Critics slam Levi’s for asking customers not to bring guns into stores

Levi Strauss & Co. may be synonymous with the Wild West, but its chief executive has a tamer message about law and order.

Chip Bergh wrote an open letter to the company’s customers on Wednesday requesting they not bring guns into several hundred US Levi’s stores. While primarily known for its classic jeans, Levi Strauss operates 671 stores globally.

Bergh shot off the letter, posted on his LinkedIn page, after a customer’s gun inadvertently went off in a Levi’s store, injuring the denim wrangler.

“We know that the presence of firearms in our stores creates an unsettling environment for many of our employees and customers,” he wrote, adding “we sincerely hope responsible gun owners will respect our position.”

Not surprisingly, the hot-potato political issue incited both Second Amendment proponents and die-hard gun control advocates.

Both sides loaded up their opinions and took aim, with some folks vowing to buy a pair of Levi’s in solidarity to his controversial stance — while others said they would switch allegiance and buy archrival Wranglers instead.

“It’s a very divisive issue that may affect some of their traffic in more rural areas,” suggested Richard Church, managing director of Discern Securities.

Other top guns have issued similar statements, including Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Target exec John Mulligan.

Bergh’s position doesn’t amount to an outright ban, but rather a plea for store customers to leave their firearms in the car or at home.

Gun advocates have identified more than 50 companies, including Whole Foods, Costco and Regal Cinemas, as “anti-gun,” suggesting their supporters boycott them.

“This is typical Levi brand behavior,” said Robin Lewis of retail tracker Robin Report. “They have always been out in front on moral, ethical behavior.”

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.