High-end jeans sales sag, True Religion bottoms
Blame the leggings and the yoga pants.
Americans are buying fewer pairs of jeans these days — and when they are, they’re not spending asmuch as they once did.
Exhibit A: True Religion, which after years of declining sales, filed for bankruptcy protection last week and announced it would be closing at least 27 stores.
A decade ago, the brand was riding high, commanding hundreds of dollars a pair for jeans with the company’s signature horseshoes embroidered onto the back pockets.
Business nearly tripled between 2007 and 2012, and by 2013, True Religion had annual revenue of $490 million.
But that growth has reversed in recent years. Sales of super premium jeans — brands like 7 For All Mankind, True Religion, Joe’s Jeans and Hudson — fell 8 percent last year, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.
Overall, jeans sales grew slightly in 2016 after two years of declines, as Americans traded down to lowerpriced brands like Levi’s, H&M and Forever 21.
“The premium denim market has been in decline over the last several years,” Dalibor Snyder, True Religion’s chief financial officer, wrote in a document filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. “Competition has also increased from emerging and established fast fashion and low-priced apparel retailers.”
Instead, Americans are filling their closets with yoga pants and leggings, which they’re wearing not just to the gym, but also to run errands and meet up with friends. True Religion’s $319 skinny jeans have been replaced by Lululemon’s $98 yoga pants.
Designer denim took off in the early 2000s, during ane ra marked by large, flashy logos.
True Religion, founded in 2002 in Manhattan Beach, Calif., was among the first to cash in on the wave of premium jeans, with its lineup of funky designs and washes.
“Back then, $100 for a pair of jeans seemed exorbitant,” said Camilo Lyon, a retail analyst for Canaccord Genuity.
“But all of a sudden, people were paying $150, then $250 and $350. There was a rapid escalation in pricing, and consumers were willing to pay.”