True Religion

Denim was once only thought of as a functional item of clothing belonging in the wardrobe of cowboys and construction workers, but label giant Calvin Klein set the fashion world on its ear when they featured a teenage Brooke Shields in an advertisement boasting that nothing came between her and her ‘Calvins’ (Barney & Hesterly, 2015, PC1-11). With this the designer jean movement began in 1970 and reached its pinnacle in 1981 “when sales jumped to record $6 billion and 520 million pairs” (Barney & Hesterly, 2015, PC1-12). Since this time, a myriad of premium denim lines have emerged, the largest of them being “Buckle, Guess, Joe’s [Jeans], Levi’s, Liz Claiborne, People’s Liberation, True Religion, and VF Corp” (Barney & Hesterly, 2012, PC1-39)

Value chain analysis is comprised of three steps that includes activity analysis, value analysis, and evaluation and planning (Chain Value Analysis, retrieved October 26, 2015). During the activity phase True Religion would need to determine what actions they can take to improve their product or service. The obvious solution in a reduction of sales would be to decrease the retail price of their items, however, this may not be feasible in terms of profitability for the organization. Premium denim brands like True Religion source materials and manufacture their products in the United States, so that they can tout their products as authentically “made in the USA”, with this comes a higher price. Because True Religion may feel that lowering their prices would compromise the quality of their products. True Religion jeans are also found mostly in high end department stores and boutiques, by lowering the price of their products, they could be compromising relationships with high end retailers. A Business Insights article indicated that “women are no longer looking at their wardrobes and thinking about the new things they want…they’re looking to complement their existing wardrobes and fill the holes” (Karr, 2013, p. 2/5). True Religion would benefit by marketing their products in such a way that women think that their jeans will fill those wardrobe gaps- that a pair of True Religion jeans is the catch all for all women’s fashion woes. The second step in value chain analysis includes value analysis, where the organization determines the greatest value for the consumer for each activity under the activity phase. They would need to determine the value of remarketing and additional advertising of their products. Finally, through evaluation, True Religion would determine whether to implement any activities. If True Religion is able to market its