Name: Inside Levi’s CEO’s growth plan: 'We should be at least a $10B company'
Uploaded: 2025-02-24
Duration: 7 min 13 s
Description: Since Michelle Gass took the helm as CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. in January 2024, the company has been on a mission to reach $10 billion. Behind this vision is a fresh collection of luxury denim and streamlined go-to-market strategies designed to elevate the brand's status and reach new markets.

Since Michelle Gass took the helm as CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. in January 2024, the company has been on a mission to reach $10 billion. Behind this vision is a fresh collection of luxury denim and streamlined go-to-market strategies designed to elevate the brand's status and reach new markets.

Inside Levi’s CEO’s growth plan: "We should be at least a $10B company"

Features

Since Michelle Gass took the helm as CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. in January 2024, the company has been on a mission to reach $10 billion. Behind this vision is a fresh collection of luxury denim and streamlined go-to-market strategies.

Since Michelle Gass took the helm as CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. in January 2024, the company has been on a mission to reach $10 billion.

Just a few head of Levi's blue jeans and a lot of heart miles. You see, fashions may change, but quality never goes out of style. For over 170 years, Levi's has defined American Denim. The brand is now tightening its belt and cutting costs in efforts to reinvent itself and return value to shareholders. We made some tough calls. We made some really tough calls, and that was hard. The brand closed out the 2024 fiscal year with $6.4 billion in net revenue. That's 3% growth in Levi's CEO Michell. Goss's first year at the helm. Now we always have to be really tight in the DNA of the brand. Levi's stock price fluctuated throughout the year, going as high as $24 and as low as $15. The brand is up against fast fashion retailers and luxury giants that aim to rise above the competition in the denim market, but will slimming down costs and tapping into the luxury market be enough to expand its control in the denim wars? So big picture, what has been for you the biggest pleasant surprise? I think one of the most exciting things, and I'd also put it to your question, one of the most surprising things is how much of a lift this is around the culture. You know, Levi's, we've been around for 170 years now. There have been many chapters along the way, but Over the last couple of decades, we've operated largely as a product brand company selling through others, a wholesaler, and now we're saying, OK, we still are going to do that, but close to 50% of our business is GTC. And so when you have to make that level of change, and you can do all the process you want, but you've really, you've got to get the buy in of the hearts and minds of the teams and the people, and I know we have their hearts, you know, and we have their minds, but like what does that mean in practice? But hard decisions have also marked her tenure. The company exited its footwear products in Europe, parted ways with its affordable denizen catalog, and began conversations to sell off its Dockers brand. In January 2024, the denno company also announced it would slash up to 15% of its global corporate workforce, part of a larger productivity initiative. We made some. Tough calls and the responsibility, the role I have responsibility I have to all of our stakeholders, our shareholders, our communities, our board, all of our people, everyone we serve is to make sure that this company is set up to thrive over the long term, and we recognize that we had just we had. Gotten too big and so we had to slim down the organization, especially in our corporate offices around the world. In 2024 $289 million in capital was returned to shareholders. This is 45% higher than the year before. In simpler terms, the company gave back significantly more money to its investors compared to the preceding year, rewarding them for their investments. Let's go say hi to Beyonce. Another first year high for Goss was fortifying a decades-long relationship. I had to. Uh. You gave her a shout out in your most recent earnings call. How important are collaborations like that? We call it living at the center of culture, you know, the right collaborations create great brand heat for us, and they drive that relevancy again. A brand that's been around for decades and decades. How do you continue to reinvent might be too strong a word but stay relevant while always staying true to your heritage? The campaign titled Reimagine puts a spin to iconic Levi advertisements with none other than Beyonce and her song Levi's Jeans. The Levi Strauss and Company brand dates to 1853 when it opened as a San Francisco dry goods store during the gold rush. Levi Strauss, a German immigrant, partnered with Latvian tailor Jacob Davis to create a durable pair of pants for working men, and in May 1873, the pair received a US patent for their design. Today, Levi's ranks 2nd among apparel companies on the Fortune Most admired Companies list. This is 5 spots higher than the previous year. The brand has a global presence across 110 countries with about 3400 stores. Meanwhile, the global denim jeans market is expected to hit $95 billion by 2030, and the company is looking to women to carve out a larger stake in the market. Look for Levi's womenswear. Do you think you can ever get to 50/50 in the genders or even majority female? 50/50 feels about right for us. I mean, we have a great men's business. It's go way back when. It's how the company. right, so while I look to the future, and by the way we're a little over a $6 billion company today. I look forward and we should be at least a $10 billion company, and that's going to come through a few ways, but women's is going to be a key means to do that. Levi's is also looking to expand its identity well beyond its denim jeans. To get this done, the company is aiming for its direct to consumer model to account for 50% of business. The brand also looks to triple its e-commerce operations. When I talk about denim dressing, head to toe denim, you know, our consumers are really responding to fun fashion like this. Driving the shift are decisions to ensure consumers have the latest trends. The company is transitioning from a two-season model to a 4 season approach. The company also aims to slash its go. Market timeline from 16 to 12 months. We have to be a lot faster to make sure we're catching the trend. And so we're faster today than we were a year ago, and we're going even faster because you've got to hit it right when it's happening. You can't be too late. And keeping tabs on trends has already proven invaluable. Our teams who are out looking a couple of years see what's happening on the streets, and now. You know, baggy loose like it's everywhere and everybody's wearing it and I'm very pleased to say that it was Levi's who started that trend. Being attentive has also allowed Levi's to tap into the luxury goods space. The brand introduced Blue Tab for its spring 2025 collection featuring sophisticated silhouettes made with Japanese selage denim. We've had a blue tab for quite some Time and it would show up in our Japanese denim made in Japan product and you know that's been out there enough and consumers even play back to us, Oh, it's the blue tab. That must be the good stuff. While Goss is betting on attracting more women to the brand, widening product lineup, and emphasizing TTC to drive growth, her focus remains squarely on sustained expansion. It doesn't have to be heroics, you know, it shouldn't be these big swings up and down, you know, steady beat of nice growth and without risk there is no reward. Now with that in place. We got to deliver. We've got to execute, and there's still opportunities, you know, and there'll be some mistakes along the way. Not everything always goes as as perfectly as one would expect, but I feel like we are poised to deliver.