Levi Strauss & Co., a brand with strong online and retail presence, is harnessing AI and Google Cloud to drive innovation and create more personalized, data-driven experiences for its customers.
At the heart of this transformation is the recognition that Levi’s vast trove of historical and real-time data — from the subtle differences in denim textures to global sales trends — holds immense potential to unlock insights that can shape business decisions, enhance customer engagement, and fuel growth.
Levi’s, which sells products via 3,200 retail stores and shop-in-shops, and online platforms, has reported revenues of $6.4 billion in 2024. Levi’s does not reveal its spending on artificial intelligence or digital transformation.
Christopher Clark is the Chief Information Officer of Levi Strauss responsible for traditional IT and digital innovation, including digital transformation, data and AI-driven decision making, and operational excellence.
By leveraging Google Cloud, Levi’s has built a modern data foundation that standardizes, cleans, and integrates information from across the organization. This enables teams to access real-time, actionable insights without relying on a central data team as a bottleneck. From optimizing pricing strategies to refining product recommendations, Levi’s uses machine learning models — both proprietary and those available through Google Cloud — to dynamically adjust to consumer behavior and market trends. For example, their pricing analysis has evolved from static snapshots to nuanced elasticity models, allowing Levi’s to make smarter, more agile decisions about markdowns and promotions.
While Levi’s designers explore global fashion hubs to create future styles, Louis DiCesari, Levi’s global head of data, analytics, and AI, and his team are leveraging machine-learning tools to analyze sales data and consumer trends. This approach enables Levi’s to deliver personalized, data-driven experiences to customers while optimizing business decisions across design, marketing, and merchandising.
Google Cloud says Levi’s data strategy goes beyond internal optimization — it’s directly shaping the customer experience. With generative AI tools like Google’s PaLM 2, Levi’s accelerates content creation, ensuring that product descriptions, marketing materials, and translations align with the brand’s voice and reach customers faster. This AI-assisted content generation streamlines operations while maintaining quality and consistency.
The company’s AI applications also inform design and merchandising decisions, helping Levi’s stay ahead of trends. For instance, by analyzing shifts in fit preferences — like the growing popularity of looser denim post-pandemic — Levi’s can better understand who is buying what, where, and why, leading to more targeted marketing and design choices that resonate with customers across demographics. These insights are fueling campaigns like “Live Loose” in Europe, where Levi’s uses data to guide conversations with wholesalers and deepen engagement with customers seeking specific styles.
While Levi’s embraces AI to optimize processes and enhance customer touchpoints, it remains committed to the human artistry at the heart of its design ethos. The brand sees AI not as a replacement for creativity but as a tool to empower its teams — freeing up time for designers to focus on innovation and allowing marketers to execute campaigns more effectively. Early explorations into AI-assisted design continue, but Levi’s recognizes the limitations of AI in capturing the tactile nuances of fabrics like denim, reaffirming the irreplaceable role of human expertise.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
