Pedestrians stroll previous a Levi’s retailer in Hong Kong.Sopa Photographs | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesLevi’s CEO Chip Bergh is looking it quits and handing the reins over to his long-anointed successor Michelle Gass, the previous CEO of Kohl’s, the corporate introduced on Thursday. Gass will take over the executive government place on January 29 whilst Bergh will formally retire on April 26. He’s going to keep on as government vice chair of the board till then. As soon as he retires, he’s going to function an consultant during the finish of the fiscal 12 months. “Chip has remodeled this corporate and can go away it a ways higher than when he arrived. I do know we will be able to proceed to take pleasure in Chip’s strategic standpoint as he continues to serve at the corporate’s board,” stated Bob Eckert, the chairman of Levi’s board.Bergh took over as Levi’s CEO in 2011, and is one among only a handful of people that has run the corporate and used to be now not associated with its authentic founder, Levi Strauss. All the way through Bergh’s tenure, he led Levi’s thru its March 2019 IPO, its acquisition of Past Yoga and its deeper enlargement into ladies’s choices. He additionally remodeled the corporate right into a direct-to-consumer powerhouse this is now not only reliant on its wholesale companions. In doing so, reinvigorated the Levi’s logo and stored it related in spite of its 170-year lengthy legacy.”The Levi’s logo is the most powerful it has ever been, and as we pivot to turn out to be extra of an omni-channel, direct-to-consumer store, it’s time for brand spanking new management,” Bergh stated in a observation. “Whilst I have identified Michelle for greater than a decade, my time operating carefully along with her this previous 12 months has given me nice self assurance that her revel in, monitor document of innovation and affect, and fervour for the industry will place the corporate for sustainable, successful expansion and demanding shareholder and stakeholder price advent.”Levi’s appointed Gass as its subsequent CEO in November 2022. She began at Levi’s in January, and used to be answerable for main the corporate’s namesake logo, together with its product, vending and advertising purposes, together with its virtual and world industrial operations. She has set her attractions on boosting world expansion and transitioning the corporate right into a direct-to-consumer first group.”I’m venerated to be stepping in to guide this iconic logo and corporate, person who I’ve deeply admired and revered for a few years. Levi’s is greater than a denim icon; it is a part of our cultural material and a long-lasting image of high quality, innovation and growth,” Gass stated in a observation.
