Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Michelle Gass mentioned that any value hikes the corporate makes as a consequence of President Donald Trump’s tariffs could be “surgical.”
Gass, on an earnings name Monday, advised analysts that the state of affairs round tariffs is “very new” and “fluid” and that the corporate is simply “getting our arms around it.”
She stopped in need of specifying what these value will increase would appear to be, saying “as we look at pricing, we do believe that the brand, especially given the health of the brand, that there is pricing power there. But if we do anything, it will be very surgical,” Gass mentioned through the name.
Gass took over the helm in 2024 because the struggling retailer introduced a multiyear world productiveness initiative to show across the enterprise and increase profitability.
Beneath the initiative, referred to as Challenge Gasoline, the retailer plans to optimize its working mannequin and construction, redesign enterprise processes and establish alternatives to scale back prices whereas simplifying processes throughout the group. It has since laid off dozens of employees out of its California workplace, and warned that extra may come.
With tariffs including to its woes, Gass advised analysts Monday that the corporate has assembled a process power to evaluate “the various scenarios and identifying what levers we have to mitigate,” which may embrace “structural changes.”
The corporate sources from 28 nations, 20 of that are imported into the U.S. Nonetheless, Gass mentioned the corporate’s provide chain “is more agile today than it ever has been” and that it “pivots” on a regular basis.
“We will continue to do so as we look to address the issues both in the short, medium and long-term,” Gass mentioned.
Enterprise executives have warned of the potential influence tariffs may have on the U.S. economic system.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink mentioned on Monday that the inventory market may see declines deepen as a consequence of uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and that CEOs are telling him they suppose the U.S. economic system is probably going already in a recession.
Additionally on Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon advised shareholders that the levies are prone to “increase inflation” on each overseas and home items, and raised considerations over what their influence will probably be on America’s financial alliances.
