CREATING A SUB-BRAND

Stephanie Cafasso, Stephanie DeBruin, Shaynna Cutler, Evan

Sauve,Will Jones

HISTORYLevi Strauss & Co.

Originated in 1849 to sell durable pants to gold

miners

1890: “501 Jeans” evolved into an American icon

Levi’s brand name became synonymous with

jeans.

“We had

diversified

too much…”

1980-1982: Sales fell 10% and net income dropped 76%

Decline in jeans purchases because the baby boomers were aging

Slacks sales increased and companies were relaxing their dress codes

BOB HAASFORMER

CHAIRMAN OF LEVI

STRAUSS & CO.

COMBINES STYLE, VERSATILITY, & COMFORT

1986

A brand for both professional and leisure activities.

More contemporary, less conservative, and more casual than other leading slacks.

By 1993, Dockers was a $1 billion brand

NICE PANTS

Wrinkle-free look-a-like brand led to Dockers’ first drop in sales

Dockers was losing existing customers and failing to attract new customers

To counteract this: Dockers launched its wrinkle-free and “nice pants” campaign

The sexed-up campaign led to a reversal in

sales decline.

Sales went up by 21%

Dockers gained 26% of the khaki market share

Despite sales gains, Dockers still wanted to appeal to younger consumers.

Dockers modified their “Nice Pants” campaign.

SALES DROPPED

AGAIN

1998-2004DIVERSIFICATIONDockers for Her

Dockers Recode

Dockers Mobile Pant

Dockers for Girls, Boys, Toddlers, and

Infants

Dockers Travel

Dockers Headwear, Gloves, and Scarves

Dockers Tour (golf)

Dockers Hi-Tech

Dockers was going to sell the company but

didn’t.

Dockers installed a new president to the brand: John Goodman

Goodman established a new logo, a new

tagline, and a reorganized men’s

line.

2004: 20% sales decline

FOUR WEARING OCCASIONSwork • weekend • dress •

golf“Head-to-toe lifestyle brand”

Makes consumers aware of an expanded range of product lines

Sales held flat in 2005, but there was a higher profit, meaning higher margins (more expensive

products were being sold)

DOCKERS IN 2011

SUMMARY There was a gap in the

market for “new casuals”/slacks and Levi

Strauss & Co. took advantage of this opportunity.

Dockers felt that they had to constantly restructure their brand to keep up with the times and with changing

consumer tastes.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Instead of expanding to new markets (home, travel, gloves, etc…), Dockers needs to focus on

their already established target market.

Dockers is on the right track.

“We have taken the category we owned and reinvented it for

today.”