As part of a new digital video series called Innovation Undercover, Fast Company is visiting innovation labs at companies known for their groundbreaking work.
Their latest excursion? To the Levi Strauss & Co. Eureka Innovation Lab.
Correspondent Jason Feifer took a tour of the lab and chatted with Paul Dillinger and Bart Sights to get the inside scoop.
As Paul shared, we’re not about innovation for innovation’s sake. It all comes back to putting the consumer first:
“The first thing we do isn’t to consider innovation for the object, but to consider innovation for the consumer’s need. What are they doing in that jean and how can we make the doing of that thing better, easier? And that’s how we innovate — by understanding what is needed, not what can be done.”
Bart showed how using ozone instead of bleach helps us use less water, how lasers help us take hand-replicated wear patterns and scale them with our vendors globally and — in a very, ahem, hands-on demonstration — how a pair of Levi’s® CommuterTM 511TM slim fit trousers repel water to keep you dry.
Step inside the the Eureka lab with Fast Company and see for yourself:
