The jean features you hate appeal to younger folks. They don't wear belts and they want their phones to stick out so people can see what they are carrying. Thinner material is also appealing to the younger set.
I wouldn't wear jeans anymore and haven't for over a decade. Cotton pants, commonly referred to as khakis, preferably of the cargo persuasion, is what I wear exclusively. Jeans never dry out if they get wet; pants do.
Levis probably considers themselves a manufacturer instead of a consumer based corporation. Therefore, they leave customer service up to the retail outlets.
Speaking of which, I get tired of my wife complaining that "outlet malls" don't have good prices anymore. Outlet used to mean an off the beaten path warehouse-grade establishment where manufacturers could dump B grade merchandise at cost or less. Now it means a collection of retail stores arranged in an outdoor strip mall fashion replete with convenient food and beverage stops, all at retail prices. They trained folks to associate outlet with cheap and then decades later, pulled a bait and switch.