True Religion (clothing brand)


True Religion Brand Jeans is an American clothing company established in April 2002 by Jeff Lubell and Kym Gold and is based in Vernon, California.

Overview

True Religion Brand Jeans uses premium denim, some of which is made in the United States. In 2009, True Religion was sold in about 900 boutiques and specialty stores in 50 countries on six continents.
Its flagship store opened in 2005, in Manhattan Beach, California. True Religion products are also sold at major department stores, including Von Maur, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue. After filing for bankruptcy in 2017, the brand closed some stores. True religion plans to change its logo in 2020.

2013 acquisition by Towerbrook

True Religion was purchased by TowerBrook Capital Partners on May 10, 2013. The acquisition provided shareholders a 52% premium to True Religion's share price on October 9, 2012. The stock had fallen 40% in 2012 up to October 9, 2012, due to a poor pre-Christmas sales in 2011, and concern that a shrinking number of shoppers were willing to purchase True Religion's high-priced jeans. Forbes also noted that, over the prior three years, True Religion shares had gained just 11.6% while shares in comparable luxury-goods companies VF Corporation, Ralph Lauren Corporation, and PVH Corp. had each more than doubled in value. Prior to the purchase, True Religion traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TRLG.

Bankruptcy

True Religion filed for bankruptcy protection on July 5, 2017, after acknowledging they had $534.7 million worth of liabilities but only $243.3 million in assets.
As a result of this filing, True Religion also announced the closure of 27 stores in the United States.
In April 2020, True Religion filed for bankruptcy again.