share on
From accelerating the brand's DTC-first strategy and premiumisation agenda to deepening relationships with consumers, the leader shares the critical shifts in mindset, capabilities, and talent strategies required to steer an iconic brand in one of the world's leading retail markets.
As a seasoned leader with more than 25 years of experience across Asia Pacific’s luxury fashion and retail industry, Anita Fung (pictured above) has joined Levi Strauss and Co (LS&Co) as Managing Director for Greater China at a pivotal time for the brand.
As the company accelerates its DTC (direct-to-consumer)-first strategy, advances its premiumisation agenda, and deepens its engagement with fashion-forward consumers, Fung firmly believes in the power of people to bring a brand’s values and identity to life.
“The energy a brand projects externally is a reflection of what people feel internally,” she affirms.
In this exclusive interview with HRO’s Tracy Chan, Fung shares her vision for driving Levi’s® next phase of growth in Greater China, and discusses the leadership, talent, and cultural priorities that will help build a more agile and consumer-centric brand in one of the world’s most dynamic retail markets.
Read the full interview below.
Q: You have joined at a time of significant strategic acceleration in Greater China. From a leadership perspective, what are the most critical people and capability shifts required to successfully execute a DTC-first strategy in this market?
A DTC-first strategy is about closing the distance between the brand and the consumer – not just what they buy, but how they engage, express themselves, and form a lasting relationship with the brand. In Greater China, where we are undergoing a deliberate refresh to reclaim our denim authority, it demands a different kind of organisation.
Three shifts matter most. First, moving from channel-centric to consumer-centric. Mainland China is one of the most digitally advanced retail markets in the world – consumers on RedNote (小红书) or Tmall (天猫) are already highly sophisticated, and they expect a seamless experience whether they encounter the brand online or in-store. Retail, eCommerce, merchandising, and marketing must operate as one team, working towards the same consumer outcome.
Second, building digital and insight capability as a core leadership competency – not just a functional tool. Teams that translate signals into action quickly will have a decisive edge here.
Third, and most importantly: fan obsession. At LS&Co, we are becoming a more DTC-first denim lifestyle company – and that is already delivering more consistent growth, a larger addressable market, and higher profitability.
The unlock is being more scientific about identifying our most valued customers and building genuine relationships with them, online and offline. Our frontline teams are at the heart of that.
Our ‘Behind Every Original’ pop-ups with the ROSÉ x Levi’s® collaboration – in Taipei and our first immersive activation in Mainland China in Chengdu – are a good example of fan-building done right: culturally rooted, community-led, and anchored in denim craft.
And finally, AI: not to replace people, but to remove low-value work so teams can spend more time serving fans. That is the playbook – simple, focused, and directly relevant to what we do every day in Greater China.
Q: Omnichannel success often depends as much on mindset as on technology. How are you thinking about breaking down the silos between the retail, digital, and supply chain teams to create a truly integrated consumer experience in Greater China?
The honest answer is that it starts with shared accountability – every function aligned to the same consumer outcome, not their own channel metric.
What makes this especially pressing in Greater China is that eCommerce here is not catching up to the rest of the world – it is leading it. Chinese consumers are already years ahead in how they discover, evaluate, and purchase across platforms.
The bar for integration is higher, and the cost of a disjointed experience is greater. A bigger and better fleet of stores in the right city locations matters enormously – but only when those stores are fully joined up with eCommerce to deliver a seamless and consistent experience that feels unmistakably Levi’s® at every touchpoint.
One of our explicit commitments this year is to operate as one Greater China team – clean ownership, fewer handoffs, faster decisions, and a shared standard of execution across all four markets (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao). When structure and mindset align, the consumer experience follows.
Q: As LS&Co pushes further into premiumisation, how does this shift influence the type of talent you need, particularly at the frontline and leadership levels?
Premiumisation is visible in the product, but it is felt through the people. On the frontline, it means shifting from transactional to intentional. Every interaction should reflect the quality and authenticity consumers expect from the brand.
Our ‘Behind Every Original’ pop-up experience showed what that looks like in practice – store teams trained to lead community panels and engage genuinely on denim craftsmanship, not just process a sale. That does not happen without deliberate investment in capability and culture.
In Greater China specifically, we are also focused on winning over women – and that requires teams who can deliver a compelling experience for her whether she is shopping online or in-store, bringing styling to life head-to-toe, and presenting a product offer that feels personal and relevant. Strong branding, the right in-store and digital experience, and the right product – those three things together are how we win over women.
For leadership, I need people who are both commercially sharp and deeply culturally attuned – who can hold the brand’s heritage with conviction while evolving how it shows up for a new generation of Chinese consumers. Greater China has a genuine opportunity to position Levi’s® as a premium denim authority. That ambition has to be lived by the leadership team first.
Q: As a leader, how do you balance decisiveness with agility, especially when guiding teams through rapid change and uncertainty?
Decisiveness and agility are not in tension – they depend on each other. The balance comes from being clear on what is fixed and what is flexible.
Our strategic anchors are non-negotiable: denim authority, premiumisation, and winning over women. How we execute against those – which cities and doors we prioritise, how we sequence our store fleet upgrade, and how we show up culturally in a given season – that is where the flexibility lives.
In Greater China, agility means staying close to the consumer, empowering teams to act quickly, and adapting executions without losing strategic direction. When teams understand the “why” behind the decisions, they move faster and with more confidence – and that clarity is something I hold myself accountable for.
Q: DTC and omnichannel models generate vast amounts of consumer and performance data. How do you ensure leaders and teams use data to inform decisions without losing the human judgement and creativity critical in fashion and retail?
Data tells you what is happening. It rarely tells you why, or what to do next. The risk is that teams start treating metrics as strategy – and that is where creativity gets squeezed out.
Data should sharpen human judgement, not replace it. In fashion, the most important signals are often emotional and cultural – how a consumer feels in our clothes, what a brand represents at a particular cultural moment, what will resonate before it shows up in the numbers. Those things do not live in a dashboard.
At LS&Co, we use digital signals and platform data to inform store briefs, pop-up timings, and assortment priorities. But the creative and cultural judgement that makes those decisions land still has to come from people. The strongest brands combine analytical rigour with emotional intelligence. In Greater China, where culture moves fast and consumer taste is increasingly sophisticated, that balance is not optional – it is the competitive edge.
Q: How closely do you see consumer engagement and employee engagement intersecting, particularly as younger generations enter both your customer base and workforce?
The connection is direct. The energy a brand projects externally is a reflection of what people feel internally. You cannot ask a store team to deliver an inspired brand experience if they are not genuinely connected to what the brand stands for.
What struck me when I first spent time on the ground here was the depth of pride and passion our teams bring to every consumer interaction. That comes from people who genuinely believe in what they are part of. As younger generations enter both our workforce and consumer base, that alignment becomes even more important – they are looking for brands and employers that are consistent in their values and authentic in how they show up.
For us, that means staying true to our denim authority and heritage while continuing to evolve how we connect with modern consumers through culture, creativity, and experience. Strong consumer brands are built by highly engaged teams who genuinely believe in the brand they represent – and at LS&Co, we see that every day in how our teams bring Levi’s® to life.
Q: Looking ahead, what leadership traits will be most critical for success in Greater China’s retail sector and how is LS&Co. identifying and cultivating future leaders internally?
Adaptability, commercial rigour, and cultural fluency. Leaders in Greater China can no longer rely on hierarchy or playbooks. They need to be comfortable with ambiguity, make decisions quickly, and lead across increasingly interconnected functions. Empathy matters too – building resilient teams and creating environments where talent genuinely thrives.
At LS&Co, we are developing leaders who combine strategic thinking with agility and strong cultural awareness – through broader cross-functional exposure, accelerated development opportunities, and greater collaboration across markets. What I have found is that these qualities are often already visible in the organisation, in how people navigate challenges, support others, and connect their daily work to the bigger picture. My focus is on identifying those individuals early and giving them meaningful stretch.
In Greater China specifically, we are deliberate about finding talent that can bridge commercial and cultural acuity – people who understand the consumer deeply, read the market quickly, and lead with clarity across Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao. We are actively building the next generation of leaders, not waiting for them to emerge.
Q: Beyond commercial performance, what indicators from a culture, talent, and organisational-health perspective will tell you that you’ve successfully positioned LS&Co for its next chapter in Greater China?
Commercial performance tells you where you landed. Culture and talent indicators tell you whether it is sustainable.
The signal I watch most closely is clarity – whether people across the organisation can articulate where we are going and understand how their role connects to that vision.
When that clarity exists, you see it in retention, initiative, collaboration, and execution quality.
I also watch talent development closely: are we growing internal leaders, retaining high performers, and attracting people genuinely excited by what this brand can become? And agility – how quickly teams can read, decide, and act. When you have those three things running well, commercial performance tends to follow.
Q: To wrap up on a stylish note – give us an idea into which fashion trends across the decades you loved most, and why?
The 1990s, without question – and not just because that’s when I fell in love with fashion. It was a decade of genuine tension and confidence: minimalism and maximalism both making an argument, tailoring meeting streetwear, and denim sitting right at the centre of it all.
What Levi’s® represented in the ’90s – democratic, rebellious, iconic – is something that still resonates deeply with how I think about the brand today. The best fashion has always had a point of view, and I find myself most drawn to the eras where that conviction shows.
All photos / Provided
The excerpt of this article first appeared in the H1 2026 edition of Human Resources Online's Hong Kong e-magazine. Explore the full e-magazine here for insightful features and exclusive interviews with leaders across industries and regions!
share on
