Levi Strauss to Crack Down on Counterfeits : Retailing: The company has targeted a flood of imitation jeans from China.

Levi Strauss & Co. is planning a major crackdown on Chinese-based counterfeiting of its trademark 501 jeans, clothing that appears genuine but falls apart quickly.

The San Francisco-based company, the world’s largest apparel manufacturer, said counterfeiting of its products is now at the highest level in its 140-year history.

“We would characterize this as an explosion of counterfeiting” said David Samson, a company spokesman. “Two years ago there were no counterfeits out of China. In 31 countries, we’ve seized over a million (pair) of counterfeit jeans over first 10 months of this year.”

Samson said scores of private investigators and attorneys around the world have been hired to investigate the illegal production and export of the imitation jeans.

The fakes from China go to the European market and sell for $50 to $60 a pair, compared to about $85 for the genuine jeans. So far, most of the jeans have been confiscated in Italy, Spain and Germany, said David Saenz, deputy director for corporate security at Levi Strauss. The legitimate 501 jeans are sold at the rate of 40 million pairs a year.

“We will be going out aggressively after those involved in counterfeit trafficking,” Samson said. “There is misconception that because the goods are not entering the United States, that the traders are not subject U.S. law--that’s simply not the case.”

Samson said Chinese producers of the imitation jeans may have been approached by counterfeiters posing as Levi representatives. Other producers, however, are knowingly manufacturing imitations, he said.

Levi Strauss has already filed court actions in five countries--including Germany, Italy and Spain--and suits in federal court in Los Angeles and Miami. In the weeks ahead, attorneys will file more suits in U.S. courts against the American traders who have helped match Chinese manufacturers with European sellers, Samson said.

The company said the Chinese fakes are hard to spot visually, but the pants don’t last long. For example, the rivets rust, belt loops break and legs shrink unevenly, the company said. The quality of the denim is also inferior, the company said.

Chinese authorities have been helpful, the company said. The Beijing government has helped Levi Strauss identify some of the manufacturers, which has led to seizures and enabled the Bay Area manufacturer to identify some of the export-import companies involved in the counterfeit trade.

“I’m willing to accept that the Chinese government is not behind the counterfeiting,” Saenz said. “But the Chinese are being used by Westerners who are familiar with trademark law and are knowingly involved in illegal activity.”

Saenz said the Chinese government has provided documents that will be used in lawsuits against counterfeit operators.

Saenz said Chinese authorities have shut down 10 factories in three months, most of them near Beijing. The Chinese government and Levi Strauss are now beginning to investigate counterfeiting in areas surrounding Canton near the Hong Kong border.

The Chinese trademark law is only 9 years old, but regulations and laws prohibiting such activity were not widely disseminated until 1987.

Several manufacturers in China, however, have been prosecuted for counterfeiting Levi’s and have written public “notices of self-criticism,” Saenz said.