True Religion, the denim and sportswear brand distinguished by its “Super T” stitch, is advancing its retail presence in the U.S. with four store openings set for this year.
While the four openings will bring the total number of True Religion stores operating to 51, the brand sees approximately 150 shops operating in the future in North America, including a few more New York City sites that are being eyed.
“Retail is tough. But the reality is we’ve already mapped out another 100 potential locations for the brand based on our demographic and where we’re successful from an e-commerce perspective,” chief executive officer Michael Buckley told WWD on Friday. “We don’t want to be too fast rolling stores out, but we will roll out four this year and another five next year.
“If the model is working the way we expect from a profitability and sales per square foot perspective, then we could roll faster,” Buckley added.
The four True Religion openings for this year are located in Katy Mills in Katy, Texas; North Star Mall in San Antonio, Texas; Kings Plaza in Brooklyn, and Orland Square in Orland Park, Ill. The Katy Mills store has already opened, while the other three sites are expected to open later this month, in time for holiday selling.
As part of the big picture rollout plan, “We’re looking at a couple other New York City sites,” Buckley said.
“Over the last, five to 10 years, the stores had a darker wood concept. The new stores are fresher, brighter, lighter, there are light boxes, a lot more mannequins and forms,” Buckley said. “It’s just a real fresh new feeling.”
In terms of store size, Buckley said the sweet spot is 1,800 to 2,200 square feet, though certain locations can be larger or smaller at 1,600 to 2,500 square.
“We work with a real estate firm, we have a real estate committee internally, and we look at the center overall. Who are the anchors in there? What are the sales per square foot? And then does it have the right demographic for this brand,” Buckley said. “It’s critical that our consumer is shopping in these centers. And then we’ll look at other retailers like the JDs of the world, Guess, House of Hoops — other retailers where our customer shops. That seems to be the formula.”
True Religion targets men and women 20 to 40 years old, and has a diverse client base. Black shoppers make up about 35 percent of customers, while Latine, white and Asian customers represent roughly 20 percent each. The average household income is $60,000.
Buckley said the business is growing. “Within our stores, comps are up double digits, traffic comps are up north of 20 percent. E-commerce is growing faster than our wholesale business, [which] is also growing very rapidly.” Buckley said about 40 percent of business is generated through e-commerce, 30 percent is wholesale, and 30 percent is retail.
True Religion last month launched its holiday campaign with Megan Thee Stallion and Hunxho. “We survey our customer every year. We know what they like. We know what music stars they like and are relevant at the time. We know what professional athletes they like. We do a lot of collaborations.…Every six months, we’ll do a new campaign with popular talent, which resonates really well with this customer. As a brand, we spend close to 10 percent of turnover on total marketing,” which is about four or five points higher than the average retail fashion brand.
True Religion emerged onto the Los Angeles denim scene by blowing up the construction of the classic five-pocket jean. With its five-needle thread at two-stitch-per-inch process, the True Religion Super T stitch has been recognized for its unique look.
True Religion in Katy Mills, Texas.
