True Classic CEO Ryan Bartlett reveals how the men's apparel brand scaled to $250 million by initially going all-in on Facebook, spending up to $100,000 daily. He shares critical lessons on diversifying beyond paid social into channels like Google and Amazon, the impact of iOS 14 on attribution, and the indispensable role of a focused core product in achieving profitable DTC growth.
Key takeaways
While True Classic initially put 'all its eggs in the Facebook basket,' scaling to $250M, they now strategically diversify, investing in Google, Amazon (non-branded search), podcasts, and OTT to mitigate platform risk.
Prioritize data and analytics for attribution at the highest levels to effectively understand channel performance, especially when diversifying away from a primary platform.
A strong core product offering is crucial; True Classic started with a single, high-quality crewneck t-shirt before expanding its catalog to drive sustained growth.
Despite increasing difficulty in performance marketing, paid social (Meta) can still be a powerful growth engine, representing 70% of True Classic's marketing budget, with spends up to $100,000 daily.
Be prepared to adapt to platform changes like iOS 14 by diversifying marketing spend and rigorously testing new channels to maintain performance and profitability.
Men's apparel brand True Classic was able to become a $250 million company -- and it thanks Facebook for its success.
"I knew I was going to put all my eggs in the Facebook basket," said co-founder and CEO Ryan Bartlett. Lucky for him, the company launched before the changes to iOS 14, and his thesis worked. The company says it's profitable, has sold over $250 million worth of goods since its launch in 2019 and now has five stores open around the U.S.
Bartlett joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about True Classic's growth strategy -- as well as what it takes to rely on social media in the current climate.
Bartlett admits that the performance marketing space has gotten much more difficult over the years, but he still believes Facebook is a great channel for growth. The company spends as much as $100,000 on Meta platforms each day, which represents around 70% of its total marketing budget.
"We have definitely diversified away from Facebook, because we realized that if anything ever goes wrong with Facebook, we can just tank the business," Bartlett said. "So we've been very strategic about spending more on Google, spending more on non-branded search on Amazon, spending more on podcasts and OTT -- but really testing into it. We really are sticklers on data and analytics and understanding attribution at the highest levels."
Even though paid social is so important to True Classic's business model, Bartlett also thinks the product is just as important. The company makes predominately casualwear, like crewneck t-shirts.
"I wanted to create something very narrow and a very specific SKU, which was just the t-shirt -- just the crewneck t-shirt," Bartlett said. "I wanted to make the best possible version of that I possibly could, I wanted to prove it out. And once I did, we eventually started rolling out into every single category that you see on the website now, which is activewear, denim, underwear, socks, absolutely everything."
Now that True Classic has fo
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
While True Classic initially put 'all its eggs in the Facebook basket,' scaling to $250M, they now strategically diversify, investing in Google, Amazon (non-branded search), podcasts, and OTT to mitigate platform risk.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Prioritize data and analytics for attribution at the highest levels to effectively understand channel performance, especially when diversifying away from a primary platform.
What does this episode say about analytics & attribution?
A strong core product offering is crucial; True Classic started with a single, high-quality crewneck t-shirt before expanding its catalog to drive sustained growth.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Despite increasing difficulty in performance marketing, paid social (Meta) can still be a powerful growth engine, representing 70% of True Classic's marketing budget, with spends up to $100,000 daily.
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
Be prepared to adapt to platform changes like iOS 14 by diversifying marketing spend and rigorously testing new channels to maintain performance and profitability.
