This is an episode of the Glossy Fashion Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the fashion industry. More from the series →
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Menswear brand True Classic started out in 2019 with a singular focus: improving on the classic T-shirt. But in the last six years, the brand has scaled profitably and diversified its product categories to include activewear, denim and chinos, among other products. There’s even womenswear on the horizon, as well as more physical stores opening throughout the year.
Ben Yahalom, formerly president of the brand who took over as CEO last summer, stopped by the Glossy Podcast to talk about some of the ways True Classic is continuing to evolve, including in physical retail and through an ever-expanding marketing strategy that’s not focused on just one channel.
Highlights from the discussion, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.
On physical retail
“We have nine stores now, and we’re opening more in places like Las Vegas and California. The stores are a way to make True Classic available as directly as possible. It’s our physical direct-to-consumer play. Customers who come into the store get a much better experience and a lot more information than they can get online. They can touch and feel the product. And the people who come through the store come back more often and buy from more categories than others. So as we open more stores, we’re seeing the performance of those stores continue to get better.”
The importance of marketing diversification
“Every channel you advertise on, you start to see diminishing returns. You always have to think what’s next — what’s the next audience, the next product. We started super narrow with just Meta and Google. Now we’re much more diversified. I say, ‘Wherever the performance goes, budget flows.’ Now, we’re on TikTok and ramping up TV and podcasts. We’re doing partnerships with the UFC, with the Clippers, the Rams and the Kings.”
On joining True Classic from Meta
“I first got involved with the brand while I was working at Meta. I was consulting with the founders and helping them scale up. At Meta, we can see any business in the world. Ten million brands advertise through Meta from Amazon down to mom-and-pop shops. But True Classic was growing without using Meta. They were able to bootstrap the brand with no outside funding and no product patent or anything and scale profitably. I couldn’t resist the temptation to join full-time.”
