PETA activists protest outside Levi's SF office over leather patches on pants

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Animal rights activists from PETA are taking issue Levi's jeans. They want the clothing company to stop using leather patches on all its pants.

The organization took its message to Levi's headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday, where they brought up their petition at a shareholders meeting.

Currently, Levi's uses synthetic or paper patches on some of its clothing, but still uses leather on some lines of jeans and pants.

"The paper patch that a lot of people associate with Levi's is really the iconic patch. This leather patch, most people don't even notice it. It's this black patch made out of animal skin and cows suffer immensely when they are killed for leather," said Katerina Davidovich with PETA.

ABC7 News asked Levi's about the patches and the company said that the leather it uses is a byproduct of other industries that comply with international animal welfare standards.