Abstract

When Michelle Gass (Gass) took charge as the CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) in January 2024, the company was facing declining sales in the US wholesale channel with the consumer having become increasingly wary of spending on premium denim, thus hurting the company’s sales. To arrest the decline in its sales, in January 2024, LS&Co., under the leadership of Gass, announced a restructuring initiative known as ‘Project Fuel’. Through the restructuring, the company aimed to streamline its operations and pivot toward a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) first strategy. Gass also aimed to make LS&Co. a full lifestyle brand by adding more apparel in the women’s segment, in addition to its jeans. Despite the restructuring initiatives, LS&Co. anticipated that its net revenues could decline by 1% to 2% for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2025, attributable to increasing competition in the global denim market and consumers tightening their belts. Amidst these challenges, what should Gass and her team do to increase the sales at LS&Co. and achieve the company’s target of garnering revenues of US$9 billion to US$10 billion by 2027? Gass aimed to garner 50% of the company’s sales from its women’s business by 2027. How can she do that?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Appreciate the unique strengths women bring to leadership roles.
• Analyze the issues and challenges women leaders face in leadership roles.
• Apply the corporate restructuring process to understand how leaders/CEOs can tackle business challenges successfully.
• Formulate strategies for leaders/CEOs to help companies increase their sales during difficult times.

Keywords

Direct-to-Consumer; Market leadership; Global denim market; US wholesale segment; Charles V Bergh; Retail productivity; e-commerce; Organizational layers; Brand-led strategy; Inventory management; Labor allocation; Sales effectiveness; Harmit Singh; Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter; Cowboy Carter,Jacob Davis; Target Corporation; Denizen; Signature; Walmart Inc.; Rag & Bone; Buck Mason; Wrangler; Nordstrom Inc.; Macy’s Inc.