To: Levi Strauss & Co. Employees



From: Jennifer Popp



Date: Oct. 8, 2012



Subject: Corporate Social Responsibility Update



It is my pleasure to give you an update about our corporate social responsibility – or CSR as many of you know it.



You should be familiar with the “life cycle assessment” that Levi’s has been conducting during the past year. We took a single pair of our 501 jeans and took it through the entire life cycle, including both before and after they are made in the facility. We wanted to find out just how much of an imprint our company is leaving on the environment.



After a full year of tests and analysis, we have the results:



• To our surprise, the majority of waste created was outside of our direct chain supply. Meaning the highest impact on the environment happens before the materials arrive in Levi’s factories and after they are home with consumers.



• Cotton is our main concern and the most difficult. It is a huge contributor to waste and also poses a moral dilemma in regard to child labor practices in some parts of the world where we get our cotton.



• Water is the second largest concern. The amount of water used inside the facility to make the jeans, as well as outside the facility to wash the jeans at home, is significant.



So now we ask the important question: What are we going to do about it? Cotton is a hard issue because to trace back exactly where the cotton we use comes from is nearly impossible. The issue on water is also hard because the majority of water waste happens at home; how can we influence consumers to do things like wash their jeans less and hang dry them?



We have identified two things that our company is going to implement immediately:



• We are changing the care tag instructions on the jeans to instruct consumers to wash using cold water – which will save the planet energy and consumers money.



• We are teaming up with an organization called the Better Cotton Initiative. Better Cotton is an organic cotton supply that has less of an impact on the environment, and it implements strict labor standards.



These are two small steps, but together they will make a significant impact. We will never stop working toward being more sustainable with the environment, and our long-term goal will always remain the same: to be a zero-impact company.



*I wrote this CSR Memo for a class assignment; it is not authorized by Levi Strauss & Co.

Corporate Social Responsibility Memo

Levi Strauss & Co.

Jennifer Popp

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