My Levi’s Watchlist

Here are three things worth paying attention to based on what leadership is signaling and what I observed:

1 – Blue Tab Goes Wholesale. With DTC sitting at 51%, there is a good opportunity for thoughtful wholesale expansion. I predict Blue Tab exclusives with luxury specialty retail partners.

2 – Head-to-Toe in Color. More tops are coming, and I expect a heavier feminine skew, because that is where the category fight already lives. Outgoing CFO and Chief Growth Officer Harmit Singh told Yahoo Finance that Levi’s is expanding its color palettes and that he has already seen the first-half range. I am watching for material overdevelopment, the tax a brand risks paying for pushing newness into a category.

3 – The Premium Bet, With Premium Risk? The Blue Tab customer is less price-sensitive and worth chasing. But what I am watching out for is sizing discipline.

Here’s why. When I bought denim for Caban, I carried Levi’s at opening price and stacked True Religion, Rock and Republic, Seven, J Brand, Citizens, and Nudie above it. The highest price point was always the hardest to move. I bought the full size run knowing only the 26s and 28s would sell. The rest goes to markdown.

Denim bottoms can be very unforgiving on OTB, margin, and excess. Without size discipline, the markdown risk will show up fast, which quickly devalues an elevated assortment.

The signals right now are strong. Merchandising, marketing, and elevated premium offerings are all working.

Giving the customer a reason to buy more than just perfect-fitting jeans won’t be a problem for Levi’s.