The $25 T-Shirt That Built a $500M Brand

Hey everyone,

Last year, we recorded our first-ever live Chew On This podcast at Subsummit, and our guest was none other than Ben Yahalom, President of True Classic.

This one was a masterclass if you’re trying to scale fast and profitably, which is why we want to share his insights here as well. 

As you probably know, Ben and his team bootstrapped True Classic from zero to $500M+ in revenue with no celebrity backers, no VC safety net, no gimmicks. 

Just a well-fitting t-shirt, some savvy execution, and a whole lot of discipline.

Here’s what we learned from that conversation, and how you can apply it to your brand today…

On the Menu:

• The Foundation: Product + Profitability First

• The Financial Discipline That Built a $500M Brand

• Channel Mastery: Why Less is More

• How True Classic Turned Retail Into a Growth Engine

If you missed it the first time, here is our full conversation with Ben:

The Foundation: Product + Profitability First

In 2019, Ben and his co-founders made what seemed like a crazy bet by launching a men’s t-shirt brand into the most crowded category in eCommerce.

But they spotted a gap: no one was making great-fitting, comfortable, affordable tees for regular guys.

They didn’t try to out-innovate with wild fabrics or futuristic tech. They just out-executed. They built the best $25 t-shirt in the game and made sure the unit economics worked from day one.

Instead of burning cash to chase scale, they built for first-order profitability.

Here’s how → 

• Premium positioning without premium pricing: $25–$30 shirts that looked and felt way more expensive

• Bundle strategy from day one: Their 3-pack became a hero offer that boosted AOV and kept CAC in check

• Manufacturing efficiency: Focused SKUs and tight supply chain management kept margins healthy

• Conversion rate obsession: Every PDP, every cart, every checkout element was optimized

• Strategic shipping thresholds: Designed to increase basket size while maintaining profitability

The result = they could afford to scale without fundraising.

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The Financial Discipline That Built a $500M Brand

Ben made one thing very clear: you don’t scale to $500M on vibes.

"You need to know your P&L like the back of your hand," he told us. And True Classic does, right down to the hour.

They don’t just track sales. 

They monitor every input, every leak, every dollar of margin across the business:

• Cost to Fulfill an order (including pick/pack, labor, shipping)

• Cost to Process a return (and restock or dispose)

• Cost to Resolve a support ticket (by time and channel)

• Cost to Run each individual ad (and what it actually returns)

Everything ladders up to their North Star: contribution profit per customer.

That number tells them if they can push spend, which SKUs are dragging down margins, and where to reinvest their profits.

How they do it:

• Live dashboards: Updated hourly to flag swings in net revenue, returns, or margin

• Order-level P&Ls: Built to calculate profit by SKU, bundle, even by first-purchase entry point

• Cohort benchmarking: Identifying which customer behaviors predict higher lifetime profit

• Profit alerts: Triggered when margins dip below a set threshold

“We strive to generate incremental marginal contribution profit in everything we do.”

That level of visibility lets them act fast → 

• Kill poor-performing SKUs

• Adjust bundles or pricing in real-time

• Reallocate budget toward high-margin, high-retention flows

When most brands are flying blind off MER or blended ROAS, True Classic is flying precision airstrikes.

🧠 Why it matters: In today’s market, you’re not rewarded for growing fast… you’re rewarded for growing smart. 

Contribution profit is the compass. And almost nobody is using it as precisely as True Classic.

Channel Mastery: Why Less is More

Channel diversification is the name of the game right now. 

Meta CACs keep climbing. Attribution is a never-ending challenge. Founders know they need new channels, but brands can spread themselves too thin chasing the next big platform.

True Classic took a measured approach to diversification. 

They didn’t test every channel under the sun. They went deep on what worked and only expanded once it was fully dialed in.

“Frankly, if you just do Meta really well, you can go to $100 million and then some,” Ben told us. “You don’t need to chase shiny objects.”

Their roadmap:

1. Nail Meta

2. Build out email/SMS flows

3. Layer on Google

4. Expand to Amazon

5. Add retail

Each step had to earn the right to stay.

They treated new channels like new products that had to prove they could drive profitable growth before scaling.

Why it worked:

• Every channel was optimized before adding the next

• Their team could stay focused and iterate faster

• The brand flywheel had time to build and compound

True Classic didn’t diversify because they had to. They diversified because they were ready.

💡 Takeaway: If Meta is your core channel, that’s okay. 

But build your way into diversification, don’t jump there by default. Get one engine firing before spinning up another.

Channel survival starts with channel mastery.

How True Classic Turned Retail Into a Growth Engine

This may be the most surprising unlock from our talk with Ben. 

Retail wasn’t just a sales channel. It became one of their most powerful marketing channels.

Ben calls their retail approach a "shoppable billboard."

“If you can create boxes that break even, it’s an incredibly scalable model.”

Translation: they didn’t open stores to drive profit. They opened stores to drive awareness, trust, and halo effects.

Why it worked:

• Stores increased conversion and retention across DTC

• In-person insights guided product and merchandising decisions

• Store presence validated the brand for first-time buyers

And unlike a billboard, it converts.

But they also learned what not to do.

When they launched into Walmart, they thought it would supercharge awareness. 

It did, but it came at a cost. Online customers were seeing the product priced lower in retail, which created friction.

Instead of boosting DTC performance, it undercut it. People would see the brand through ads or email, then head to Walmart to purchase at a discount. 

CACs went up. Retention went down.

Ben said it best: “You’re kind of out-competing yourself.”

Their fix:

• Separate messaging and strategies for each channel

• Clear pricing architecture to protect margin and trust

Takeaway: Turn retail into a break-even billboard. If each store pays for itself and lifts your entire brand, you’ve built a real-world growth engine.