Price range for a pair of jeans: $14.98 to $192

The process: Sweatshop workers in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth exempt from American labor laws that stamps its clothing with “Made in the U.S.A.” tags, were forced to pay recruitment fees of thousands of dollars. To work off the debt, they were kept in indentured servitude at factories. When a lawsuit against 26 of America’s largest clothing retailers—including the Gap, Target and Lane Bryant—over sweatshop abuses was settled in 2002, Levi Strauss was the only company that refused to settle.

The spin: “We believe we can operate profitably and operate with principles at the same time. We've done that for many years. A business needs to be profitable. The question is, how does one implement tough business decisions with compassion, while avoiding decisions that have a negative impact on stakeholders?”—Linda Butler, Levi Strauss spokesperson

The record: In 1992, The Washington Post exposed the company’s exploitation of Chinese prison labor to make jeans. Levi Strauss responded by creating a code of labor standards. But when the venerable American brand shifted all of its manufacturing overseas in 2002, laying off thousands of workers, it resorted once again to relying on labor from China, Bangladesh and nearly 50 other countries. Many of these factories, including a Levi Strauss supplier in Durango, Mexico, have been accused of violating the company’s ethical code by not allowing labor organization, forcing workers to work more than 12 hours a day and withholding overtime pay. In 2005, workers fired from the Durango supplier for organizing successfully won their jobs back, with overtime and back pay.

Did you know? Factory workers in Saipan making Levi’s blue jeans earned three dollars an hour in 2001. That same year, Levi Strauss CEO Philip Marineau made 25.1 million dollars—amounting to 11,971 dollars an hour.

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