Levi Strauss Plans 25 Murals Across San Francisco

Levi Strauss & Co. (San Francisco) has unveiled plans to commission 25 new murals across San Francisco in honor of the 25th anniversary of the company’s community day. This project, called “These City Walls,” is part of the company’s ongoing effort to support revitalization in the city by making grants to local organizations, mobilizing employees for volunteering and partnering with like-minded companies and non-profits.

In addition to the mural project, nearly 600 San Francisco-based LS&Co. employees are volunteering with 20 different nonprofits across the city on May 8, and the company is distributing more than $150,000 in grants to those organizations.

“San Francisco is woven into the very fabric of Levi Strauss & Co. – from our first jeans, which were made to handle the wear-and-tear of the Gold Rush, to the products we sell around the world today, which still proudly bear the city’s name,” said Michelle Gass, President and CEO of LS&Co. “For over 170 years, San Francisco has inspired our creativity, our values, and our commitment to make a difference. We’re going to do our part to ensure the city’s future is as bold and bright as its past – and these murals are just one step in that larger effort.”

“These City Walls” is being undertaken in partnership with creative collective 1AM Projects and local artists and will involve “transforming blank and blighted areas into living works of art that reflect the rich resiliency, diversity, and culture of the city,” Levi said in its news release on the undertaking. “… Artists will work closely with the communities before they begin painting, integrating residents’ ideas into their efforts to beautify neighborhoods.”

The first murals will be in the city’s Financial District, Union Square, Tenderloin, SOMA, East Cut, Potrero Hill and Japantown neighborhoods. The program is starting by refurbishing “West Coastin,’” a mural originally painted in 2011 in Potrero Hill. That mural will stand 85 feet wide by 25 feet tall and be visible to roughly 150,000 drivers daily on I-280, along with residents of Potrero Hill and the Dogpatch.

Founded in 1853 in San Francisco, today LS&Co.’s products are sold in some 120 countries through a combination of roughly 3200 branded stores and shop-in-shops, chain retailers, department stores and online sites.