An Open Letter to Customers: Our Weapons Policy
Chip Bergh
Former President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co. (Retired); Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School
Dear Customers,
The debate in the U.S. over gun safety and gun rights is as complex as it is divisive. As a former army officer, a father and business leader, I’ve heard the arguments from all sides. And, as CEO of a 163-year-old company whose products and presence rest at the intersection of culture and community in more than 110 countries around the world, I feel a tremendous responsibility to share our position on the issue, now, at a time when clarity is paramount.
Providing a safe environment to work and shop is a top priority for us at Levi Strauss & Co. That imperative is quickly challenged, however, when a weapon is carried into one of our stores. Recently, we had an incident in one of our stores where a gun inadvertently went off, injuring the customer who was carrying it.
So, while we understand the heartfelt and strongly-held opinions on both sides of the gun debate, it is with the safety and security of our employees and customers in mind that we respectfully ask people not to bring firearms into our stores, offices or facilities, even in states where it’s permitted by law. Of course, authorized members of law enforcement are an exception.
With stores in Paris, Nice and Orlando, and the company’s European headquarters in Brussels, I’ve thought more about safety in the past year than in the previous three decades of my career because of how ‘close to home’ so many incidents with guns have come to impacting people working for this company.
We operate in hundreds of stores across every state in the U.S., and laws are different in each one. We know that the presence of firearms in our stores creates an unsettling environment for many of our employees and customers. We also know that trying to enforce a ban could potentially undermine the purpose of the ban itself: safety. With that in mind we’ve made this decision as a business – a request not a mandate – and we sincerely hope responsible gun owners will respect our position.
It boils down to this: you shouldn’t have to be concerned about your safety while shopping for clothes or trying on a pair of jeans. Simply put, firearms don't belong in either of those settings. In the end, I believe we have an obligation to our employees and customers to ensure a safe environment and keeping firearms out of our stores and offices will get us one step closer to achieving that reality.
Sincerely,
Chip Bergh
President and Chief Executive Officer, Levi Strauss & Co.
Lead Management Analyst, Motivational Speaker, Military Veteran Advocate, Pancreatic Cancer Survivor
1 年This is an older post, but after reading it, I felt the need to respond……. Dear Levi Strauss, your company leader is ignorant, and was probably a terrible excuse for an officer when he served in the military. I agree with others when they say that they will not purchase another Levi Strauss product again, nor will I…… Just because you were the leader of a company, it doesn’t give you the right to force your opinions on others. Another words, stick to what you know, and only comment on jeans/denim. Another suggestion, don’t talk about weapons that you don’t have any experience with, and let me remind you that firearms don’t kill people, it’s the people that wield them!! It wouldn’t matter if you took the guns completely off the face of the planey, people would use another tool to kill each other with, perhaps a stick with nails in it!! So then what, are you gonna say the nails and sticks should all be taken away as well? Stop being a moron. You don’t have the right to take away others right to protect themselves. I urge others not to buy anything from Levi Strauss and to stop supporting this idiot!!
Board Secretary at Veterans For Peace
1 年Dan, Please message me at your earliest opportunity
Board Secretary at Veterans For Peace
1 年Mr. Weidner, Once someone owns a gun it often takes over their thinking. Our nation is flooded with guns and some who have them are somehow able to ignore the fact that they have fallen into the wrong hands for the wrong purposes. Insisting on not having laws that stop the flooding of guns means that every year 10s of thousands die and all Americans are unsafe including the Americans who have guns .
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2 年Being anti-Second Amendment is one thing, but spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to strip Americans of the Right to keep and bear arms is a complete different beast... That's why I will NEVER spend another penny at Levi's... Good riddance. Vote RED in November ????????