Equality has been a cornerstone of our company’s ethos since its inception. To this day, Levi Strauss & Co. continues to strive for fair work standards — from our factories and stores around the globe to the communities we serve. In honor of Black History Month, we’re looking back at some of the ways we’ve championed for inclusiveness and diversity throughout the years.
I’m proud to work for a company with such a long history of fighting for equality and inclusion. It always chooses the harder right over the easier wrong.
– Jen Sey, Chief Marketing Officer, Levi Strauss & Co.
RESETTING STANDARDS
Throughout our history, equality has remained part of our global DNA. We started desegregating our factories during World War II — a decade before it was mandated by law. By the 1970s, we established new programs dedicated to recruiting people of color. We also encouraged our vendor partners to foster diversity in their workforces.
Levi Strauss & Co. chairman emeritus Bob Haas speaks to Project Change in El Paso, TX.
In 1989, the Levi Strauss Foundation sponsored a research study on the state of race relations in the United States. These findings are what sparked our 1991 funding initiative, Project Change, which tackled racial prejudice in communities where we had facilities.
Employees at the Blackstone, Virginia factory in the early 1960s.
We’re proud of our company’s commitment to diversity and social justice in the last century, and we’ll continue to push for equality in the workplace.