Levi Strauss Bringing Beyond Yoga into Corporate Portfolio
Historic jeans maker aims at adding a more relaxed image to its garment line
Levi Strauss & Co. has announced its purchase of Beyond Yoga, a growing “premium athleisure” company founded in 2005. It’s the jeans goliath’s first such outreach in at least 10 years, when current CEO Chip Bergh took over, and it shows Levi Strauss recognizes that to continue growth it needs to look beyond denim wear.
As Bergh told Women’s Wear Daily, “This casualization trend has definitely been accelerated because of the pandemic — and not just here in the U.S., [but] on a global basis.”
Entering this trend through an all-cash transaction makes this outreach what Bergh called “a really big day for us.” Reports indicate Levi Strauss expects the acquisition to generate $100 million in sales by the end of 2022.
Levi Strauss chief financial officer Harmit Singh notes that Beyond Yoga more than doubled its profitability over the last three years. Now, as part of Levi Strauss, he feels it will reach an even wider audience.
More than COVID said expand outlook
Over its 167 years of creating and dominating a fashion segment that originally was the working folks’ persona — denim jeans — Levi Strauss worked extensively to move that image to one of play, even relaxation. And it worked — to a degree.
But with work-from-homers booming even prior to the pandemic — over 47 million Americans were doing so before 2020—and then COVID isolation barring outdoor activities, Levi Strauss had no way to compete with clothing transmitting a truly relaxed aura. It’s solution: joining the activewear fashion segment, one that last year gleaned $353 billion in worldwide revenues and which is expected to only keep expanding — up to $439 billion by 2026.
About Beyond Yoga (Graphic: Levi Strauss & Co.)
An activewear with truly broad vision
A major indication of Beyond Yoga’s vision is its very extensive size range — from XXS to 4X. As its mission statement indicates, that range confirms it’s a company whose aim is “to empower our customers by making them feel great in their own skin and everything they wear.”
Beyond Yoga will retain its image as a stand-alone company, with co-founder Michelle Wahler occupying CEO position. As she told Business of Fashion, “We are honored and excited to become a part of the Levi Strauss & Co. family. Joining their portfolio will enable us to accelerate our growth by leveraging the experience and resources of their team and their global infrastructure.”
This teamwork, said Bergh, “Puts us into the activewear segment in a really credible way, much faster than if we were going to try to do it on our own from scratch.”
