Levi’s brand president Jennifer Sey steps down instead of towing company line on COVID policies

On Monday, Jennifer Sey declared that she was stepping down as brand president of Levi's after nearly twenty years with the company.

She revealed that the reason for her departure was the incessant backlash she faced over her outspoken views on COVID-19.

Sey outlined the events that led up to her decision in an emotional post on Bari Weiss' Substack, Common Sense. She began by recalling a trip to Moscow she took as a young gymnast, and how her Levi's jeans were seen by all as a symbol of "American ruggedness, freedom, individualism."

After detailing her rise from assistant marketing manager in 1999 to brand president in 2020, Sey lamented the fact that with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the brand that once epitomized freedom around the world began attempting to silence certain viewpoints.

Sey recalled that early on in the pandemic, she began speaking out publicly against certain policies, namely the decision to shut down schools, and was promptly chastised by fellow Levi's executives, asking her to "pipe down." Sey argued that she was not speaking on behalf of the company, rather as a mother of four children.

Unwilling to compromise her principles, Sey continued to speak out against what she saw as harmful policies. She even moved her family from California to Denver in March 2021, so that her children could attend school in person. This garnered national attention, and led to her being labeled by Levi's employees and strangers alike as everything from "anti-science" to "racist" to "anti-fat." The company's Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion even suggested she go on an apology tour to declare that she was "an imperfect ally" to the black community.

Sey remained vocal on social media, taking aim at "progressive" leaders, saying that while she once would have considered herself to be of the left, she now saw that side peddling division and demonization of particular segments of the population. "I didn't leave the party," she wrote, "it left me."

In the fall of 2021, she was told by the CEO that she was the likely next in line to replace him, but that she had to stop speaking out. She refused to be silenced, and in January 2022 was told it was "untenable" for her to remain with the company.

"I never set out to be a contrarian," Sey wrote. "I don’t like to fight. I love Levi’s and its place in the American heritage as a purveyor of sturdy pants for hardworking, daring people who moved West and dreamed of gold buried in the dirt. ... But the corporation doesn’t believe in that now. It’s trapped trying to please the mob—and silencing any dissent within the organization. In this it is like so many other American companies: held hostage by intolerant ideologues who do not believe in genuine inclusion or diversity."

Speaking with Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, Sey said that Levi's had offered her a severance package of $1 million, but that she declined, as it would require her to stay silent about why she chose to step down.

"For me, this whole thing has sort of culminated in really being about the silencing of dissent," Sey said," and really not being allowed to hold a viewpoint that is outside whatever the mainstream narrative is, the orthodoxy."

Sey went on to say that she refused the $1 million because after persisting for over two years, "to agree to stay silent at the last minute because of money just felt so unacceptable, and just gross."

Since stepping down, Sey has been praised by many for her unwavering desire to speak out on issues that matter to her.