ABSTRACT
Levi Strauss was the first global corporation to adopt a code coveringlabour standards in its global supply chain, its so-called Terms of Engagement. For several years during the early 1990s the company was seen as a leader in this – and indeed other – areas of ‘ethical behaviour’. As codes became more prevalent, however, so did the calls for proof that the company’s deeds were as grand as its words. Levi Strauss resisted, arguing that to follow this route would be to suggest that it was being ethical in order to enhance its reputation rather than because being so was simply the ‘right thing to do’. As Alan Christie, a senior Levi Strauss executive, concluded at a meeting hosted by the European Commission on codes of conduct and social labels, ‘Our brand is our label.’2
