Fashion runs in cycles. The hard part, for shoppers and for the companies selling to them, is guessing when what’s old becomes new again.
For most of the past decade, high-waisted jeans owned the denim aisle. The low-rise jean, a fixture of early-2000s style, spent those years as a punchline.
That changed quickly this year. U.S. Google searches for “low rise jeans” hit their highest level in five years in April 2026, with the spike landing around Coachella.
Rivals moved fast. Pacsun pushed its new Kaia jean into back-to-school season with an ultra-low rise and called it one of its fastest-growing denim fits.
Then there’s the biggest name in denim. The 173-year-old company that invented the blue jean put its key fall campaign behind a different fit, and on Oct. 7, its CEO said so on an earnings call.
Levi’s back-to-school push missed U.S. shift to low-rise jeans
Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI) CEO Michelle Gass told analysts the company’s U.S. back-to-school campaign “underdelivered our expectations.” The problem was the fit Levi’s chose to spotlight.
“Our campaign was all around loose,” Gass said, according to a call transcript published by Benzinga. “But the market in the U.S. had really shifted to talk about low.”
She said low-rise styles had “a lot of energy and a lot of competitiveness,” and that Levi’s saw its own channels soften in July and August.
Later, answering JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss, Gass went further. In hindsight, Levi’s “would have approached Q3 or back-to-school differently knowing what we know today,” she said.
That admission sits underneath a quarter that looked fine at first glance. Third-quarter revenue rose four percent to $1.6 billion, and adjusted earnings came in at 48 cents a share, according to a company statement.
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The profit line had help, though. Chief Financial and Growth Officer Harmit Singh, who is handing the CFO job to former Skechers CFO John Vandemore, said 11 cents of that came from tariff refunds after reinvestment.
The weak spot was direct-to-consumer (DTC), meaning Levi’s own stores and website. DTC grew just two percent, with comparable sales flat, as traffic softened in the U.S. and Europe.
Investors noticed. Shares had already slid nearly 5% in regular trading on Oct. 7 and extended losses after the report, Finviz reported.
Why 173-year-old denim giant Levi’s fell a step behind
Here’s what makes this miss unusual: Levi’s already sold the jeans shoppers wanted.
A year ago, Gass told analysts Levi’s was “driving a revival in low rise” with its Low and Super Low fits, according to an Insider Monkey transcript of the October 2025 call. Even this quarter, she said, low-rise styles kept fueling growth in women’s jeans.
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The gap was in the marketing. “We have plenty of it, it just wasn’t our leading message,” Gass said in response to Telsey Advisory Group analyst Dana Telsey.
In my analysis, that’s the most revealing line from the call. Levi’s had the right product on its shelves while its ads pointed shoppers somewhere else, and in a trend cycle fueled by social media and festival photos, the ad matters as much as the inventory.
Gass also acknowledged that the denim market is getting crowded. “The competitive nature has intensified,” she told Boss.
How Levi’s rebuilt its stores and ads in September
Once the traffic numbers came in, Levi’s moved quickly. Gass said the company did the following starting in September, according to the Benzinga transcript:
- Reshot the back-to-school campaign around low-rise fits.
- Re-merchandised its stores to put low-rise styles up front.
- Encouraged its social media creators to hype the trend. “We have let them loose,” Gass said.
- Chased more low-rise inventory through its supply chain.
- Leaned on the 501 Loose and its partnership with musician Shaboozey to re-energize men’s.
The early read is positive. Gass said U.S. DTC sales are back in positive territory, and global DTC is running in the mid-single digits so far in the fourth quarter.
Tariff refund money is going toward holiday deals
Levi’s has extra cash to fund the fix. Singh said the company recorded about $80 million in tariff refunds in the third quarter and plans to put roughly three-quarters of it back into the business.
He split that money roughly into thirds: marketing, distribution and logistics, and promotions. Most of the third-quarter spending went to promotions, while fourth-quarter dollars leaned toward advertising.
Pricing is where this gets interesting for the consumer. “We didn’t take prices down. Some retailers have,” Singh said, adding that Levi’s raised prices instead.
Levi’s is aiming promotions at key holiday moments, he said, naming Thanksgiving and the holiday season. Singh also expects the promotional push to ease in the fourth quarter as better product and marketing take over.
What Levi’s marketing pivot means for your wallet
If you’re shopping for jeans this holiday season, Levi’s wants you in its low-rise fits, and it’s spending real money to get you there.
Don’t count on blanket markdowns. Levi’s has held its list prices, so your best shot at a deal is the targeted holiday events Singh described.
It also pays to read the fine print on “low.” When I compared product pages on Oct. 11, Levi’s Low Loose women’s jean listed a 9 1/8-inch rise at $108, according to Levi.com.
Pacsun’s Kaia launched with a 7 1/4-inch rise, Retail TouchPoints reported, and it carries a $59.95 regular price on Pacsun’s site, where at least one wash was marked down to $25.
That’s a gap of more than an inch and nearly $50 a pair at full price. If the ultra-low look is what you’re after, the word “low” on a label won’t tell you which brand delivers it.
Trend pieces also carry a shelf-life risk. WGSN denim strategist Susie Draffan told Fast Company she expects more ultra-low styles this year, along with a shift toward looser, baggier versions, Retail TouchPoints reported.
A full-price trend buy can look dated faster than a classic straight leg.
An AI stylist hints at where online shopping goes next
One bright spot from the call shows how Levi’s plans to keep pace. The company launched an artificial intelligence (AI) shopping assistant in the U.S. that offers styling advice and helps build outfits.
“While still early, we’re seeing fans who engage with the tool adding to bag at roughly three times our average rate,” Gass said.
For investors, the outlook held. Levi’s now expects full-year organic revenue growth of about six percent and adjusted earnings of $1.54 to $1.56 a share, and it expects its women’s business to grow by high single digits in the fourth quarter.
Gass put the lesson plainly. “The consumer moves fast and so we’ve got to just continue to be on top of it,” she said.
Levi’s paid for that lesson with a soft summer. Heading into the holidays, the denim leader is chasing your attention with fresh ads, a new fit focus and tariff money, and that kind of chase tends to reward patient shoppers.
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