Levi Strauss & Co jeans company CEO Chip Bergh requested gun owners refrain from carrying weapons into their stores.
In an open letter to customers posted on LinkedIn, Bergh said he was not banning guns from the stores, but it's more of a "request not a mandate."
"You shouldn't have to be concerned about your safety while shopping for clothes or trying on a pair of jeans. Simply put, firearms don't belong in either of those settings.
"Providing a safe environment to work and shop is a top priority for us at Levi Strauss & Co. That imperative is quickly challenged, however, when a weapon is carried into one of our stores," he wrote.
"While we understand the heartfelt and strongly-held opinions on both sides of the gun debate, it is with the safety and security of our employees and customers in mind that we respectfully ask people not to bring firearms into our stores, offices or facilities, even in states where it's permitted by law.
"Of course, authorized members of law enforcement are an exception," he added.
According to Fortune, Bergh's letter comes weeks after a customer carrying a handgun into a Levi's store in Commerce, Georgia accidentally shot himself, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries.
Bergh says safety has been paramount in his mind after gun attacks have taken place in cities that contain Levi's stores such as Paris, Nice, Brussels, and Orlando.
"I've thought more about safety in the past year than in the previous three decades of my career because of how 'close to home' so many incidents with guns have come to impacting people working for this company," he wrote.
Gun sales are on the rise in the U.S. and the number of checks on prospective gun buyers reached 22.2 million in 2016 through October, Fortune reports, which is close to breaking the all-time record, 2015's 23 million.
Bergh told Fortune he anticipates backlash for his decision. "I'm not naïve enough to expect that nothing will come of this. We are standing up for something we think is right."
Some Twitter users have issued negative responses to Bergh's request, according to The Washington Post.
Restaurants such as Whataburger, Chipotle, and Panera have also asked customers to refrain from bringing firearms into their stores, the Post reports.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.