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Googlehas reportedly helped Levi Strauss & Co. develop an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for store associates. The idea for the tool came about after an employee presented it during a hackathon at the denim company, according to a report.The tool helps retail staff answer customer questions and access product or operational information during in-store interactions. It was created with support from Google Cloud and based on Gemini’s large language models.According to a Fortune report, the AI system, called STITCH, allows employees to ask natural-language questions about Levi’s products, store procedures, and order processing. The project moved from concept to a limited pilot in late 2025 and has since been expanded to more than 70 Levi’s stores in the US, the report notes.
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The idea originated during an internal hackathon where an employee proposed combining information about Levi’s products, operational guidelines and training materials into a single AI-powered assistant. The goal was to make it easier for store employees to access information while helping customers.Working with Google Cloud, Levi’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer Jason Gowans launched a pilot version of the tool in 10 stores in late 2025.Store associates could use the system to ask questions such as the differences between popular denim styles like the 501 and 505 jeans, how to process returns without a receipt, or how to complete online orders that are fulfilled in stores, the report adds.“That gives us some intuition that there’s real value here, and the stylists do seem to be showing up as more knowledgeable and more confident,” Gowans told Fortune.
How this AI tool helps Levi’s store staff assist customers
Store associates can access the STITCH AI tool through tablets or smartphones. The system pulls together information from multiple company resources, allowing employees to quickly retrieve product details or procedural guidance.According to Levi’s, stores where employees use STITCH have reported an eight-point improvement in customer satisfaction compared with locations that do not use the technology.The company plans to expand the tool to additional stores, introduce more features, and add language support beyond English.Beyond STITCH, Levi’s is introducing AI tools across several parts of its business. The company is using AI in product design, demand forecasting, and price optimisation to determine pricing strategies for merchandise. Levi’s has also made Microsoft Copilot widely available internally, and employees have already built more than 800 AI agents for different use cases.“We’ve seeded this by training our employees, both our corporate employees and our stylists,” Gowans stated the company does not intend to force the adoption of technology like AI from the top. He cited the STITCH initiative as an example of how the company was successfully testing the idea in-house, in partnership with technology companies such as Google Cloud.
