Behind True Religion’s Gen-Z playbook, from Snapchat to college tours
A staple of the early-aughts, True Religion has benefitted from larger cultural nostalgia around Y2K. But now, the brand isn’t just resonating with its core demo of millennials — it’s starting to make inroads with Gen Z, too.
While those ages 25-45 have been a key demographic for True Religion, about six months ago, the brand noticed that people ages 18-25 were shopping it more, Kristen D’Arcy, the brand’s chief marketing officer and head of digital growth, told Modern Retail. Store associates also told D’Arcy they had seen more college-age consumers coming in over the last few months. “Whether it was through social or traffic, we saw that, unintentionally, the customers kept getting younger and younger,” D’Arcy said.
As a result, True Religion — which is in the midst of a larger turnaround under new ownership — is further incorporating Gen Z into its marketing plans. Earlier this fall, it kicked off its first college tour, which it’s bringing to multiple schools and states through the end of November. The brand also recently began doing paid marketing on Snapchat, a platform whose user base is primarily Gen Z. In October, True Religion introduced a new collaboration with Von Dutch, which brought in more younger shoppers and boosted site traffic 40% year over year. And, it has added college-age NIL athletes to its “Team True” ambassador program.
True Religion is making progress with Gen Z as it works toward its goal of becoming a $1 billion company. The brand’s total sales will come in around $500 million this year, D’Arcy said. To double that number, True Religion is looking to ramp up customer acquisition — particularly, among women — and it wants Gen Z to play a large role. “We know our total addressable market is anywhere from 110 million to 120 million [customers], so there’s so much runway here,” D’Arcy said.
One of the biggest ways True Religion is converting new customers is through its college tour pop-ups. It’s now driving trucks across the country to give out college-specific merchandise, hold contests like spin-to-wins and enroll new members into its loyalty program, which it launched in 2023. Approximately 25% of the brand’s loyalty members are 18-25 years old.
With the college tours, “We’re sort of following where our biggest sales footprints are,” D’Arcy said. The college tour follows a recent New York City pop-up that True Religion held during New York Fashion Week. “A lot of these strategic activations are meant to drive consideration of the brand and awareness that we’re more than just jeans,” D’Arcy said.
True Religion first popped up at St. John’s University in New York City in September as part of that NYFW activation. Hundreds of students showed up to meet “Love Island” star Chelley Bissainthe at a nearby True Religion store and showed off their student IDs to get a discount. “We thought, ‘We have to double down on this,'” D’Arcy said. In October, the brand returned to St. John’s for the first stop of an official college tour. Its next stops are Spelman College (Nov. 12), the University of Georgia (Nov. 15) and the University of Southern California (Nov. 29).
College tours are becoming a popular way for brands to engage with young people, convert new fans and spur user-generated content like photos and videos. Retail players including PrettyLittleThing, Draper James and Rent the Runway all held their first college tours in the last year to woo Gen Z. Many used the occasion to educate college students about their brands and even recruit students for their college ambassador programs.
“Brands showing up in new ways, like on college campuses, is something that really excites us on the PR side,” noted Hannah Cranston, whose PR company works with brands like Winx on activations. “As brands grow and figure out not only who their audience is, but also who their target consumer is, showing up where [customers] are is the oldest page in the book. And it’s so great to see that marketers are really leaning into that [with college tours], rather than just pushing an Instagram Reel.”
Outside of the college tour, True Religion is taking Gen Z into consideration with other marketing campaigns. To promote its Von Dutch collaboration, True Religion tapped “Love Island” stars Bissainthe, Iris Kendall, Jeremiah Brown and Clarke Carraway; The Atlantic described the most recent season of “Love Island USA” as “the reality show that captures Gen Z dating.”
Gen Z will also be front and center for the holidays this year, as True Religion will be creating Snapchat-first assets for its campaign, which is called “Wrapped in True.” “We’re working very closely with the Snapchat folks to figure out what kind of content resonates on that platform,” D’Arcy said. She mentioned that, for True Religion, “the overlap between users on Snapchat versus Instagram versus TikTok is actually fairly low, which means that we’re going after this net new audience that we haven’t reached before.”
Still, all of this doesn’t mean that True Religion is forgetting about millennials. “Wrapped In True,” for instance, features five women at its core — including singer/songwriter and entrepreneur Ciara, a millennial herself. The brand continues to work with talent of all ages, including athletes, stylists and musicians. And, as with its Von Dutch collaboration, it will keep tapping into its role in Y2K nostalgia, D’Arcy said.