Did anyone give a sht when Levis outsourced all U.S. production?

[specimenfred1984]

http://www.alternet.org/story/13095/

[lame54]

1. Their old slogan was...

Levi's - An American Tradition

[marlakay]

2. Did you notice they were the last to go?

My sister n law was one of their top managers and just got laid off a few months ago. She said they tried real hard to stay in the states but when it came to the point of stay and go out of business or leave they left.

And now because of some large stores that sold their clothes going out of business they are failing again.

I agree it is a shame they left but when others are able to cut their costs by doing so its hard, like WalMart where most of us try to stay away but many still go because of the prices.

[sandnsea]

7. Or wondering why Gap and Ralph Lauren

cost so much more than Levi - but made their jeans with foreign Walmart workers long before Levi did. I seriously hope people are not attacking Levi in this thread. Talk about not knowing history.

[LostinVA]

11. They actually left a very, very long time ago

They just had a few operations left here, including the custom-made jeans plant in NC.

I also partly blame them: their men's jeans are terrific -- a HUGE amount of different styles. Their women's? Sad. I can never get over them discontinuing their Silver Tab series -- it was a great meeting between teenager stylish and original. I buy "MIB" ones off of ebay.

My Dad has been in textiles since 1963 -- R&D and some marketing.

[Captain Hilts]

23. I NEVER wear their women's jeans. Kooky styles that change every year.

And there are no pockets or they are too small to get your hands in.

I know the style and size I want in the men's, buy them, have them hemmed and then put them on.

No muss.
No fuss.
Everything isn't uber-low rise.

Levi's like Brooks Brothers, has forgotten that women go there for consistency, not the 'latest'.

[LostinVA]

38. EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've emailed them, and get this email back about buying their "custom-made jeans." I don't want to spend several hundred dollars on a pair of jeans. I want to be able to go buy them off the rack for $50 or so, and be able to wear them until they fall apart.

So, until then, I buy Silver Tabs off ebay.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Yes, I did. The sizing is now really inconsistent. A 34" isn't always a 34". nt

[lurky]

10. Totally true.

The consistency and quality have gone way down. I bought a pair last year and found a cigarette hole under one of the stickers when I peeled it off. !!!

What's interesting to me is that they moved their production to Mexico, but they did not lower prices at all. If anything, they raised prices.

[Hippo_Tron]

16. Yea I've definitely noticed that problem

Which is why I can't order jeans online anymore. I got two pairs of Levis in the same style, same size and they fit completely differently.

[Kalyke]

27. Oh that's true of ALL women's clothes.

Why can't we just use waist, hip, length sizes like men? I can't buy clothes online because I never know what a true size 8 is,

[Captain Hilts]

32. It's maddening. It's another way the industry wastes/waists our time!

[madokie]

4. I couldn't find a date on the article

I quit buying levi's a couple years ago when I first read about them closing their last plant here in America. Maybe I'm mis remembering or something.

[sandnsea]

5. Since everybody was buying Gap

and Ralph Lauren? No. I don't think most people realized what losing Levi manufacturing meant. Just like they didn't realize what losing Keds manufacturing meant back in the 70s and 80s.

[coffeenap]

6. Yes--see my response to the thread about their ads. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Yep I don't buy their product

and have let them know why

I look for things made in the US, or preferably North America

It can be done, not easy

[jumptheshadow]

9. Levi Strauss has been a great company

They wouldn't have gone overseas if it wasn't necessary to stay in business.

In the 1950s they helped integrate Southern towns by refusing to build plants there unless they were absolutely integrated.

They have been out front on many progressive issues for generations.

[Javaman]

20. Um, perhaps not...

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/41668/story.htm

Jeans Firms Pollute Mexican City With Blue Dye
Date: 03-May-07
Country: MEXICO
Author: Frank Jack Daniel

Dozens of industrial laundries, some of which put the finishing touches to jeans for export, discharge a cocktail of bleach, dye and detergents into Tehuacan's wide valley with almost no government controls, residents say.

In just one example of the widespread pollution, a dark blue sludge fills a ditch behind the high-tech Grupo Navarra factory, where jeans are bleached and dyed for brands made by Levi Strauss & Co and Gap Inc.

E.J. Bernacki, a Levi Strauss spokesman based in San Francisco, said Grupo Navarra had failed an independent audit of its laundry facilities last year.

[superduperfarleft]

12. I'm more concerned about their risque commercials.

(/sarcasm)

[Kitty Herder]

14. ROFL

At least you have your priorities right. :evilgrin:

[dbackjon]

13. Anybody ever buy anything from these companies listed here?

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/jeans.htm

[Captain Hilts]

24. Bill's Khakis aren't on that list. They're made in Penn. nt

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

15. They left? Wow, they were quiet about it.

Or I was really distracted at the time.

[Breeze54]

21. That took place in the early 90's, I think....

I remember because I was about to apply for a job with them and they closed the local plant. :(

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

22. Ah... I was a teenager then.

I was lucky if I knew what was going on outside my circle of friends.

[snooper2]

17. I did, just like how ViseGrips are being made in China now..

Fuck em'

I don't buy their products

[Forkboy]

18. Great. Now they're getting kids pregnant in other countries, too.

x(

[hlthe2b]

19. Damn right... I haven't bought a pair since...

[patriotvoice]

25. I did, then I stopped buying from them.

Leather pants last soooo much longer, anyway.

[Kalyke]

26. I did.

Two Levi's plants were shut down in my very town, putting a lot of people out of work. It was horrid.

[GentryDixon]

28. The Levis today are not the ones I grew up wearing in the 60's or 70's.

It's hard to find a good pair of Levis that wear and last like the ones of old.

[ContinentalOp]

29. The LVC line is still made in the US.

Pricey, but if you're lucky you can find them on sale.

[ContinentalOp]

31. Actually, it looks like some of their "engineered garments" line is too.

Here are some of their US made products I could find.

http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3256561&cp=3146842.3146846.2929279
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3150594&cp=3146842.3146846.3146929
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3198706&cp=3146842.3146846.3146929
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3006478&cp=3146842.3146846.3146929
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2996362&cp=3146842.3146846.3146927
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2783122&cp=3146842.3146846.3146927

http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2255026&cp=3146849.3146902.3146905
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2147134&cp=3146849.3146902.3146905
http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2147133&cp=3146849.3146902.3146905

Interestingly they have a much bigger line of LVC available in Japan and Europe. I wonder if any of those are made in the USA or if they're mostly made in Japan.
http://www.levi.jp/mens/product/lvc_index.html

[dflprincess]

44. Doesn't Levi (and other companies) manufacture in places like

the Northern Mariana Islands because they can claim the product was made in the U.S.A. but U.S. labor laws don't apply?

[Oilwellian]

30. Wrote them a letter when they moved away

I used to buy their jeans & slacks for my husband and the 4 sons between us. I was extremely disappointed when I learned they were moving their production to Mexico and wrote them a long letter telling them the 5 men in my life will no longer be wearing their product. I've also noticed they're not any cheaper (even though their labor costs went way down) and the quality of their casual slacks aren't what they used to be.

[LeftHander]

33. TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS!!! nt

[Greyhound]

34. I did and haven't bought a pair of Levi's since. n/t

[kwassa]

35. Is there any garment manufacturing still here in the US?

I thought it has all moved offshore.

25 years ago there were lots of immigrant contractors in LA when I lived there, mostly working with illegal labor. I don't know if those still exist.

[ogneopasno]

39. Yes, but you have to look for it. Look here.

http://www.justiceclothing.com/thereis/justice/

There are other places.

[Thothmes]

42. Yes,

the wrk jeans and work shirts I wear are made in Pendlton Oregon.

[zbdent]

36. according to wikipedia ...

"Levi's accelerated US plant closings through the 1990s, closing its last US domestic plant (in San Antonio, Texas) in January 2004"

[EFerrari]

37. We did when they closed down the SF plant.

One of my friends was a designer there. It was hard to see it as the beginning of a trend in those days. :(

[HEyHEY]

40. I did, but I didn't find out until AFTER I bought my last pair of 501s

I actually bought them because I wasn't aware. I thought one of their big selling features was they were still made in the USA. I was sad when I saw the label and discovered I'd been duped.

[JDPriestly]

41. Yes. Won't buy them.

[RoyGBiv]

43. Yes ...

It damn near killed the town where I grew up.

[Liberal In Texas]

45. Put a tariff on them. Then they'll come back. n/t