True Religion's Denim Disruption Strategy

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Businessweek

Episode: True Religion’s Denim Disruption Strategy
Date: October 30, 2025
Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stanovec, Scarlet Fu
Guest: Michael Buckley, CEO of True Religion

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how True Religion, an iconic denim brand, is reclaiming relevance and profitability by transforming its product lineup, supply chain, marketing, and pricing. Michael Buckley, CEO (and former president) of True Religion, shares insight into how the company doubled revenue in the last four years and evolved beyond premium jeans to win over a broader, younger, and more diverse customer base.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

A New Era for True Religion: Growth and Profitability

• Current State of the Business

  • True Religion expects nearly $500M in revenue this year—double from four years ago and the most profitable in its 22-year history.

    "We've doubled it over the last four years and extremely...it's the most profitable it's ever been in the 22-year history."
    —Michael Buckley [02:52]

• Transition After Going Private

  • Buckley shares that being private versus public allows for a sharper focus on core strategy and understanding the customer deeply, leading to improved performance.

Reimagining the True Religion Customer

• Customer Evolution and Research

  • Buckley initiated a detailed consumer survey in 2019, revealing that today's True Religion shopper cuts across gender and race, is aged 15–50 (core 20–40), and typically has a $65,000 household income—far more representative of America’s middle class than the luxury audience that defined early True Religion.

    "...about 65,000 household income, which is clearly, it's the American average, but it's a lot less than the consumer that was paying $300 for a pair of jeans at the beginning."
    —Michael Buckley [03:25]

• Accessible Pricing & Product Diversification

  • Jeans now make up only 40% of sales (the rest is "sportswear"—T-shirts, hoodies, dresses, etc.) with far more affordable prices: jeans from $69 to $110, T-shirts and hoodies from $19.99 to $39.99.
  • This shift broadens True Religion’s appeal and total addressable market:

    "...half of the $250 billion in apparel and accessories is sold at [these price points] today...the brand has the ability to have a much more wider appeal..."
    —Michael Buckley [04:37]

Supply Chain Strategy & Global Production

• Global and Diversified Manufacturing
  • Early on, production was LA-centric, but now it’s international: predominantly China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Guatemala, and some South America.
  • Despite trade tensions and tariffs, China remains important:

    "Some of the suppliers out of China are very good...they are very quick, they have the ability to do more fashion compared to other countries that are doing just more basics in mass volume."
    —Michael Buckley [07:04]

  • True Religion has managed to mitigate ≈90% of tariff impact through strong partnerships.

Modern Marketing: Culture, Influencers & Relevance

• Marketing Investment & Influencer Partnerships
  • The brand now spends 10% of revenue ($50M+ this year) on marketing, working with talents like Ciara, Megan Thee Stallion, Anitta, Saweetie, Quavo, and India Love.

    "It's tremendously crucial...we invest heavily in marketing...the people we pick resonate well with the consumers that we know are the demographic target of this brand."
    —Michael Buckley [08:37, 09:40]

  • Aligning marketing with pop culture and a diverse consumer base has driven business growth:

    "We've doubled the size of this business as we've ramped up the marketing spend."
    —Michael Buckley [09:40]

Beyond Denim: Apparels Next Big Bets

• Expanding Beyond Jeans
  • True Religion aims to grow in shirts, sweaters, outerwear, and more. The strategy: go deeper in current categories and ensure jeans remain 40% of business, with the rest supporting broader growth.
  • Market expansion is enormous:

    "...addressable market of this brand is around 120 million consumers today versus 10 million...when we were selling $300 jeans."
    —Michael Buckley [10:15]

Sales Channels: Omnichannel and Wholesale Power

• Channel Mix
  • Sales are diversified:
    • ≈45% via truereligion.com
    • ≈45% via 56 highly profitable brick & mortar stores
    • Balance through 6,000+ wholesale locations in North America and 1,000+ internationally (from Macy’s and Dillard’s to Urban Outfitters and independents).

    "...the growth is everywhere...our own brick and mortar stores...and...wholesale locations..."
    —Michael Buckley [11:23]

The Future: Public or Private?

• IPO Considerations
  • As a private-equity-owned company, a public offering is possible but undecided.

    "I enjoyed running a public company. You know, it's really up to them what they want to do with it over time."
    —Michael Buckley [12:17]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The success of this business...we've doubled the size of this business as we've ramped up the marketing spend to close to 10% of revenue.”
  —Michael Buckley [09:40]

• "Our prices today...could be anywhere from $69 to $110 for a pair of jeans...positioned at price points where half of the $250 billion in apparel and accessories is sold at today.”
  —Michael Buckley [04:37]

• “We believe long term this should be a multibillion dollar brand, you know, like the Levis, Fashion Novas and other Tommys, Calvins of the world.”
  —Michael Buckley [10:57]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:52] – Company financials and profitability
• [03:25] – Defining today’s True Religion customer
• [04:37] – Pricing strategy and product mix evolution
• [05:54] – Supply chain transformation and global manufacturing
• [08:37] – Modern marketing investment and influencer strategy
• [10:15] – Growth categories beyond denim
• [11:23] – Sales channel breakdown
• [12:17] – IPO and ownership outlook

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Episode Tone and Takeaway

This discussion is focused, pragmatic, and upbeat—reflecting both realism about industry challenges and optimism around True Religion’s reinvention. Buckley’s message is clear: rigorous customer focus, affordable style, savvy marketing, and omnichannel execution have reignited growth and set the brand on course for even bigger ambitions.

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Useful for anyone interested in modern apparel strategy, brand turnaround stories, or evolving consumer trends.

Transcript

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[Scarlet Fu]

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[Bloomberg Announcer]

Studios Podcasts Radio News.

[Carol Massar]

You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Massar and Tim Stanovec on Bloomberg Radio.

[Tim Stanovec]

We spent a lot of time talking about big companies. Today we covered OpenAI, Amazon, Nvidia, Nokia. A lot of companies. A lot in the tech space too.

[Scarlet Fu]

Mm.

[Tim Stanovec]

Kind of want to zoom in a little bit on one of the smaller companies that we talk about.

[Scarlet Fu]

Are you wearing jeans?

[Tim Stanovec]

I had to look.

Oh, you're.

I am wearing jeans. Yeah, I'm wearing jeans.

[4imprint Representative]

Okay.

[Tim Stanovec]

But it's like a.

We wear jeans a lot now. Yeah, I wear jeans all the time.

Now we're talking jeans. We're talking jeans because we've got Michael Buckley with us, the CEO of True Religion. He joins us from Gardena, California. So everybody knows True Religion. The company began back in 2002. It was publicly traded for a few years. It was taken private back in 2013. Earlier this year, Akon Investments took a majority stake in the company. Michael, you've been there for quite some Time as CEO for, wow, six years. At this point before we. I want to ask you how businesses, I want to get an idea of the consumer. But because you're a private company, can you, we don't have access to all the numbers that, you know, we do with public companies. Can you just throw us a few numbers, contextualize for our audience the size of your business right now?

[Michael Buckley]

Yeah. This year we're going to be just short of about $500 million in revenue. And that's, we've doubled it over the last four years and extremely, it's the most profitable it's ever been in the 22 year history.

[Tim Stanovec]

Wow.

[Michael Buckley]

And I don't know if you guys know, but I was here the first time, so to speak. I was the president of the company when it was public and I was here from 2006 to 2010.

[Tim Stanovec]

So what are you able to do now as a private company that's allowing you to be more profitable than you were back as a public company when you were president?

[Michael Buckley]

You know, when I, you know, clearly the first thing you got to really understand in this business is who's your customer? So when I came back in 2019, the first thing I did was a consumer survey to really understand, I thought I understood who the customer was, but I wanted to really understand who the customer was from what it was called in 2005-2012 when we were selling a, you know, a high income Nordstrom, Neiman Sachs, Bloomingdale's early adopter customer. So did a survey and it came back very clear. Men and women, 15 to 50, the core being like 20 to 40 years old. African American, Latino, white, Asian, all races, but about 65,000 household income, which is clearly, it's the American average, but it's a lot less than the consumer that was paying $300 for a pair of jeans at the beginning of the brand's history.

[Tim Stanovec]

Yeah, I mean, it's funny, like, I was thinking about how many different like brands of jeans I have in my wardrobe and I've like gone all in on jeans in the last couple of years. And it's, it's, there's lots of choices out there, but price point does matter, right? Like, so how do you think about Michael? Like how you guys differentiate yourself? Yes, you can have a name and a brand, but, but I feel like there's more at play.

[Michael Buckley]

Yeah, I mean, I think for us, I mean, first of all, just to set the, the land in terms of what this brand stands for today we're about 40% jeans so of the $500 million we're doing 40% jeans and 60% in what we'll call sportswear. So I sell millions of T shirts, hoodies, joggers, button down shirts, dresses, skirts, you know, all apparel classifications in addition to a number of accessory classifications. So, you know, for us to be, be relevant, I mean, knowing the customer, we know what the customer wants in terms of product, we know what the customer is willing to pay. And by reinventing the supply chain of the company, we're able to give the customer what they want at the price they want. And quite frankly, our prices today, you know, it could be anywhere from, you know, $69 to, to $110 for a pair of jeans. It could be 1999, 29, 99, 39, 99 for a hoodie or a T shirt. You know, we're position at price points where half of the 250 billion in apparel and accessories is sold at today. Now you compare that to years ago when we sold $300 jeans, which was literally only a couple billion dollar business. So today the brand has the ability to have a much more wider appeal based on the size of the audience that we're going after as well as the price points that we're able to hit for this consumer.

[Tim Stanovec]

Talk to me about your supply chain. Where are the products made?

[Michael Buckley]

We make them all over the world. I mean, once upon a time we made everything in Los Angeles and then eventually that shifted to Mexico and South America.

[Tim Stanovec]

Do you make anything in LA anymore?

[Michael Buckley]

We might do a couple items fast chase, but predominantly it's 99% in other markets outside the U.S. okay, sorry I.

[Tim Stanovec]

Cut you off, but you were talking about the other countries that you're in.

[Michael Buckley]

Yeah, so we're in China, we're in Cambodia, we're in Vietnam, we're in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, other countries in Guatemala and some countries in South America. Tiny, tiny bit out of Mexico. So it's pretty diversified today.

[Tim Stanovec]

Surprised to hear China for a couple of reasons. One, I thought the apparel manufacturing wasn't as big as it has been traditionally because that economy really has shifted to higher tech, but also because of tariffs. And you know, we knew the trade war in the first Trump administration sort of was a warning to many companies that, that were manufacturing in China to find somewhere else to do it. What do you do in China right now and why are you still there?

[Michael Buckley]

Well, first of all, there's tariffs everywhere. I mean, I think now there are other.

[Tim Stanovec]

Now there are, but in the first Trump term they were, they were there Was no so called Liberation Day.

[Michael Buckley]

True. I mean today we do a lot out of China, we do a lot out of other countries. We, you know, like some of the suppliers out of China are very good in terms of making apparel. They are very quick, they have the ability to do more fashion compared to other countries that are doing just more basics in mass volume. Hey Michael, we've worked with our.

[Scarlet Fu]

Oh, sorry.

[Michael Buckley]

I'm sorry.

[Tim Stanovec]

No, no, no, please continue.

[Michael Buckley]

You know, we've worked with our suppliers. We literally work with our suppliers to our design team will work with the suppliers to be able to bring the product in, the quality we want, the details we want at the cost we want and whether that's China or other countries out there. So we've been fortunate partnering with these factories during Liberation Day and beyond. And we've mitigated almost, I don't want to say almost all, but probably 90% of the tariff impact we've mitigated with partnerships with these factories.

[Tim Stanovec]

Hey, one thing I want to ask you about is marketing. And I know you guys just rolled out your holiday plan or holiday campaign. I'm thinking of, you know, how much we talked about American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney and you know, the provocative, you know, having good jeans and so on and so forth or great jeans. I mean, that got so much momentum. The president even commented on it. So tell us about the marketing. You know, spend, how much that is, is crucial to your growth strategy.

[Michael Buckley]

It's tremendously crucial. I mean, you know, it wasn't the first thing we invested in when I came back. I mean, I had a lot to fix in terms of supply chain, in terms of really building, building out the product, really getting women's back to 50% of the business. But we invest heavily in marketing. Today we spend about 10% of our turnover. So this year it's, you know, circa $50 million we'll spend on marketing and we'll continue to spend at that level to get the, you know, we want to make sure that, that we're relevant to this consumer that we know is our customer. And it's important. You know, we just launched our campaign with Sierra. You know, we've done other major campaigns with people that are relevant today. Megan, thee stallion. Anita, Sweetie, you know, Quavo, India, love, you know, lots of people that are relevant to this consumer today. So it's incredibly important for us to continue to invest in the right talent that, that makes this brand relevant to this consumer.

[Tim Stanovec]

So, so, I mean, I know you can't give us any names about who you're thinking about, but how would you describe the individuals you've worked with or the brand image that you want to convey?

[Michael Buckley]

I think that they work perfectly for who our consumer is. We have a very diverse consumer and you know, the success of this business, I mean literally since we really started to invest heavily in marketing over the last couple years, like I said, we've doubled the size of this business as we've ramped up the marketing spend to to close to 10% of revenue. So the people we pick resonate well with the consumers that we know are the demographic target of this brand.

[Tim Stanovec]

So you're known for jeans, but as you mentioned to us, that's now less than half of your business. The area, the biggest area of growth from an apparel perspective, what is it?

[Michael Buckley]

I mean, we're in a lot of categories. We're in button down woven shirts, we're in sweaters, we're an outerwear. We just need to go deeper in those categories. I mean, we believe long term, you know, having started as a jean company, jeans will be circa 40% of the business. But the growth of the brand is really going to come from us just selling more of these other classifications as well as selling, you know, a lot more jeans. You know, the price points that we sell at today, like I said, over half of the 250 billion apparel and accessories are sold at and the addressable market of this brand is around 120 million consumers today versus 10 million consumers who are when we were selling $300 jeans. So you know, we believe, I mean our path is to get to a billion over the next four or five years. But we believe long term this should be a multibillion dollar brand, you know, like the Levi's fashion Novas and other Tommy's Calvins of the world.

[Tim Stanovec]

What's the best channel for selling? You've got stores, you've got online, you've got, you know, partnerships. Whether it's at, you know, various, I don't want to say, you know, department stores, you know, what is the best or where's the growth?

[Michael Buckley]

The growth is everywhere. I mean the business today is, let's call it circa 45% coming from true religion.com and then the balance is evenly split between 56 of our own brick and mortar stores which are highly profitable. I mean it's 45% fully but model within our stores. And the balance is I'm in 6,000 wholesale locations between in North America and I'm in another thousand wholesale locations outside of North America. So you know, we're in the Macy's and Dillard's and downtown locker rooms and Pacs, Sons, Tilly, Zoomies, Urban Outfitters, Buckles of the World. Plus a lot of independent stores, you know, as well as major. Yeah and and mid sized retailers outside the US as well.

[Tim Stanovec]

So owned by private equity. Obviously there should be a payday for private equity. That's what they're expecting. You were at the company when it was public. Is the plan to take it public again?

[Michael Buckley]

You know, obviously it's private equity owned. I mean at some point in time private equity always wants to monetize. I mean I enjoyed running a public company. You know, it's really up to them what they want to do with it over time.

[Tim Stanovec]

All right, you know what we want to know. You're wearing jeans I assume, right?

[Michael Buckley]

Of course I'm wearing, I have my, I have my suit and tie on here or my suit in and and my white shirt on. But yes, I'm wearing True legend.

[Tim Stanovec]

All right, just check it. Hey listen, stay in touch, let us know how things are going especially as we get into that all important holiday shopping season. Michael Buckley, he's Chief Executive Officer, True Religion joining us from California.

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