Summary Box: Levis launches new global brand, aiming at youthful, fast-growing China market

Summary Box: Levis launches brand aimed at China

FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS: Levi Strauss is launching a new global brand in China in a move to break into the fast-growing and youthful market by tailoring products more for the middle-class.

TARGET AUDIENCE: The new brand is aimed at young consumers in emerging markets, starting with China, Singapore and South Korea. Models at the launch were wearing sneakers and high-heeled sandals: not a cowboy hat or boot in sight. Prices will range from $40 to $60, compared with traditional Levis, which sell for more than $100 in Shanghai’s upscale malls.

HISTORY: Levi Strauss, which retreated from the China market for a time in the mid-1990s citing concerns over labor rights, now has hundreds of outlets in China and plans to open up to 1,000 by 2015.