer detail finishes than Levi’s other lines. (The jeans, for men, women and children, sell for around $23. This month, Levi’s is introducing its new, less expensive Signature jeans line. Maxx and so on.Īnd you need a new product for this new customer. On the low end, moms are buying Lee and Wrangler for their kids because they’re affordable (on average $10 less than Levi’s Red Tab) and because they find these brands at the superstores they prefer: BJ’s, Sam’s Club, Target, T.J. On the high end of the market, fickle fashionistas are eschewing Levi’s in favor of boutique brands such as Blue Cult, Juicy and Seven. Since the peak, Levi’s, which also makes casual Dockers and higher-end Slates clothing lines, has seen its customer base pulled apart. The competition has nibbled away at Levi’s jeans market share, which has tumbled to about 12 percent from 18.7 percent in 1997. Last year, they fell to $4.1 billion, a six-year low. In 1996, Levi’s sales peaked at $7.1 billion. And by the mid-1990s, Levi’s had missed the baggy pant craze that overtook American high schools. Twentysomethings started going to malls and haunting The Gap. For a time, nothing could come between teenage girls and their Calvins. Almost since its founding 150 years ago, the company has been an American icon. Once upon a time, Levi’s and blue jeans were synonymous.
But these days, not enough customers are buying. An old-fashioned sign, picturing a man in a cowboy hat and coveralls, reads “Levi’s fits ’em all.” As smiling assistants fold T-shirts and straighten 501s, a cargo-style elevator creeps up and down the middle of the building. There’d be echoes in the four-story flagship store on Post Street if not for the techno-jazz pounding on all floors. It’s noon on a Tuesday in late April, and the Levi Strauss in downtown San Francisco is nearly empty.
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