True Religion’s Renaissance: Inside the Brand’s Repositioning and Retail Strategy

True Religion’s Renaissance: Inside the Brand’s Repositioning and Retail Strategy

Wed, September 2, 2026 at 9:59 PM GMT+3 3 min read

True Religion has entered a new era. Initially a premium denim label, in recent years the brand has transformed into a broader lifestyle business with a more accessible price point.

When the brand was selling $200 or $300 jeans, the potential customer base was roughly 10 million to 15 million shoppers. In contrast, today the brand is retailing denim for $30 to $80, courting an "urban casual" consumer that is an approximately 110 million-strong demographic.

More from WWD

"It's much more of a mass audience today, as opposed to a niche luxury-type customer years ago," True Religion chief executive officer Michael Buckley told Ian Fredericks, CEO of Hilco Global Capital Solutions and executive director of Hilco's consumer and retail platform, during an episode of WWD Voices for Retail RX.

[To listen to the podcast on Retail RX, CLICK HERE]

With this shift toward a mass audience, True Religion's retail footprint has also evolved. It has moved away from high-end shopping centers and into locations and wholesale doors where its target consumer shops, including Pacsun, Urban Outfitters, Macy's and Buckle.

Owned retail makes up almost two-thirds of sales, with 39 percent coming from the True Religion e-commerce site. As part of its omnichannel model, the brand is also investing in brick-and-mortar. By the end of this year, it will have 61 directly operated doors, and in the next four to five years, the store count is expected to blossom to around 150 locations. Part of what is making True Religion bullish on brick-and-mortar is the ROI.

"Every store that we build out, the payback is a year or less, so that gives us a lot of conviction that there's a lot more locations that we can tap into that will deliver," Buckley said. "Our stores, yes, they are a showcase of the brand, they are a marketing activity, but they're also commercial profit-driving locations."

One thing that has remained constant since True Religion's Y2K beginnings has been celebrity fans. In its early years, these included tabloid regulars like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Today, the brand is seen on famous faces like Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet, and it has tapped artists from the music business including Anitta and Megan Thee Stallion. Recently, it launched a campaign with Scandinavian pop star Zara Larsson, which drove hundreds of millions of impressions in just a couple weeks.

Sales are growing. This past year, the brand did $470 million in net sales, and this year, sales are on track to exceed $525 million. Buckley says the brand is on the path to $1 billion in revenue, and he believes it could become a multibillion-dollar brand.

"We're still in the early innings of this brand, so lots ahead for True Religion," he said.

In this episode, Buckley dives into True Religion's marketing approach, what factors have allowed the brand to successfully navigate supply chain challenges and Gen Z's role in the brick-and-mortar revival.

Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.