Business Wars

It's the 1930s and Californian jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. is struggling. The Great Depression is destroying jobs and killing demand for its denim workwear. So when a craze for the Old West boosts demand for jeans, Levi's and its rival Lee seize the moment. But then an unfamiliar stranger swaggers into town looking to make their battle a three-way shootout.

It's the mid-1800s and a young wholesaler called Levi Strauss is looking to cash in on the California Gold Rush. But when a wandering tailor approaches Strauss with a revolutionary idea, his business takes an unexpected turn into the world of workwear — and it will change his family’s destiny.

It's the 1950s and young Americans are idolizing the new wave of Hollywood rebels and horrifying their parents by wearing jeans. But as these post-war renegades take denim duds out of the workplace, the jean giants find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Do they hold fast to their traditional base of cowboys and factory workers, or embrace the teenagers who are adopting denim?

It's the late '60s and Levi's is seeking to stay on trend by tuning into the flower-power movement taking over San Francisco. But keeping up with the ever-shifting tides of fashion is harder than it looks and soon Europe will be taking jeans onto an unfamiliar battleground: the catwalk.

It's the '80s and Levi's is far out in front in the battle for denim dominance. But Lee owner V.F. Corporation isn't giving up. It's about to make a major move that will pile the pressure on Levi's and threaten its status as market leader.

It's 1999 and Levi's is a company in trouble. It's drowning in debt, out of fashion, and hobbled by sub-par distribution. But while Levi's searches for a way to make a comeback, a new, fast-growing enemy is out to convince people to abandon jeans altogether.

Consumers are increasingly looking to buy from brands whose values match their own, and denim is no different. These days, the jeans giants are not only facing down threats from each other, but navigating a new era of partisan consumerism. For more on how denim and other industries are appealing to consumers on both sides of the aisle, we speak with Cait Lamberton. She's a professor of marketing at Wharton who specializes in consumption behavior and marketing practice. Plus, she shares advice for entrepreneurs wondering whether to take their brands political.