How True Religion’s CEO is rebuilding the denim model for Gen Z and millennials
A pair of True Religion denims by no means tried to be refined. The stitching, the horseshoe on the again pocket, and the worth tag all helped announce what somebody was carrying. Michael Buckley, who led the model throughout its premium-denim heyday, remembers the sensation that got here with proudly owning a pair: “Hey, I obtained my trues.”
Now that he’s again, he’s discovering loads of clients who nonetheless need their garments to attract somewhat consideration, and proper now that usually means sparkle. “We can’t have crystals on sufficient product right here,” he instructed Fortune, itemizing T-shirts, hoodies, joggers, and denims. At one retailer occasion, consumers may even bedazzle their initials on the garments. The urge for food for standing out hasn’t modified, however what it prices has.
Today, Buckley is courting Gen Z and millennials with extra reasonably priced clothes, music partnerships, and in-store experiences, whereas letting go of one thing the model as soon as prided itself on: setting traits.
“We prefer to be first to be second,” he stated. The concept is to catch a pattern as soon as it’s confirmed slightly than begin it, and provides clients what they need “on the worth they need.”
His group follows on-line conversations and altering types, from saggy males’s denims to low-rise ladies’s denim and crystals throughout classes. If it spots a pattern it missed, he stated, the corporate could make 300 items and have them arrive in two or three months.
“Years in the past, we created the pattern. We’re not creating any traits in the present day. We are following the traits,” he stated.
John Talbott, a retail skilled with expertise in enterprise turnarounds and creating retailer manufacturers, sees a enterprise logic in letting another person go first. New types usually begin small, at high-end retailers or area of interest manufacturers, and the quantity comes later. For a model now promoting to a mass viewers slightly than early adopters, ready for proof may be the safer wager.
Keeping the standing, altering the worth
True Religion’s authentic enchantment belonged to an period when Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson wore its conspicuously stitched, costly denims. The rise of cheaper fashion and athletic clothing subsequently put stress on premium denim.
Today, the competitors spans these classes: Piper Sandler’s fall 2026 teen survey discovered consumers shifting towards nonathletic style, with retailers together with American Eagle, H&M, Pacsun, Hollister, and Urban Outfitters collectively gaining floor.
For Buckley, adapting to that altering market started with recognizing how a lot True Religion’s personal buyer had modified. During his stint as president from 2006 to 2010, the corporate bought predominantly $200 and $300 denims to prosperous department-store consumers with family incomes round $250,000.
When he returned in 2019, this time as CEO, analysis he commissioned inside his first three months revealed a unique viewers: extra various, principally ages 15 to 45, with family incomes of roughly $65,000 to $85,000.
“The enterprise was being run as in the event that they had been nonetheless promoting the early adopter buyer, they usually weren’t,” he recalled.
Buckley started constructing round what these consumers wished to put on, what they might pay, and the place they wished to purchase it. Jeans now run $59 to $89, he stated, and T-shirts $19 to $39. Denim accounts for 35% to 40% of the enterprise, with hoodies, clothes, joggers, outerwear, and different informal clothes filling out the wardrobe.
“You should know your buyer,” he stated. “That’s the most important studying on this enterprise.”
Making types reasonably priced required adjustments clients wouldn’t essentially see on the rack. Buckley stated he reworked the availability chain, testing cheaper alternate options in opposition to the costly Italian materials the model had utilized in what he referred to as a “Coke-Pepsi check.”
Despite denims promoting for decrease costs in comparison with 20 years in the past, Buckley initiatives earnings of $525 million to $550 million this 12 months, which he stated can be the corporate’s highest ever.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, sees decrease costs as a solution to make the model extra accessible, though affordability alone received’t decide the place youthful consumers spend. They have proven a willingness to pay a premium for manufacturers reminiscent of Ralph Lauren and Coach once they contemplate it worthwhile, he stated.
Expanding past denim borrows from Levi’s way of life playbook and provides True Religion extra alternatives to win their enterprise, however the model additionally wants to differentiate itself from opponents.
Different generations, acquainted expectations
For millennials who bear in mind True Religion’s glory days, the horseshoe stitching comes with a way of familiarity.
Research commissioned by True Religion and shared with Fortune means that historical past may be a bonus. Wired Research surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 to 45 who had not too long ago purchased attire, discovering that just about three-quarters of millennials had been drawn to manufacturers with a protracted historical past or heritage.
The enchantment extends to consumers too younger to recollect the model’s first heyday: about two-thirds of Gen Z respondents additionally favored heritage manufacturers. And each generations overwhelmingly discovered consolation, model, and cultural relevance interesting. What would possibly get them to strive a model, although, differed.
For Gen Z, that invitation may come via a live performance or a collaboration with a favourite cultural determine. Six in 10 stated brand-sponsored occasions, concert events, and festivals would make them extra more likely to buy, in contrast with about half of millennials. Influencer and cultural collaborations additionally held extra sway with the youthful group.
Millennials, in the meantime, had been extra keen to provide a well-known model one other spot of their closet: 79% stated they like shopping for extra of their garments from fewer manufacturers they belief.
Music is one other manner Buckley is attempting to achieve consumers. Alongside partnerships with Megan Thee Stallion and Zara Larsson, True Religion teamed up with impartial music firm UnitedMasters on a four-city concert series. The collection, which kicked off Sept. 10 in New York with Dess Dior, combines intimate performances and alternatives to satisfy artists with merchandise, interactive experiences, and playlists in shops.
Making the comeback final
Adapting to consumers has not all the time gone easily. The firm filed for chapter in 2017 and again in 2020. Buckley attributed its monetary troubles to extreme debt and the pandemic, arguing that the model’s enchantment survived the enterprise’s difficulties.
“You can handle a enterprise improperly whereas your model remains to be sturdy,” he stated.
He plans to develop earnings to $900 million over the subsequent 5 years, reaching consumers via its personal shops and web site in addition to wholesale companions. That contains off-price retailers, the place he stated some clients are blissful to purchase final season’s garments.
But reasonably priced denim is a crowded area, based on Talbot, who pointed to American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levi’s, and Wrangler. Still, True Religion’s distinctive pocket design offers it one thing recognizable to work with, and Buckley’s expertise main the model throughout its earlier success makes Talbott extra optimistic about its long-term prospects.
Asked what he needs the model to imply to a brand new buyer, Buckley returned to the identical feeling he remembered from its expensive-jeans period.
“It means standing. It makes you are feeling good,” he stated.
