‘We like to be first to be second’: How True Religion’s CEO is rebuilding the denim brand for Gen Z and millennials

A pair of True Religion jeans never tried to be subtle. The stitching, the horseshoe on the back pocket, and the price tag all helped announce what someone was wearing. Michael Buckley, who led the brand during its premium-denim heyday, remembers the feeling that came with owning a pair: “Hey, I got my trues.”

Now that he’s back, he’s finding plenty of customers who still want their clothes to draw a little attention, and right now that often means sparkle. “We can’t have crystals on enough product here,” he told Fortune, listing T-shirts, hoodies, joggers, and jeans. At one store event, shoppers could even bedazzle their initials on the clothes. The appetite for standing out hasn’t changed, but what it costs has. 

Today, Buckley is courting Gen Z and millennials with more affordable clothing, music partnerships, and in-store experiences, while letting go of something the brand once prided itself on: setting trends. 

“We like to be first to be second,” he said. The idea is to catch a trend once it’s proven rather than start it, and give customers what they want “at the price they want.”

His team follows online conversations and changing styles, from baggy men’s jeans to low-rise women’s denim and crystals across categories. If it spots a trend it missed, he said, the company can make 300 pieces and have them arrive in two or three months.

“Years ago, we created the trend. We’re not creating any trends today. We are following the trends,” he said. 

John Talbott, a retail expert with experience in business turnarounds and developing store brands, sees a business logic in letting someone else go first. New styles often start small, at high-end retailers or niche brands, and the volume comes later. For a brand now selling to a mass audience rather than early adopters, waiting for proof can be the safer bet.

Keeping the status, changing the........

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