Why Levi’s is teaching high schoolers how to mend jeans

Levi Strauss and Discovery Education are picking up where home economics classes left off. Which is to say, they are teaching high schoolers basic sewing skills. The “Levi’s Wear Longer Project,” launched Jan. 14, starts in San Francisco with workshops at Levi’s Eureka R&D center. A global campaign will follow to share virtual and in-person lessons for tasks such as adding buttons, patching jeans and altering hems. Thirty-five percent of members of Gen Z polled by Levis’s said they would keep their clothes for longer if they knew how to address tears and other flaws — but 41 percent reported having no way to do so. (Levi’s noted similar things about Millennials when it launched repair tutorials in 2014.) “By building up repair skills within the next generation and emphasizing the idea of durability, we’re helping spark a culture of creativity, sustainability and pride in taking care of the things we value,” Levi Strauss President and CEO Michelle Gass said in a statement. Levi’s also appears to be vying for youth brand loyalty to carry forward an identity of durability, which originated with its outfitting 1850s gold miners. “Some brands claim that offering repair creates continued engagement after the point of sale and drives traffic into their stores, which is then converted into new sales on top of the repair,” said New York-based sustainability consultant Liz Alessi. Indeed, Levi’s is among a small yet growing number of brands advancing repair. That often-neglected pillar of the circular economy movement counters the…

Continue reading →