True Religion's Zihaad Wells on collaborations and supporting young creatives

True Religion Creative Director Zihaad Wells drives the denim brand forward through collaborations with celebrities and influencers who have deep ties to its heritage and young creatives who reinterpret the brand in new ways.< /p>

Recently, the brand teamed up with Atlanta artists Blu Boy and Elijah Popo, multimedia artist Jaffa Saba and New York designer Madeline Kraemer, who is behind the Gems by Madeline, as well as heavy hitters like rappers 2 Chainz and Chief Keef and streetwear brand Supreme.

But the goal isn't to do a collab collection every month, according to Wells, who took on the role of creative director in 2019.

“It has to make sense to us as a brand,” Wells explained. “There is a Y2K moment happening now and True Religion is at the forefront of this trend and this moment as a team and as a company. We are very focused on the next generation and the next 20 years.”

Wells joined True Religion in 2006 and was the first designer hired by the company. He has seen and experienced firsthand how True Religion has permeated youth culture and streetwear. Midway through his 11-year tenure, he worked with Russell Westbrook, who was appointed creative director and led the brand's campaign and designed a collection; he saw rapper 2 Chainz loosely name his seventh mixtape "T.R.U. REALigion" after the brand in 2011, and a year later rapper Chief Keef joined the brand in the early 2010s when his hit songs "Love Sosa" and "I Don't Like" rocked the rap airwaves.

The two rappers have collaborated with True Religion on collections in recent years. "We jumped at the chance," Wells said of collaborating with 2 Chainz for the 10th anniversary of his "REALigion's T.R.U. Mixtape. "For us, it made a lot of sense. working with Chief Keef" and we already had a plan in place to work with him."

The True Religion x Chief Keef collaboration sold out within the day, according to Wells. The partners reworked the True Religion logo with skulls and bones, eyes and lightning bolts on T-shirts and hoodies that also had flame designs, and sweatpants, jeans and leather jackets. jeans with hearts, the word "trueee" and flames too.

“We logged on at 9:00 a.m. and two minutes later there were over 200 people with items in their baskets,” Wells said. "They're not a huge volume because we want them to be special. Usually they all sell out very quickly."

Supreme had the same effect for True Religion. "They contacted us," Wells said. "My first question was why do you want to work with us and their policy is to work with unique people in their field with a definitive point of view and bring those worlds together."

The collaboration that launched in fall 2021 saw denim trucker jackets and cargo pants, sweatshirts and beanies with co-branding and reworked True Religion motifs like the horseshoe and Buddha .

"It was a true collaboration in that we went back and forth and made the clothes ourselves," Wells said. "It was a great partnership."

But working with young creatives is just as important for the future of the brand. Wells said True Religion has become a blank canvas for creatives and entrepreneurs like Blu Boy, Jaffa Saba and Madeline Kraemer.

True Religion has teamed up with London-born Saba on a collection sold exclusively at Selfridges in 2020. Matt Claydon, True Religion's International VP, discovered Saba's work on Instagram and reached out to him. Saba briefly attended art school and worked at Never Fade, where he had the chance to learn more about craftsmanship and design. He also had mentors who worked on Savile Row who gave advice and guidance. This sparked her love for deconstructing and recycling clothing and reworking existing materials into accessories, masks and shoes.

The first collection for Selfridges included deconstructed denim and novelty pieces and leftover fabric from production was used to wrap a Jeep in denim. True Religion teamed up with Saba again in 2021 for a sashiko collection sold exclusively at Browns and they...