Despite having announcing larger focus on direct-to-consumer business, Levi’s is simultaneously ramping its wholesale initiatives in the US and throughout Europe in 2021. The denim giant’s past reports indicate that the US wholesale business accounts for 30 per cent revenue, and will always be important to the company. Executives mapped out a wholesale strategy with a three-pronged approach, mainly tackling the whitespace, owning the brand expression and taking charge of the customer relationship.

By zeroing in on these areas, the brand hopes to control how they show up in the marketplace, differentiate its assortment, deliver a head-to-toe look, and find new distribution opportunities and more.

New avenues of distribution are a top priority for brands this year, as so many spent 2020 treading water as a result of the pandemic. In October, the company announced plans to expand into 500 Target stores throughout 2021. It also attributed the success of its value line, Denizen, to Asian wholesale partners. Customers such as Amazon Japan and value store Mac House, for example, helped the collection compete with Uniqlo, its biggest rival in the region. In 2021, Levi’s will continue to strengthen these partnerships.

But it’s not just giant wholesalers that are targets for strategic partnerships. Levi’s is also working with smaller customers, and ensuring that the proper technology is in place for smooth service.

With all of these strategies in place, the brand set an aggressive target of 20 per cent of total revenue in the U.S. to come from its value business. Last year, Levi’s made several key updates to its product marketing within Walmart stores, and saw an immediate uptick in sales.