True Religion Denim Settles With Contractor
True religion Apparel Inc., a Los Angeles company that makes True Religion Brand Jeans, announced on Sept. 21 that it settled a lawsuit with its contractor, The Indigo Group USA Inc. True Religion’s president and chief executive, Jeffrey Lubell, signed the agreement with Indigo’s principal, Jeremy Lew, for an undisclosed amount.
True Religion also agreed to have the Los Angeles contractor produce its True Religion blue jeans.
True Religion, whose subsidiary is known as Guru Denim Inc., filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court in December 2003 against Indigo and Lew, seeking $800,000 in damages.
True Religion claimed that Indigo and Lew had contracted people who had business relationships with Guru as part of an alleged campaign to injure Guru’s business reputation and credit, interfere with its business relationships and infringe on its trademarks.
In January 2004, Indigo and Lew filed a cross-complaint against Guru claiming breach of written oral contracts, fraud conversion and unfair competition. At one point, Indigo was a co-owner of Guru with the agreement to loan Guru money until the denim company obtained financing from a factor.
In the late 1990s, Jeffrey Lubell and his wife, Kym, were the founders of Bella Dahl and Jefri Jeans. The company was purchased a few years later by Jolna Inc., which continues to own the two labels.
—Deborah Belgum
