Levi Strauss getting in bed with Bloomberg

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
32,890
I guess they don't care about alienating a large segment of their customer base. I hope their stock tanks tomorrow like Nike did after the Kapernik announcement.

https://freebeacon.com/issues/levi-...trol-group-bloomberg-pushes-employees-donate/

Levi Strauss Forms Gun-Control Group with Bloomberg, Pushes Employees to Donate
Clothing company plans to spend millions advocating new gun-control laws

BY: Stephen Gutowski
September 4, 2018 4:35 pm

Levi Strauss announced on Tuesday it would be creating a new gun-control group with billionaire Michael Bloomberg and donating millions of dollars to a collection of established gun-control groups.

The clothing company said it would be partnering with Everytown for Gun Safety and Michael Bloomberg to form Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety in a blogpost on their website. It also said it would set up the Safer Tomorrow Fund, which Levi Strauss said would direct more than $1 million over the next four years to "fuel the work of nonprofits and youth activists who are working to end gun violence in America." The company went on to say it would begin doubling the amount it matches for employee donations to gun-control groups aligned with the fund and pushed employees to use their five hours a month in paid volunteer time at the gun-control groups.

Levi Strauss said while they had already requested customers not carry firearms in their store in 2016 and had supported gun-control initiatives in the past, they felt they needed to become more politically involved in the issue.

"We have a gun violence epidemic in America, and companies like ours—that operate in American communities—can no longer watch from the sidelines," a Levi Strauss spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon. "Although LS&Co. has taken some action to support gun-violence prevention over the last two decades, we believe there is a bigger role that business can play in effecting real change. Through our newly established Safer Tomorrow Fund and involvement in the Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety coalition, we hope to catalyze others to join us and be part of stemming gun violence in this country."

The company did not respond to questions about what specific gun-control laws it hopes to enact through its activism.

Levi Strauss announced the first grants from the Safer Tomorrow Fund would be going to three established groups that have advocated for myriad gun-control laws. Everytown for Gun Safety, Live Free, and Giffords will be the first grant recipients under the company's new plan. Those groups have supported expanding background checks to used-gun sales between private individuals, banning so-called assault weapons, and outlawing the possession of gun blueprints.

The company said the grant to Everytown would be used to support "a series of Youth Leadership Summits organized by volunteers from Students Demand Action." It said the grant to Live Free would go toward training "youth impacted by gun violence on successful gun-violence reduction strategies," and the Levi Strauss Foundation would fund "a series of town halls in cities across the U.S. that are disproportionately impacted by gun violence." The grant to Giffords will be used to "support business community engagement and education on the issue of gun-violence prevention."

Chip Bergh, Levi Strauss president and CEO, justified the decision to become more deeply involved with the gun-control groups by saying it may be unpopular but he felt compelled to do it.

"We can't take on every issue," Bergh said in an op-ed. "But as business leaders with power in the public and political arenas, we simply cannot stand by silently when it comes to the issues that threaten the very fabric of the communities where we live and work. While taking a stand can be unpopular with some, doing nothing is no longer an option."

Bergh went on to say he doesn't "suggest we repeal the Second Amendment or to suggest that gun owners aren't responsible," but there are some weapons nobody should be allowed to own and that some people shouldn't be allowed to own any weapons. He did not elaborate on which guns he wants banned or which people should be banned from owning guns. Bergh did express support for "criminal background checks on all gun sales" as a "common-sense" step that "will save lives."

Bergh then compared those who oppose the company's gun-control stance to segregationists and those opposed to other moves the company has made.

"As a company, we have never been afraid to take an unpopular stand to support a greater good," Bergh said. "We integrated our factories in the American South years before the Civil Rights Act was passed. We offered benefits to same-sex partners in the 1990s, long before most companies did. We pulled our financial support for the Boy Scouts of America when it banned gay troop leaders. While each one of these stands may have been controversial at the time, history proved the company right in the long run. And I'm convinced that while some will disagree with our stand to end gun violence, history will prove this position right too."
 
Levi's are about $50 a pair here. Just one more reason not to buy them I guess.
 
If I was a shareholder, it would be like a smack in the face to wake me to the realization it's not a denim and garment producer anymore and hasn't been for a long time. It's just an empty "brand" asset in a market for fools. It's nothing but a bunch of evil, overprivledged asshats that profit on sheer vanity. Over 99% of their jeans are produced in contract factories overseas, where people actually work, and then imported and sold with a big markup to pad the accounts of those who produce nothing.
 
Popcorn sales are up...ppl are monitoring these companies as a fun thing//watch them tank themselves...is there any more fountain coke please...pass the salt shaker -any napkins? oh yes a wet nap is fine thank you......
 
They have been liberal and anti-gun for at least the last forty years. I remember them coming up on the radar in the late 70's and I haven't bought anything marked Levis since then.

Yes. They have been actively anti-2A for decades. Haven't bought Levi's or their Dockers brand in forever.

Practically all my pants are Carhartt brand now.
 
I'll be avoiding their jeans, but they're a privately held company. I can't say that this bothers me on the same level as it does when publicly held companies get political.
 
A company based in San Francisco, They have been run by commies for a while now. I stopped buying Levis when they outsourced them. If I have to buy Chinese pants I at least want to buy apolitical ones.
 
I don't know why many of these companies insist on alienating or offending half of their customers.
Well, Dicks was one who REALLY ought to have thought more deeply; a good chance >50% of their customers were gun friendly people.

We're living in "interesting times" .......
 
... they're a privately held company. I can't say that this bothers me on the same level as it does when publicly held companies get political.
Good point. My reference to Friedman does not really apply then. Their choice ... and mine is to not do business with them.
 
Last edited:
All hail our corporate overlords! By virtue of having climbed to the top of a business structure, they have proven that they know better than the peons. As their personal incomes rise to thousands of times that of a typical citizen (if that word is still allowed in polite conversation), so too should their political influence also be vast and sweeping.
 
Corporations adopt social policies. There are conservative ones that are denounced also. Vote with your bucks and see if it makes a difference. They have the right to opine about anything.

Didn't Citizens United, seen as a conservative win, give corporations free reign to support political causes?
 
Jeans from Costco or Sam's are $13/pair. I stopped buying Levis when they shipped manufacturing offshore; haven't looked back.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top