At the beginning of the year I set out to get some new jeans. I buy Levi 501s. That’s all I’ve bought for decades. They are good fitting, hard wearing and look the part. I’ve always been happy with my 501s. There’s never been reason to change. Except last December I went shopping, and they were more expensive than normal. A lot more expensive. It’s been a while since I went shopping for jeans – like I said, they wear well. But I’d sure as heck remember if I’d paid £75 to £95 for a pair.
So I looked to see what alternatives there are. I bought a couple of pairs of jeans from Next, at £17 and £12 each. They were in the January sales, and cost half the price they normally do. And you know what? I love them just as much as I’ve ever loved a pair of Levis. You know what this means, don’t you? That’s right. I’ve likely bought my last ever pair of Levis.
It’s not just me. I’m not the only one who noticed that Levis suddenly got outrageously expensive. Can you guess what happened? As far as I can see (and I could be totally wrong, I guess…) Levis bore the brunt EU tariff increases in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on EU products. I know this much about international trade – if you make something difficult or pricey, another way will be found that’s easier or cheaper.
Those tariffs could all fall off now. It doesn’t matter. The damage is done. The genie is out of the bottle. Once you lose something or someone, you’ll not often get them back. I’m not sure how any of this helped American jobs. I’m not sure how it put America first.
The photo at the top? That’s from a second floor window of Debenhams, looking out over Bournemouth town centre. Like most other stores, Debenhams shut at the end of December with the new lockdown. But it had already bitten the dust as a bricks and mortar enterprise. An online firm has bought the name but the stores will shut. It may reopen for a brief period to seek off stock. It may not.
The Mexile 
I have no problem with tariffs , they are an age old government revenue source, I think if you go that route, the price should be the same for all goods coming across the border. Using it as a club is bone stupid. Trump by his nature was stupid, his tariffs made little sense because of the ease of doing a workaround -all or none is good policy in a great many areas.
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It’s certainly likely to often be counter productive. It also has to be said, you can find Levi 501s cheaper in some places. But the price I quoted is what you’ll find on the high street.
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Levis priced themselves out for me back in the 80s. I had always cut off the little red label anyways, because I didn’t want anybody advertising on me for free. I blame them for the logo onslaught we live in. I switched to Lee jeans, and find the fit and quality good. They’re the only ones still made in North America. Usually about $25 here.
Trade was one of the many things Trump didn’t understand along with tariffs. He thought tariffs were paid to the government by the company providing the goods rather than the consumer, who, like you, just bought something else. Who suffered? Levis.
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Levi’s have always been a bit pricey. But yeah, there’s only so much you’ll pay for something, no matter how much you like it. The great downfall of tariffs is competition. And I think it’s fair to say that if tariffs alone solve the problem, then there’s a bigger problem you didn’t know you had.
This is a lesson that gets taught repeatedly and learned never.
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Besides you favorite Levis price has gone up , because of HIM ( I don’t even want to say his name anymore), all prices for goods from Europe have gone up like crazy, I live in the USA and love to buy cheese from France and Italy for fairly reasonable prices, but it’s gone up to a point where it’s only a treat anymore for special occasions.
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We’re getting a double whammy in the UK, and the problems caused by your ‘former President’ are very much secondary to the problems that are very much of our own making.
It’s transpires that Brexit wasn’t quite such the marvellous idea after all. Who knew.
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Not many shops left in Bournemouth – where will we buy our clothes!
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