Levi's to Launch 'Super-Agent' as Part of Enterprise-Wide AI Push
Levi Strauss & Co. will develop an agentic AI "super-agent" as part of its multi-year digital transformation journey, which focuses on becoming a direct-to-consumer-first retailer.
The company will work with Microsoft to build out the agentic orchestration, supported by the tech company's Teams and Azure platforms, to launch capabilities across various functions, including IT, human resources, operations and more.
To automate tasks enterprise-wide, the super-agent acts as a middleman to individual specialized sub-agents, creating new efficiencies across the business and simplifying complex and repetitive work.
The AI structure is currently being tested. Levi's plans to launch it in early 2026, expanding to global offices throughout the year.
Levi's began the process by consolidating application workloads and moving them from on-premises data centers to a private data center environment in the cloud. Additionally, the company added intelligent automation capabilities to power security agents and policy orchestration, enabling a zero-trust security model while it scales AI across its global operations.
“AI represents a tremendous opportunity for us and is a key unlock as we rewire how we work — from our stores to our corporate offices,” Michelle Gass, president and CEO, said in a statement.
The tools enabled by this AI structure will provide the company with faster access to insights, she added.
“AI allows us to rethink how we work and reimagine how we engage with our fans,” Jason Gowans, chief digital and technology officer, said in a statement. “From personalized experiences to automated workflows, we’re embedding AI throughout the organization to create a more responsive, efficient business.”
AI Use Cases in the Field
The company has launched two self-service tools as part of this investment and efforts to deepen consumer engagement and support its workforce through AI-enabled capabilities.
Outfitting
This AI tool provides consumers with recommended looks based on their unique preferences, purchase history and overall apparel trends. It also takes into consideration consumer feedback (updated daily), seasonal factors and Levi's merchandising guidelines from its product teams.
When shopping on the mobile app, consumers will come across a "Complete the Look" section that provides suggested pairing options that complement the product they selected.
The tool was created in-house, with the company's data science team leveraging existing integrations with its inventory data, aggregated purchase history, browsing behavior and product imagery to train the outfit generation model. It evolved from previous tech launches, such as Levi's hero image recommender and computer vision tagging.
It is currently live in the U.S., Canada and key markets in Europe. Next year, Levi's plans to roll out event-specific recommendations.
“We’ve been on a mission to make shopping online a lot easier,” Priya Buening, head of e-commerce for Levi’s U.S., said in a company blog. “Our fans love their Levi’s jeans, but finding the perfect tee, trucker jacket or accessory to complete the look hasn’t always been intuitive. And as we pivot to become a true denim lifestyle retailer, it’s on us to help our fans find not only their perfect jeans, but also their favorite head-to-toe outfits.”
Stitch
This AI assistant launched in 60 U.S. locations following a successful pilot program, providing store teams with on-demand access to product information, operational procedures and training materials via a mobile app.
It is meant to be a comprehensive research and feedback tool through which employees can ask product-related questions, answer consumer queries, provide personalized advice and optimize their work processes.
Twenty-year Levi's veteran Michael Buchanan developed the idea during one of the company's hackathons, after graduating from the in-house machine learning bootcamp and moving into a data and analytics role.
“We’ve been implementing AI in our business for years as part of our digital transformation, and we’ve always understood that it’s about more than the technologies,” Jason Gowans, chief digital officer, said in a company blog. “It’s about developing new skillsets and creating digital champions throughout the company who would rethink their own work and would be inspired to create net-new solutions that have big impact.”
