Dear Levi's. Please practice. Don't preach

Levi’s added a line to the washing instructions on jeans urging wearers to “donate to Goodwill when no longer needed and care for our planet.” This, writes Silas Amos of British design/branding agency JKR in an entertaining and thought-provoking round-up of the work and ideas of 2009, is bunk. “Wasn’t the whole point of Levi’s to wear them until they fell apart?” he writes. “The communication used to be that they got better as they got older, and giving them up was only possible when they were truly past physical redemption.” Perhaps, posits Amos, the pressures of the quickly turning over fashion cycle have caused the branders at Levi’s to rethink the wisdom of this strategy and “the shelf life of a pair is now only as long as a passing fashion for a particular cut.” It raises an interesting question of how a heritage brand such as Levi’s evolves its messaging both to fit the current times and be true to its past. What do you think? Misstep or reasonable evolution?

Read the original story at BusinessWeek Brand New Day Blog