Levi Strauss CEO Sees Opportunity In Industry Tumult

As Levi’s aims to benefit from difficulties in a sector that compresses years of transformation into a matter of months, Levi Strauss Chief Executive Chip Bergh said in the Financial Times that a myriad of retail bankruptcies is “tip of the iceberg.”

The executive’s comments come days following the filing of Chapter 11 by two of its denim rivals. “The list [of recent failures] is already pretty long and I expect it’s going to get longer,” Bergh told the paper. “What’s happened from a health and economic impact obviously is devastating. But our whole attitude on this has been, crisis creates an opportunity.”

GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders said per FT, “There is a case to say that in a stronger market, with fewer competitors, Levi could do well, but the market share will not transfer automatically.”

Another rise in COVID-19 cases domestically could disrupt the industry even more. The lion’s share of Levi’s almost 1,000 retail locations operated by the firm are open. However, Bergh said it was “almost a certainty” that the firm would shutter certain locations once more in the places most impacted if cases keep rising.

However, the report noted that approximately 70 percent of recent Levi.com visitors had not previously signed on to the platform.

The denim maker is not the only brand aiming to benefit from the change. American Eagle Outfitters Executive Chairman Jay Schottenstein said per the report that the firm was intending to have “some very aggressive campaigns” to take a larger portion of the fragmented denim sector.

The news comes as Lucky Brand had begun Chapter 11 proceedings to allow for a sale and a lower debt load. The retailer had said in a previous announcement that it has taken in new financing commitments that will provide sufficient liquidity to fund it up to the sale’s closing.