• Wall Street Journal , Wednesday, April 14, 2010 10:41 AM

Levi Strauss is using its strong cash position to burnish its image and grab market share, Rachel Dodes reports. A year after the 157-year-old company created a "super-premium" division based in Amsterdam called "Levi's XX," it has consolidated several premium sub-brands under just two names: Made & Crafted, a premium denim line featuring better fabrics and fit, and Levi's Vintage Clothing, offering reproductions of items from the brand's historical archives.

To improve its street cred, it also has opened lavish boutiques like an 8,500-square-foot boutique on London's Regent Street and hired executives from competing designer brands such as Ralph Lauren and 7 for All Mankind. Sales have stabilized at around $4 billion annually after peaking at $7.1 billion 1996. Sales in the Americas rose 7% in the quarter to $545 million.

"It was our intent going into the recession that we would be able to attack coming out of the recession," says Robert Hanson, president of Levi's Americas division. "We are going to continue doubling down on our efforts to build the brand," says CFO Blake Jorgensen.

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