Case Study: Levi's achieves more ethical, lower-cost supplier financing with GT Nexus

Jeans Maker Launches Cheap Financing for More Ethical Factories

Levi’s faced growing pressure from consumers and regulators to improve environmental, labor, and safety conditions across its global supply chain, especially among its 550 suppliers in countries such as Bangladesh and China. To support this, Levi’s worked with GT Nexus and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to create a financing program that would reward suppliers for better ethical performance.

GT Nexus helped administer the program as Levi’s offered lower-cost working capital to suppliers that met stronger standards, with top performers eligible for interest-rate discounts of up to 50 basis points. The initiative aimed to strengthen supplier compliance and encourage better factory conditions, while Levi’s said it had already received interest from contractors and saw the pilot as a potential model for a broader industry “race to the top.”

Levi's

Michael Kobori

Vice-President, Sustainability