Levi Strauss & Co. said Tuesday that profit in its latest quarter grew 15%, padded by the introduction of its new women's denim collection, though revenue declined slightly as overseas sales were hurt by the stronger dollar.

In the Americas, where the San Francisco, Calif., jeans maker generates most of its sales, revenue rose 2.3% to $713 million, breaking a streak of two straight quarters of declines.

In Europe, sales fell 9.8% to $258 million, though excluding currency effects, sales grew 12%. In Asia, revenue edged down to $170 million from $171 million; on a constant-currency basis they improved 9%.

"Currencies are a challenge for any global company, and we've seen headwinds there," Chief Executive Chip Bergh said in an interview. "We've been talking about the second half needing to be strong and planned a siege for the quarter, and we're happy with the results."

The retailer saw improvement in gross margins in every region as total gross margin for the quarter grew to 50.2% of revenue compared with 48.7% a year earlier. Levi executives said margins were helped by pricing increases in Europe, including Russia and Mexico, and by the fact that its higher-margin international business is growing faster than in the Americas.

Mr. Bergh said company-owned stores saw double-digit growth for women's clothing with the introduction in August of its new denim, which he said sold "through or out" in many stores.

Overall, Levi reported a profit of $58.2 million for the quarter ended in August, up from $50.6 million a year earlier. Revenue edged down to $1.14 billion from $1.15 billion a year earlier. Excluding currency effects, revenue was up 7%.

The closely held apparel maker is in the process of outsourcing its finance function, as part of a larger initiative to pare down costs. The plan calls for shifting several of operations such as human resources, IT and customer service to a third-party.

Chief Financial Officer Harmit Singh said in an interview that the benefits of the restructuring were reflected in the quarter's margins.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 13, 2015 17:05 ET (21:05 GMT)