This week, an in-depth look at the recent marketing strategy of True Religion under CMO Kristen D’Arcy. Over the last few years, True Religion has significantly expanded its marketing spend and experimented with new channels like Twitch, with quantifiably successful results.
The denim brand True Religion is well on its way to its goal of $1 billion in annual sales in the next three to five years. And according to CMO and head of digital growth Kristen D’Arcy, maintaining an ambitious marketing strategy at a time when many other brands are pulling back on ad spending has been key to its growth.
This week, True Religion is expanding its Icons collection — a recurring series of collaborations with celebrities and influencers, which have included Megan Thee Stallion and Anitta. Its latest partnerships are with the rapper Glorilla and the the streamer Duke Dennis, both of whom have millions of followers on social media (and both of whom had recent run-ins with the law.)
While Glorilla is comfortably within True Religion’s typical wheelhouse of music and hip-hop, the partnership with Dennis represents a new frontier for the brand. Dennis is best known for streaming the video game series NBA 2K and is popular on the video game streaming service Twitch. True Religion had dabbled with some paid media on Twitch two years ago, but now, with its first gaming influencer partnership, it’s putting more money into Twitch ads to complement the campaign.
“In addition to our core 25-to-45-year-old customer, we started seeing a lot more people aged 18-25 organically start to shop True Religion,” D’Arcy said. “We thought it was interesting and decided to lean in and test if we can grow this audience.”
D’Arcy said there’s an addressable market of 120 million people for True Religion in the U.S. With more young people finding the brand organically — likely through unpaid endorsements from celebrities like Timothée Chalamet — D’Arcy said her team is looking for ways to test and capitalize on new channels. D’Arcy personally signs off on every partnership the brand strikes to make sure the ambassadors True Religion works with are both influential individuals in their own and a right fit for the brand.
And True Religion is expanding the channels it’s marketing on, as well, beyond the traditional platforms like Google, YouTube and Instagram. Recently, True Religion has moved into audio for the first time with paid ads on both music streaming platforms and podcasts. And in addition to Twitch, later this year, True Religion is doing its first ad buys on Snapchat since D’Arcy took over as CMO two years ago.
But those are not the only marketing ambitions the brand has. D’Arcy said True Religion is planning to sign more influencers and celebrities for Icons campaigns, sign more influencers and athletes for its Team True ambassador program, and add more IRL infrastructure like in-store video screens where customers can sign up for True Religion’s loyalty programs. All of these are planned to roll out throughout the rest of 2025.
If it seems like True Religion is spending more on marketing, that’s because it is. Over the last five years, the brand has increased its marketing budget from 3% to 10% of its revenue. It makes True Religion a notable outlier among fashion brands that are overall reducing their ad spend as uncertainty around tariffs has made them cautious. True Religion manufactures much of its denim in Mexico, where most goods are exempt from tariffs because of an agreement reached on August 5 between the U.S. and Mexico.
And by all accounts, it’s working, D’Arcy said. In the last year, the brand’s store traffic is up double digits, traffic to the website is up 50%, and sales are up more than 15%. True Religion’s loyalty program has been a particular success, with 2 million members now enrolled. Additionally, new customers are up by triple digits compared to last year, and social engagement is around 6-8% above the industry average. Revenue for this year is expected to be over $450 million.
“We’re not letting up at all,” D’Arcy said. “We have seen quantifiable business growth connected to the right strategic marketing activities. We are very fortunate that our CEO and our investors believe in the power of marketing.”
Executive moves
- In the midst of its Versace acquisition, Prada has named its first chief communications officer. Christopher Bugg, who has been with Prada since 2020, is stepping into the role.
- The former Ferragamo CEO Marco Gobbetti is taking on a new role, joining the board of directors of the Italian fashion group Aeffe. Aeffe is the parent company of a number of brands including Moschino and Alberta Ferretti.
News to know
- Zara removed two ads from circulation this week after criticism that they showed models who were “unhealthily thin,” according to Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority.
- For the second time in seven years, the mall brand Claire’s is filing for bankruptcy. CEO Chris Cramer attributed the decision to an increasingly competitive market and less spending from the brand’s core customers.
- Over 1,000 Gucci employees are threatening to strike over a welfare dispute. Workers accuse the brand’s owner Kering of not paying promised welfare bonuses for three years now.
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