True Religion Brand Jeans has become a name eponymous with style, comfort and celebrity.
With a super tight business model and a promise to produce American-made authentic, timeless, great fitting denim, sportswear and a variety of accessories, True Religion knows it’s image and sticks to what feels right. Nolcha's Lynn Furge caught up with one of the denim industries busiest men CEO Jeffrey Lubell to find out why building on what works creates an empire.
Lynn Furge: True Religion has one of the most distinguishing looks in denim today, can you please explain a little bit about the inspiration behind the brand?
Jeff Lubell: True Religion is a hippie bohemian chic brand. I’m still living in the late 60’s early 70’s –I love that whole era. My personal style is from that era, I still only listen to classic Rock n Roll from that time. That’s where my inspiration comes from and also from within.
LF: Denim is one piece of clothing that 90% of the world owns, how do you keep it fresh and new yet competitive to what the market wants instead of just capitalizing off of a current trend?
JL: We don’t follow trends. We like to be trendsetters. I design from my soul, not based on what’s going on in the market.
LF: I was at a casting this week and 9 out of 11 models were in True Religion Jeans. Then I attended a baseball game and saw over 30 people in True Religion as well. It is clear that fit is just as important as fashion when it comes to TRJ, can you please explain to me the process that goes into creating the different styles and garnering that famous fit?
JL: As far as designing the different styles… that comes from my gut –I design what I like. Regarding the fit –fit is the most important aspect of designing and manufacturing apparel. The process is simple: fitting and re-fitting until the garment fits perfectly.
LF: What about licensing? What made you decide it was a right time to expand into eyewear, fragrance, swim etc.? And what goes into selecting the perfect partner to license your name to?
JL: Again, expanding into the licensed category was a natural progression of our brand. As far as selecting the perfect partner, the most important thing is: they must connect with me and the brand, understand who we are, and understand that we have control as well as final approval of all products.
LF: All anyone is talking about is the economy and how bad it is out there for retailers, yet you are expanding stores across the US. What do you feel makes the recipe for success for True Religion?
JL: We are constantly evolving. In addition, we are focused on our own business model and we see opportunities in times like these.
LF: There is a huge celebrity following revolving around your brand and now with social media taking over fashion, how do you feel all the Celebes that tweet and facebook daily about their fashion choices have impacted your brand? Do you participate in social media as well?
JL: Yes, we have a Twitter account where we send out daily or weekly updates of what’s new in our stores, and we also have a Facebook page. We love interacting with our customers and celebrities. We welcome any comments and invite people to interact with our brand. We want to build a community around our brand.
LF: With such a hippie chic/bohemian style is True Religion Brand Jeans looking towards entering the eco/sustainable world of fashion?
JL: Yes. We try our best to use organic fabrics composed of bamboo and cotton whenever we can.
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