Business is brisk for Levi Strauss & Co. but that doesn’t mean the retailer isn’t worried about the potential fallout from the shutdown of the US’s federal government. The company’s CEO, Chip Bergh, echoed the concerns many other retailers have expressed.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Bergh said, “I’m a little worried about it. If this thing does get protracted, it will have a negative impact on the economy, and the current traffic concerns will only get worse.”
Levis Strauss had a winning third quarter, doubling its profit on jeans sales in the US and Europe, despite the diminishment of its margins by rising cotton prices. Still, Mr. Bergh remains uneasy that the government shutdown, combined with global economic uncertainty and poor cotton growing conditions, could make the holiday shopping season a disappointing one.