Tesco confident of victory in jeans war

Tesco says it's confident of victory on Tuesday in in its long-running jeans war with Levis.

A ruling by the European Court of Justice is expected to uphold Tesco's policy of selling cut-price Levi products against the manufacturer's wishes.

Tesco has been sourcing designer products from countries outside the EU and re-selling them at knock-down prices.

Levi Strauss's legal battle has lasted nearly three years.

Tesco is seeking the right to buy Levi's jeans from grey market outlets in the US and Far East.

It says a ruling by the European Court in its favour could see the price of Levis fall to £25.

A Tesco spokesman said that the desirability of Levis won't be diminished if they're readily available in supermarkets.

He said: "It's ridiculous that Levis should object if their jeans are on sale in our stores. They don't seem to have that problem in the US, where the their product is simply sold as a good-quality jean without any claims to be tailor-made.

"In the end, it's all about customer choice over where people want to buy their jeans. But Levis do seem to have this bizarre notion of building up cache around the stores that they sell their jeans in."