Despite stalling growth across Asia led by a slowdown in China, the Chip Bergh, Global President and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co remains upbeat about consumer spending in the region. According to him, the demographics work to their advantage and they are strategically focused on Asia as a result of that.

China’s economy, whose explosive growth over the past decade propelled the country to one of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets, has been stumbling of late. Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2015 was 6.9 per cent, marking its weakest pace in a quarter of a century. Most parts of Asia, especially those with close trade ties with China, have felt the chill from the slowdown in the region’s growth engine.

Analysts say, the region still boasts of a rapidly-growing population and a booming middle class. In China, for instance, only 11 per cent of the 1.3 billion population has reached ‘middle class’ status, according to a January report from Goldman Sachs. ‘As their ranks swell, so will their effect on the global economy,’ the report added.

For a global brand such as Levi’s, this is good news.