Levi's Australia
Clothing wholesaler

Overall

Owned USA
Rating C
About the Ratings

Company Ownership

Levi Strauss Australia Pty Ltd
AUS
Levi Strauss & Co
owns 100% of Levi Strauss Australia Pty Ltd
USA
Clothing
While the company became publicly listed in 2019, descendants of the family of Levi Strauss still own about 75%.

Company Assessment

(Last updated Aug 2024)
Levi Strauss Australia Pty Ltd
Information
Breaching advertising codes
This company has been criticised for offensive advertising. In 2008 the Advertising Standards Bureau upheld complaints about an ad by this company on the grounds that it breached advertising codes. The ad was subsequently discontinued or modified.
Levi Strauss & Co
Praise
Supply chain practices in China
The Green Supply Chain Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI) evaluates consumer-facing companies that have a sizeable supply chain in China. The evaluation uses government supervision data and public information to assess the environmental management of their supply chains in China. This company received a score of 88.6/100 (retrieved 24 Nov 2023).
Source: IPE (2023)
CDP Climate Change score of A-
In 2023, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) asked companies to provide data about their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change risk. Responding companies are scored across four key areas: disclosure; awareness; management; and leadership. This company received a CDP Climate Change score of A-.
Source: CDP (2023)
CDP Water Security score of A-
In 2023, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) asked companies to provide data about their efforts to manage and govern freshwater resources. Responding companies are scored on six key metrics: transparency; governance & strategy; measuring & monitoring; risk assessment; targets & goals; and value chain engagement. This company received a CDP Water Security score of A-.
Source: CDP (2023)
64.5% in Sustainable Cotton Ranking
The 2020 Sustainable Cotton Ranking, published by WWF, Solidaridad and the Pesticide Action Network UK analysed the 77 largest cotton users among international apparel brands and retailers, reviewing their policies, actual uptake of more sustainable cotton and transparency in their supply chains. According to the report, this company is "leading the way" with a score of 64.5%. The average score was 18.2% and the highest score was 79.2%.
60/100 in Fashion Transparency Index
The 2023 Fashion Transparency Index reviewed 250 of the world's largest fashion brands and retailers and ranked them according to how much they disclose about their human rights and environmental policies, practices and impacts. Brands owned by this company scored 60%, signifying that it is publishing detailed supplier lists and the vast majority of policies, procedures and future goals. The average score was 26% and the highest score was 83%.
100% on Corporate Equality Index
This company is listed as having best practice on a report card on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in corporate America.
COVID Fashion Commitments
In 2020 Baptist World Aid Australia released The COVID Fashion Report, a special edition of their Ethical Fashion Report. The report is framed around six COVID Fashion Commitments that ask companies to demonstrate the steps and measures they are taking to protect and support the most vulnerable workers in their supply chains. This company showed evidence of actions that cover ALL areas of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
Turkmen Cotton Pledge signatory
This company has signed the Cotton Pledge with the Responsible Sourcing Network, signifying a public commitment to not knowingly source Turkmen cotton for the manufacturing of any of their products until the Government of Turkmenistan ends the practice of forced labor in its cotton sector. Each cotton season, Turkmen public sector workers are forced by the government to fulfill cotton picking quotas and private businesses are forced to contribute to the efforts financially or with labor. This places a huge burden on the health, education, and general well-being of Turkmen citizens.
Transparency Pledge
The Apparel and Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge (Transparency Pledge) helps demonstrate apparel and footwear companies' commitment towards greater transparency in their manufacturing supply chain. Transparency of a company's manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to collaborate with civil society in identifying, assessing, and avoiding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts. This is a critical step that strengthens a company's human rights due diligence. This company is fully aligned with the Transparency Pledge, thereby committing to regularly publish on its website a list naming all sites that manufacture its products.
Materials sourcing
The Material Change Index (MCI) is a voluntary benchmark that tracks the apparel and textiles sector's progress toward more sustainable materials sourcing (cotton, polyester, nylon, manmade cellulosics, wool, down and leather), as well as alignment with global efforts like the Sustainable Development Goals and the transition to a circular economy. This company is identified as one of 54 "Leading" companies.
Criticism
F grade in Plastic Promises Scorecard
As You Sow's 2024 Plastic Promises Scorecard measures the corporate ambition and action of 225 large companies across six industries on six core pillars of plastic packaging pollution prevention: 1) Recyclability, 2) Reduction, 3) Recycled Content, 4) Recovery, 5) Reuse, and 6) Producer Responsibility. This company received a grade of F.
Efforts to pay a living wage
The Clean Clothes Campaign report, Tailored Wages 2019 analyses responses from 32 top clothing brands about their progress in implementing a living wage for the workers who produce their clothes. This company received the lowest possible grade in the report, meaning they produced no evidence that any worker making their clothes was paid a living wage anywhere in the world.
Workers rights in India
Female migrants employed in garment factories in Bangalore, India are recruited with false promises about wages and benefits, and are subjected to conditions of modern slavery. They work under high-pressure for low wages, and live in hostels with poor living conditions while their freedom of movement is severely restricted. This company was identified in the 2018 report "Labour Without Liberty" as sourcing garments from these factories.
Forced labour in China
The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of international brands. The 2021 Laundering Cotton report investigates how forced-labour-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains of well-known international clothing brands, including brands owned by this company.
Cashing in on wage theft
In 2023 a group of unions and NGOs released a report that reveals how Nike, VF and Levi's and their wealthiest investors are profiting through wage theft from workers in their Asian supply chains. The report "Big Fashion Investors Cash In on Wage Theft" shows that after quickly bouncing back from a brief pandemic slowdown in 2020, Nike, VF and Levi's executives and investors have seen their profits skyrocket through stock buybacks and dividends. Meanwhile, the vast majority of garment workers, who lost on average 22% of their normal wages in 2020, have received no payback and remain in permanent crisis, with many factories continuing to steal overtime pay or pay subminimum wages.
19/100 S&P Global ESG Score
This company received an S&P Global ESG Score of 19/100 in the Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods category of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices (last updated 7 Feb 2021). The rankings are based on an analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, environmental reporting, climate strategy, human rights and labour practices.
Workers rights in Ethiopia
This company sources garments from Ethiopia, where workers are paid an average of the equivalent of US$26 per month, the lowest in the world, according to a 2019 report from New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. Based on that amount, "Workers, mostly young women from poor farming families, cannot afford decent housing, food, and transportation."
4.5/20 in Social Benchmark
The 2024 Social Benchmark assesses the world's 2,000 most influential companies on their responsibility in meeting society's fundamental expectations towards three measurement areas: respecting human rights, providing decent work, and acting ethically. This company was assessed in 2022 and received a score of 4.5/20. The average score was an alarmingly low 4.6/20 and the highest score was 15.5/20.
Information
Sweatshops in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines
This 2011 report by the International Textile Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) examined working conditions in 83 factories in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Investigations found that widespread violations and abuses of workers' rights continue to be the norm, such as underpaying workers, long hours, forced overtime, and repression of the freedom of association. This company's brands were found to be made in one or more of the 83 factories covered in the research. [Listed under Information due to age of report]
Breaching advertising codes
This company has been criticised for offensive advertising. In 2012 the UK Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints about a magazine ad by this company on the grounds that it breached advertising codes. The ad was subsequently discontinued or modified.
Wage theft in Haiti
This 2013 report by the Workers Rights Consortium reveals that the majority of Haitian garment workers are being denied nearly a third of the wages they are legally due as a result of the factories' theft of their income. Wages for garment industry workers in Haiti are already among the lowest in the world. This company was named as being complicit in this wage theft.[Listed under Information due to age of report]
Failure to sign International Accord
This company has been called out by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) for not signing the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile & Garment Industry. All of the brands that have not yet signed the Accord continue to put workers' lives at risk and CCC urge them to sign on as soon as possible.
Detox commitment
Greenpeace launched its "Detox My Fashion" campaign in 2011 to expose the direct links between global clothing brands, their suppliers and toxic water pollution around the world. As a result, many companies, including this one, committed to Greenpeace's Detox Program. The 2016 Detox Catwalk report focused on implementation, assessing the steps taken by fashion brands to fulfil their commitments using three criteria: Detox 2020 plan, PFC elimination and Transparency. This company is "committed to Detox and has made progress implementing its plans, but its actions need to evolve faster to achieve the 2020 Detox goal".
Zero discharge of hazardous chemicals
In 2011, a group of major apparel and footwear brands and retailers, including this company, made a shared commitment to help lead the industry towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020. It includes specific commitments and timelines to realize this shared goal.
Source: ZDHC (2023)
Climate action commitments
As listed on the We Mean Business website, this company has committed to the following climate action initiatives: adopt a science-based emissions reduction target.
Sandblasting
This company has publicly banned sandblasting. Sandblasting is a dangerous and deadly process which involves workers firing sand at jeans under high pressure. It has been known to kill workers within months as the inhalation of large amounts of silica dust generated during sandblasting causes silicosis, a potentially lethal pulmonary disease.
Supply Chain Compliance
This 2010 report by As You Sow, "Toward a Safe, Just Workplace: Apparel Supply Chain Compliance Programs", provides a scorecard and report focus on company programs such as: factory auditing, remediation, continuous improvement, collaboration, company management accountability, and transparency. This company received a B+ rating. [Listed under Information due to age of report]
Uzbek Cotton Pledge signatory
This company signed the Uzbek Cotton Pledge with the Responsible Sourcing Network, signifying a public commitment to not knowingly source Uzbek cotton for the manufacturing of any of their products until the Government of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced labor in its cotton sector. However the Pledge was lifted in March 2022 after the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, who monitored the annual cotton harvest since 2010, found no state-imposed forced labor in the 2021 harvest.
Gender equality
This company appears on the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, signifying a commitment to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency.
Fur free
This company has announced that they don't sell animal fur or are phasing in a fur-free policy.
Angora ban
This company has taken angora items off the shelves and promised not to use angora again, following a PETA campaign launched in Dec 2013 which revealed the cruelty inflicted on angora rabbits in Chinese factory farms, where 90% of the world's angora is produced.
Source: PETA (2018)
Use of RDS-certified down
This company has committed to making products with RDS-certified down. The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) is an independent, voluntary global standard which ensures that down and feathers come from ducks and geese that have been treated well, with no live plucking or force feeding. However the RDS has been criticised by PETA, who claim live plucking still occurs at RDS farms. (https://bit.ly/3TAiNB6)
Source: RDS (2022)
Use of non-mulesed wool
Brands owned by this company are listed in Human Society International Australia's Better Wool Guide as using 100% non-mulesed wool from a robust certification scheme, or has a time-bound commitment to do so. Mulesing is the controversial practice of removing strips of the skin of a lamb's rear and is often done without pain relief. In Australia, the only country where mulesing still occurs, an estimated 10 million merino lambs are subjected to mulesing each year - equivalent to 19 lambs per minute.
UN Global Compact participant
The United Nations Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of 10 values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment, and anti-corruption. However it's non-binding nature has been widely criticised, and many signatory corporations continue to violate the Compact's values.
Contract Factory Disclosure List
This list was given to the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation during their campaign to force multinational buyers to disclose their suppliers to the public. Since 2005 a steady stream of brands have been releasing details of their supplier factories.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition member
This company is a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in March 2011 by a group of global apparel and footwear companies and non-profit organizations (representing nearly one third of the global market share for apparel and footwear). The Coalition's goals are to reduce the apparel industry's environmental and social impact, and to develop a universal index to measure environmental and social performance of apparel products.
Textile Exchange member
This company is a member of the Textile Exchange, a global non-profit that works closely with its members to drive textile industry transformation in preferred fibres, integrity and standards and responsible supply networks. They identify and share best practices regarding farming, materials, processing, traceability and product end-of-life in order to reduce the textile industry's impact on the world's water, soil and air, and the human population.
Better Cotton Initiative member
This company is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative, a voluntary program which encourages the adoption of better management practices in cotton cultivation to achieve measurable reductions in key environmental impacts, while improving social and economic benefits for cotton farmers, small and large, worldwide.
Sustainability claims
This company has extensive sustainability claims on its website in the areas of people, planet, products and production.
Better Work Partner
This company is a partner of Better Work, an initiative of the UN's International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation which brings diverse groups together - governments, global brands, factory owners, and unions and workers - to improve working conditions in the garment industry and make the sector more competitive.
CanopyStyle member
This company is a member of the CanopyStyle initiative, which came about when research found that millions of trees are used every year to produce dissolving pulp, a key ingredient for fabrics such as rayon/viscose. The campaign seeks to phase out the use of endangered forest fibre in fabric.
GC3 member (Green Chemistry)
This company is a member of the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3), a business-to-business forum that advances the application of green chemistry and design for environment across supply chains. It provides an open forum for cross-sectoral collaboration to share information and experiences about the challenges to and opportunities for safer chemicals and products.
Source: GC3 (2019)
Fashion Charter signatory
This company is a signatory to the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, a United Nations initiative which contains the vision to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Leather Working Group member
This company is a member of the Leather Working Group, a multi-stakeholder group who's objective is to develop and maintain a protocol that assesses the compliance and environmental performance of tanners and promotes sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry.
38/100 in What Fuels Fashion?
What Fuels Fashion? is a single-issue, special edition of the Fashion Transparency Index. The 2024 report ranked 250 of the world's largest fashion brands and retailers according to their level of disclosure on climate and energy-related data in their own operations and supply chains. Brands owned by this company scored 38%. The average score was 18% and the highest score was 75%.
39/100 in 2022 Ethical Fashion Report
Baptist World Aid Australia's '2022 Ethical Fashion Report' assessed 120 companies on their efforts to mitigate against the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry. Assessment criteria fall into five main categories: policy & governance, tracing & risk, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental sustainability. This company received a score of 39/100.
Modern Slavery statement
California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.
BHRRC company profile
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre digital platform presents news and allegations relating to the human rights impact of over 20,000 companies. Their enhanced Company Dashboards also include financial information, key data points based on corporate policies, and scores from prominent civil society benchmarks. Follow the link and use the search function to view this company's dashboard.
30.2% in Gender Benchmark
The 2023 Gender Benchmark ranks 112 companies from the apparel and food and agriculture sectors on their efforts to drive gender equality and women's empowerment across their entire value chain. Companies are assessed on governance and strategy, representation, compensation and benefits, health and well-being, violence and harassment, and marketplace and community. This company ranked #27/112, with a total score of 30.2%. The average score was 23% and the highest score was 55%.
30/100 in KnowTheChain Benchmark
In 2023 KnowTheChain benchmarked 65 apparel and footwear companies on their efforts to identify and tackle forced labour risks in their supply chains. This company received a score of 30/100. The average score was 21/100 and the highest score was 63/100.
26.6% in Nature Benchmark
The Nature Benchmark ranks 816 companies across 20 industries on their efforts to protect our environment and its biodiversity. Companies were assessed in three phases between 2022 and 2024 using three measurement areas: governance and strategy; social inclusion and community impact; and ecosystems and biodiversity. This company was assessed in 2022 and is ranked #123/816, with a total score of 26.6/100.

Company Details

Type:
Wholly-owned subsidiary
Revenue:
39 million AUD (2008)
Employees:
86 (2008)

Contact Details

Address:
7/11 Eastern Rd, South Melbourne, VIC, 3205, Australia
Phone:
03 9864 0501
Freecall:
1800 625 603
Website:
www.levis.com.au

Products / Brands

Levi's Australia
Beyond Yoga Activewear
Denizen Denim
Dockers Denim
Levi's Youth Fashion
Levi's Womens Plus Size
Levi's Denim
Levi's Womens Fashion
Levi's Menswear (casual)