Levi's Leather Patches Come Under Fire by New Shareholder: PETA

(Bloomberg) -- Levi Strauss & Co., fresh off its $623 million initial public offering, is already facing calls for change from one shareholder.

PETA, the animal-rights organization, said it purchased the minimum number of shares needed to be able to submit shareholder resolutions and speak at Levi’s annual meetings.

PETA is targeting the cow skins that Levi’s uses to make the iconic brown patches that are sewed onto the backsides of its pants. The organization is calling on Levi’s to use vegan leather patches, which don’t come from an animal.

“PETA is heading to Levi’s boardroom to urge the company to stop peddling these patches, which cause cows immense pain and suffering,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.

This is a tactic that PETA has used before. In 2017, it planned to become one of Canada Goose’s first shareholders ahead of the coat company’s IPO. The organization has called for the coatmaker to stop using fur and down.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jordyn Holman in New York at jholman19@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder, Lisa Wolfson

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