Levi’s Chief Digital Officer on the Beyoncé Effect and ‘Rewiring’ a 171-year-old Brand

Taking one of America’s oldest and best-known brands into the future takes more than pluck and drive. It takes a plan — and for Levi Strauss & Co., the lead architect is chief digital officer Jason Gowans.

When Gowans joined the company nearly two years ago, Levi’s had hit a wall with its online business. It was also weighing even deeper changes to its core strategy, as well as leadership, with then-chief executive officer Chip Bergh preparing to transition out. Meanwhile, the outside world was just getting acquainted with ChatGPT, unaware of the massive artificial intelligence movement OpenAI’s tech would ignite.

That’s a lot of change that could have complicated an already challenging situation. Fortunately for Gowans, those complexities turned into opportunities. Even the timing worked in his favor.

According the digital chief, he bonded early on with Michelle Gass, another executive recruit who started as the brand’s president before stepping up to take the CEO reins from Bergh. That set up a symbiotic working dynamic even before she stepped into the top job, Gowans said.

“Michelle and I started at more or less the same time, and so from Day One, we’ve really been on this journey together,” he said.

It comes down to an alignment of vision. As Gass explained: “The next chapter for us is all about turning the company into a direct-to-consumer-first company — a retailer, a best-in-class, omnichannel retailer. And for many decades, that has not been how we’ve operated.”

The wholesale business is important to Levi’s and will continue, she said, but the critical priority is its direct business with consumers. She believes that this is what will power growth across both e-commerce and its 1,200 brick-and-mortar stores.

From her view, Levi’s is still relatively new as a retailer, so it needs to nail the basics, like maintaining key stock and inventory. But even so, Gass said the company has had 10 quarters of growth and can expand on that. “There’s a lot of exciting things happening, as we ‘rewire the company,’ end to end.”

As the person in charge of Levi’s “wiring,” Gowans is crucial to Levi’s future.

WWD sat down with him to learn more about his experience two years in, his priorities, his take on what Beyoncé has brought to the brand and more.

WWD: You joined in January 2023, before Chip Bergh handed the reigns to Michelle Gass. Are there any differences in their views or approaches to tech?

Jason Gowans: With her retail background, we’ve been on the same page. She is very data-driven and, for retail businesses, she knows that a big part of their success is using data to drive better decision-making.

But even as Michelle has refined the strategy, it’s still largely the same strategy. There’s just some refinement. So for me, it’s not about a departure from one strategy to another. Michelle has been able to amplify some of the key ingredients needed to accelerate our direct-to-consumer business, and I would say the disciplined use of analytics has been one example where she’s very focused.

WWD: When you arrived, the company laid out three top priorities: focusing on fundamentals, growing the direct-to-consumer business and making more impact with data science. What were your first actions?

J.G.: When I came in, we were in a moment — at least when it comes to e-commerce — where we had grown rapidly from 2020 to 2021, but then somewhat plateaued like many other brands. And what we’ve seen over the last two years has been consecutive and sequential double-digit growth on top line and improved profitability.

To do that, it started with a clear-eyed assessment of exactly where we were and where we had opportunity. So one of the first things that I did was assess the health of the business, top to bottom.

WWD: How did you assess that?

J.G.: It’s grounded in three key insights or beliefs that are supported with data.

The first is, what we’ve seen in external research is that 80 percent of consumers say that they care as much about the experience as they do the product. The second is, we see that 70 percent of consumers are willing to switch channel depending on the context.

The third insight, again from external research, is more than 30 percent of consumers will abandon a brand that they love after just one bad experience.

Those three insights really shaped our agenda.

WWD: In your evaluation of the business, what did you notice in the data?

J.G.: When we talk about “focus on the fundamentals,” it’s from that initial assessment on levi.com. It was clear that we had two very clear opportunities.

One was around product discovery, [and] everything that goes into that: storytelling, search, browse, filtering, navigation. We saw very clearly in our data that was a huge opportunity. We say internally, we say we’ve got to win on the PDP [product detail page]. That means giving the consumer as great an experience as we can — the same as if you were in the store and actually touching and feeling the product, and a stylist was helping you.

It has been things like elevated imagery and really bringing the product to life. We found good success with motion, like walk-on, walk-off videos. It’s also things like user-generated content and social proof points.

So hearing from other consumers, their experience of the product and seeing how it might fit and look on them. Things under the hood, like the speed of the site itself. Fast forward a year and a half later, the site and also the app, they’re 40 to 50 percent faster than they were.

WWD: So the first area is about product discovery. What’s the other opportunity?

J.G.: The second area: Once a consumer found a product, and they’re on the product detail page, [it’s about] giving them the confidence and the tools that they need to ultimately feel confident that the product is right for them. That was another glaring opportunity for us. We’ve invested a lot of time, focus and energy in those two areas on Levi.com.

On the fundamentals, a lot of that was just basic blocking and tackling. Another is evolving the assortment, and I think this has been a great unlock for us over the last two years.

Denim has gone through this transition in fits. We’ve seen that play out on the website and it’s a great momentum driver for direct-to-consumer, specifically online. We’ve seen that bear out in the mix between our men’s business and our women’s business, and our women’s business gaining share.

One of our pillars is to be brand led, and [it’s] most exemplified by owning what we call “denim lifestyle” and also winning with women. On the site, that’s the front door to engaging a new generation of consumers and really winning with her.

WWD: The bounce from Beyoncé didn’t hurt either, right? (The global superstar featured Levi’s in a song on her “Cowboy Carter” album, and the brand tapped her for its “Reiimagine” campaign in September.)

J.G.: Absolutely, we are so excited. That’s actually a great moment to lean into a strong storytelling experience.

Commerce is one part of it, but the much bigger part is that it’s a really powerful cultural moment.

WWD: Cultural moments matter, especially if they culminate in a commerce experience. It sounds like things there are moving into place, from a retail or shopping perspective. What else are you fleshing out?

J.G.: There’s a third pillar for us. We’ve made a ton of progress on the fundamentals and evolving the assortment, and we think that we’re teed up nicely now to start to focus more on what we’re calling a digital flagship experience, the confluence of mobile, omnichannel and loyalty coming together.

WWD: You were at Nordstrom for 10 years. Did that experience help shape your approach or your work at Levi’s more broadly?

J.G.: Two things I carried with me: One is a deep and abiding love of and obsession with the consumer. The other part that I learned at Nordstrom was discipline, use of data, insights and analytics to power the business.

Working really closely with, in particular, Ken Worzel at Nordstrom, over 10 years, you learn just how much better decisions you can make through the applied use and surgical use of data. And so coming over to Levi’s, artificial intelligence was an opportunity that I saw.

WWD: AI is essential for brands now, but it can be tricky territory. Levi’s knows that, after its plans for AI-generated fashion models drew some ire last year. (Critics believed it touted fake diversity at the expense of real BIPOC models. The company, however, said it had no connection to diversity efforts and had no intention to cut any live photo shoots.)

So at this point, what is the role of AI at Levi’s, as it relates to the consumer? Size and fit seem like an obvious target.

J.G.: Size and fit is the number-one barrier to purchase. It’s also the number-one reason for return. So you’re absolutely right, size and fit is a huge opportunity.

There are a lot of ways that you can improve that experience. We talked about elevated imagery, motion video on levi.com. You will have seen recently, especially in our mobile web version, a side guide or a size quiz. Other improvements [include] a jeans comparison at the bottom of the product detail page.

We’ve actually run some tests, as well, where we shot the product in multiple sizes and fits, and then you can drape the product on those real models.

WWD: Tell me more about your work on AI visualizations.

J.G.: One of our partners, Zalando, created virtual avatars that represent a multitude of body types. We gave them the tech packs for our tops, so they could drape them on top of these virtual avatars.

That’s a moment where we’re innovating with one of our wholesale partners in the use of AI. You’ll see us continue to kind of keep chipping away at size and fit.

Another big part of my responsibility is internal digital transformation. We think about it as “concept to consumer.” Think about all the processes and sub processes, from the moment a designer might think about a product and start designing it to the moment that it shows up on the shelf. A lot of AI and machine learning is being used to optimize those processes.

WWD: Like the BackPocket app for employees that you launched a few months ago. The app allows them to assist and even style customers. Doesn’t that yield — and connect — a lot of data?

J.G.: With BackPocket, the stylist is now empowered to have a conversation with the consumer about what they’re looking for. There is a consumer profile and, if the consumer is willing to allow access, the stylist can look at their purchase history.

So you might come in the store and say, “I’m looking for a 501.” If the stylist can connect to your consumer profile, they’ll be able to say, “Oh, I see it’s the 501-90 and let me show you what we have in store [or] online,” and hopefully the consumer walks out happy.

WWD: Personalization is another clear target for AI. Is Levi’s exploring that?

J.G.: One of the things that our Red Tab [loyalty] members care deeply about is customization. When you walk into a Levi’s store today, you can visit one of our tailor stores, and the level of customization can range from changing a button or adding a patch all the way to embroidery on your garment. Really, truly amazing, one-of-a-kind creations.

That’s what we have today in stores. When you look at levi.com today, that part of our experience is missing. We think that’s an opportunity.

WWD: You mentioned the Red Tab program, and since loyalty is a tentpole of your digital flagship concept, where does it stand and what does the future hold?

J.G.: We are north of 37 million consumers in the program, and we continue to grow.

So for the digital flagship, how do we bring loyalty, omnichannel and mobile together to really elevate our storytelling and create a more powerful commerce experience?

Stay tuned — you’ll see what’s coming in 2025. One of the things you can expect to see next year will be some improvements to Red Tab.

And maybe a few more cultural moments.