PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Two-Way Trade: Slow but Steady
Apparel maker Levi Strauss & Co. began sourcing product from
India in 1983. It set up a commercial business, Levi Strauss, India,
in Bangalore in 1995, to open Levi’s retail outlets under a franchise
model. At the time, the company was still primarily a maker and
seller of denim clothing.
By the late 1990s, denim sales were slowing, and Levi Strauss
was finding it difficult to attract and train the right franchisees in the
right locations. Managing director C.S. Suryanarayanan changed
the model, convincing management in San Francisco to launch the
Dockers brand in India in 1999. The line was a hit, in part due to
the emergence of casual workwear in the tech sector, emulating
the Silicon Valley dot-com fashion at the time. Denim rebounded in
2002, after the company had broadened its lines to include tops,
shirts, t-shirts and sweatshirts, all under four sub-brands: 501, Red
Tab, Red Loop and Sykes (a line of non-denim streetwear, aimed
at teens, that includes popular reversible clothing and detachable
cargo pants). Levi Strauss & Co. launched the Levi Strauss
Signature brand targeted at the non-premium jeanswear college
consumer in 2006.
Aggressive branding and marketing, plus a proliferation of new
retail malls across India during the current economic boom, has
raised the Levi Strauss footprint from 100 exclusive outlets in 1999
to 450 today in 80 cities, including 215 stores for the Levi’s brand
(including Levi’s Sykes), 100 stores for the Levi Strauss Signature
brand and 35 stores for the Dockers brand. The various brands
also have a footprint in some 2,000 multi-brand stores in more than
500 cities.
Levi Strauss, India marketing director Shumone Chatterjee took
over as managing director in 2004 and has guided Levi’s into new
areas, such as the fast-growing women’s wear segment and
licensing deals for shoes, innerwear, eyewear, watches, and children’s
wear. Levi’s has also been successfully using Bollywood
celebrities in its advertising, including Sushmita Sen (Miss Universe),
Bipasha Basu, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and
Akshay Kumar.
The company’s India business is reportedly growing by 30–40%
annually. In May 2006, a three-story, 9,000-square foot Levi’s
megastore, second only in size to the company’s San Francisco
flagship store, opened on Brigade Road in Bangalore. A new
1,100-square foot store, designed by UK firm Checkland
Kindleysides, opened in Chennai in December 2007—the second
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