INTERVIEW with Levi's Senior Vice President Erik Joule

At Levi’s “Design & Sustainability Workshop” last night, the jean giant debuted its plans for better business practices.

A couple hundred biz cas industry folk gathered in a modest, all-white-painted space located at SoHo and Tribeca’s border. Guests sipped rosemary-garnished cocktails and observed the brand’s photography until Senior Vice President Erik Joule spoke.

Joule delivered a dynamic oration hammering down the points of Levi’s eco-initiatives. When he left the podium, I grabbed Joule for a couple quick questions. Here’s what the Levi’s Senior Vice President had to say.

Levi’s is a brand that’s been around for a very long time. What are some ingredients that go into staying relevant in fashion over time?

In the past 15 years, Levi’s actually hasn’t been that relevant. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that we had a major resurgence. I think we lost touch with who we were.

To stay relevant you have to always know who you are. For a brand like Levi’s, it’s about who we are in the context of what’s going on. We’re best when we embody the events of our time.

Today there has been a return to sanity and simplicity, and that’s the core of our brand. For Levi’s that’s what it’s really about.

When you throw out a word like “branding” a lot of people go crazy. Many of your competitors use vibrant colors and flashy campaigns. But your campaigns are just simple, black and white images. Why does Levi’s choose the simple campaigns it does?

If you think about the core of our product that’s the foundation, the 501 jean. It’s a well-crafted, beautiful pair of jeans but it’s really simple.

We went away from this for a time, and we tried to do something else. But that’s not who we are. We make very simple products. So that’s why the images are simple – they embody our brand.

I think simplicity is very underrated. People always think about adding more. But they don’t think about removing.

Can you tell me about some of your eco-initiatives… What’s important to Levi’s?

The sustainability program at Levi’s is a very broad-reaching platform. It’s a conversation that started at the beginning of the company. We introduced a series of rules and regulations in the 80s and 90s for our manufacturers – treating workers in a socially responsible way and also the environment, water purification.

If I talk about what we’re doing today, last year we started a conversation with our consumer about how to care for their jeans. Could you wash your jeans once a week? Could you wash them every other week? Because that’s 21 gallons of water that you’re wasting. Every other week you do it you’re saving 21 gallons. When you’re done with your jeans, recycle them and give them back to Goodwill.

Then the second piece is centered around this idea of waterless and really washing your jeans differently. The third thing is around better cotton. It’s called the BCI, the Better Cotton Initiative. It’s how to grow cotton in a sustainable and socially responsible way. We’re harvesting that, and we’re going to start injecting that into our products next year. So in the end, it’s really about connecting all the dots.

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