Levi Ruling Upheld

Tesco lost its fight to sell cheap Levi jeans when a high court upheld a decision made by the European Court in November 2001 which ordered retailers to seek permission from the brand owner before sourcing goods outside the EU. Tesco and the discount warehouse group Costco argued that Levi was abusing basic international human rights to prevent cheap jeans being imported to the UK. The high court ruled that the argument was ‘devoid of any substance.’

Despite the ruling Tesco pledged to continue selling cut price jeans from cheaper EU countries. The chain was selling Levi 501’s sourced in Europe at £32.99 compared to the retail price of about £50. Rival supermarket chain Asda claimed that the ruling allowed brand owners to pour cheap good on to the grey market while allowing them to halt sales if their official distributors complained about cheap competition. Levi Strauss argued that the judgement allowed the company to continue to provide consumers with quality and value.

Based on: J. Finch (2002) Tesco loses fight to sell cheap Levi’s, The Guardian, 1 August, p.20.