As recounted in a Wall Street Journal piece earlier this year, it’s been 17 years since Levis, in 1993, ‘declared it would end relationships with contractors in China’ over a human rights issues. Back then, Levi's chairman and CEO Robert Haas reportedly decided to withdraw its operations from the country after a report on 40 countries determined that China and Burma were the only two engaging in major human rights violations.

But despite this past falling out, according to the Associated Press, Levi's already has an ‘avid following in China,’ and in fact also has clothing and shoes sales that ‘have outpaced pricey Japan, accounting for more than a third for all of Asia.’

Taken from The Diplomat written by Ulara Nakagawa