Levi Strauss expands factory worker well-being program

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Mar 22, 2016

San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. is expanding its worker well-being program that it created as part of its sustainability core value.

“People are at the center of our success. Whether it’s our employees around the world, the apparel workers who make our clothes, or the people who wear our products, we are committed to doing right by all of them,” states the brand, introducing the program.

The worker well-being program was introduced in 2011, in pilot manufacturing countries Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, Haiti and Pakistan.

The brand explains, “the initiative seeks to move beyond a ‘do no harm’ labor compliance model and instead collaborate with suppliers to improve the lives of apparel workers in locations where our products are made.”

Over 20,000 people were positively impacted in the pilot rounds of the program, with participants seeing a $3 for every $1 spent return on involvement, so the company is expanding it further.

The worker well-being program is part of an overall sustainability effort by the company. Programs are categorized into people, product, production and planet-focused causes. Levi’s places a heavy emphasis on people with programs for apparel workers, HIV/AIDS programs, and equality programs for the community.

Other programs include water, climate change, recycling and reuse, chemical and environmental impact initiatives.