True Religion Apparel Inc. plans to spend fashion week, and much of the month of September, reaffirming its faith in the cornerstone of its business — premium denim.
The Los Angeles-based company is diving headlong into this week’s numerous activities, including a space at Milk Studios, parties at its stores in SoHo and Beverly Center in Los Angeles on Fashion’s Night Out and sponsorship of a show by artist Evan Gruzis that will feature True Religion pieces customized by the artist.
But perhaps the deepest expression of its faith will come from an ambitious social networking initiative bearing the moniker “Unstitched,” a name it’s also assigned to a new denim range that, somewhat counterintuitively, draws attention to the company’s signature stitching details. TR has enlisted the aid of six bloggers, including Jennine Jacob of eatsleepdenim.com and Jessie Thorpe of denimology.com, and interns from Parsons The New School for Design who, beginning today and continuing through Sept. 15, will be scouring the landscape for “denim street style.” Images shot by the group will be uploaded through a new mobile app from Pose and immediately be shared on True Religion’s Web site and tabs on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. The app will allow for simultaneous posting on the bloggers’ and interns’ own feeds.
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Already available for iPhones, the Pose app, from Pose.com, is scheduled to be adapted for Android this week and, according to Jordan Daly, True Religion’s vice president of brand strategy, marketing and public relations, provides for analytics not supported by apps with similar visual capabilities, such as Instagram.
The initiatives aren’t without new product offerings either. TR is unveiling the Phantom collection of handmade, hand-washed jeans made in the U.S. of domestic fabric from Cone Mills.
“Phantom isn’t branded with a True Religion logo on the pocket; it’s branded with a hand-stitched American flag as we reassert that we’re made in America from American fabrics and proud of it, but trying to make the point in a discrete way,” said Lynne Koplin, who was named president of the company in July. “We’ve been known for products that are casual, vintage, ripped and repaired like something you’ve already owned for a few years. This has moved us into something a bit more refined and tailored, with a signature color in the selvage stripe that’s unique to us.”
Phantom will retail for $340 and up and will get its first tour of duty from the 150 Parsons interns called upon to collect denim sightings on their mobile phones.
TR’s marketing and merchandising moves come at a time when its business has been moving ahead. In July, the company reported second-quarter profits rose 25.2 percent, to $9.4 million, while sales were up 19.6 percent to $98.3 million and same-store sales, including e-commerce, were ahead 14.8 percent.
While wholesale volume contracted 18.2 percent, to $21 million, Jeffrey Lubell, chairman, chief executive officer and chief merchant, cited weakness among department stores and the company’s efforts to extract itself from the off-price channel for that decline. Sales to specialty stores rose for the fifth consecutive quarter and expansion of TR’s own retail network continued. Twelve more stores are planned for the year, including four outside the U.S., which would bring the company’s store count to 114.
With its relationships with European boutiques recovering and the business overall skewing strongly towards specialty retailers, Lubell and his team are actively pursuing the possibility of capsule collections, as many premium denim brands have done.
“We really haven’t been out in the public eye that much in terms of our marketing,” Koplin told WWD. “Now, as we approach our 10-year anniversary (in 2012), we’re defining for the world who we are and taking something of a multidimensional approach to it. We’re really a denim expert.”