Levi's broadens Worker Well-Being Initiative for 25th Anniversary

London - Denim giant Levi Strauss & Co. is set to mark the 25th anniversary of its terms of engagement supplier code of conduct with an expansion of its Worker Well-being initiative.

Levi's has set itself a number of goals to meet by 2025, both within and outside of the company. The three main goals Levi's has committed to include expanding the Worker Well-being initiative to reach over 300,000 workers, implementing the programme with all its strategic vendors and ensuring that over 80 percent of its product volume are produced in Worker Well-being factories.

In addition to achieving these goals, Levi 's aims to share its Worker Well-being best practices, tools and standards with the rest of the industry, in move to become more transparent and in order to ensure the reach and the impact of the programme initiates system level change. "Our intent for the Worker Well-being initiative is to continue to serve as a catalyst to transform the apparel industry by setting a new standard for valuing and investing in apparel workers’ lives," said Chip Bergh, president and CEO in a statement.

"We have seen that when we lead, others follow. From our Terms of Engagement in 1991, to sharing our chemical management system with other brands, to open sourcing our Water Less finishing techniques earlier this year, Levi Strauss & Co. can influence the way other companies do business and create a larger impact by sharing how we do business," added Bergh. ​

​ Launched in 2011, Levi's Worker Well-being initiative aims to develop sustainable business and social benefits for workers by working directly with their suppliers' workers. Since then the denim company has been able to show to suppliers that healthy, financially literate workers are more productive, which in turn contributes to reduced absenteeism and higher employee retention rates. ​

​ In addition, through a grant from the Levi Strauss Foundation, Harvard's Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise program and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health, will develop a universal Worker Well-being measurement toolkit for the wider manufacturing industry. This dashboard aims to help suppliers better understand and analyze the impact of well-being on their workers and business in real-time and will be shared publicly. ​

​ Photo and Infographic: Courtesy of Levi Strauss & Co.