True Religion Names Tina Blake SVP of Women’s, Brand Image
True Religion, the denim and sportswear brand, has appointed Tina Blake senior vice president of women’s design and brand image.
Blake reports to True Religion’s chief executive officer Michael Buckley, who said Blake is taking on a new role at the brand and that she would be “a key component to True Religion’s expanded women’s merchandise strategy to drive incremental revenue and new customer acquisition.
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“Tina’s proven track record of growing women’s businesses over the past 15 years makes her the perfect leader to help take True Religion’s women’s business to the next level,” said Buckley. “Our goal over the next three years is to increase women’s sales from the 35 percent it is today to being on par with men’s at 50 percent of the business.”
Blake will oversee all women’s product and brand image and work closely with creative director Zihaad Wells. She will lead women’s initiatives and create “a consistent brand identity across all aspects of the women’s business, including marketing, advertising, customer communications, social media, e-commerce and retail stores,” the company said in a statement.
She joins True Religion from Techstyle Fashion Group where, as vice president, design and operations for Global Fashion Brands, she managed design, product development, and technical design teams for the JustFab and ShoeDazzle brands in North America and Europe.
Prior to joining Techstyle, Blake was at Guess Inc. for seven years, where she started as a senior designer for the young contemporary category and was promoted to director of design for young contemporary. Earlier in her career she was a designer for Rip Curl USA.
Blake said the 20-year-old True Religion is at an “extremely exciting moment in its history” and that she will be working the brand’s team to “take the women’s category to a whole new level.”
The strategy includes relaunching True Religion’s core denim collection for women and offering a more robust assortment of styles across a wider range of washes, silhouettes and plus sizes. The brand will also engage in more collaborations with female artists and influencers, such as its recently launched collaboration with American singer, rapper, songwriter and actress Dreezy.
In 2002 True Religion emerged onto the Los Angeles denim scene by reinventing the classic five-pocket jean with its five-needle thread at two-stitch-per-inch process, called the Super T. True Religion Brand Jeans also offers denim and sportswear for men and kids as well as women.
