Levi’s sales grow in UK as celebrities drive denim revival

The UK was one of Levi’s fastest-growing markets last year as British trend leaders from Harry Styles to Noel Gallagher and Grime Gran were spotted in the brand’s kit.Lucia Marcuzzo, the managing director of the European operations at the US company famous for its denim jeans, said the revival of 1990s trends had boosted sales of its classic 501s. New trends such as baggy jeans and cinch styles, which can be adjusted around the waist, had also helped, as denim has found its way back into wardrobes.Denim lost out in the Covid pandemic era in favour of slouchy dressing for lounging at home. Closed high streets in many parts of the world also affected sales as most people prefer to try on jeans before buying in order to get a good fit.Louise Déglise-Favre, the lead apparel analyst at GlobalData, said sales of jeans were rising faster than the wider fashion market, at about 1.5% a year, as “denim was having a bit of a moment”.She said that denim brands with a certain level of trust and reputation for quality were benefiting from a shift towards value for money that was “not necessarily about low prices but getting your money’s worth”.Established labels such as Levi’s also have strong resale value on sites such as Vinted, while competition from brands such as Topshop, which once flooded the high streets with cheap and trend jeans, has receded.Levi Strauss original jeans. Established labels have a strong resale value. Photograph: Ognyan Yosifov/AlamyDéglise-Favre added that Levi’s had been “slowly rejuvenating its image with celebrity tie-ups relevant to younger shoppers” in a way that was subtle enough that it had “slowly become cool again”.Susie Draffan, the senior denim strategist at the trends agency WGSN, said denim bands were also benefiting from expansion into a wider array of items, from jackets and shirts to skirts, as well as a range of fashionable jeans silhouettes, from wide leg to boot cut.She said denim was now “an important and versatile part of everyday wardrobes” adding: “Nostalgia for the 90s and 2000s, largely driven by gen Z, has boosted denim trends and supported the revival of double denim and complete denim outfitting.”Marcuzzo said sales growth had been led by strong sales online as well as via wholesale accounts and Levi’s own stores – of which it has more than 70 in the UK thanks to the brand being taken up by online influencers, musicians and trendsetters.Levi’s Haus of Strauss in London, a showroom aimed at VIPs, stylists and tastemakers, has helped drive new collaborations such as with Styles and the Japanese designer brand Sacai, the British brand Barbour and Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens.These local collaborations came on top of the brand benefiting from Beyoncé’s championing of double denim, including with the Levii’s Jeans track on her Cowboy Carter album released in 2024 and Timothée Chalamet sporting vintage-style Levi’s in Complete Unknown, the 2025 Dylan biopic.Marcuzzo said Levi’s was “reinventing icons” such as the 501 as well as selling its classic fit.“It is about understanding what the customer wants and reinventing and reimagining yourself,” she said.