A new claim by Jaffa Saba, a London-based multi-disciplinary artist known for his upcycled denim creations, is placing True Religion’s ethical practices under intensified scrutiny—and it is playing out online.

On Sunday, the young designer with 71.K Instagram followers, released a 40-minute video named “False Religion” in which he claims True Religion/Guru Denim LLC exploited his “good faith, cultural influence and creative direction without proper compensation or acknowledgment.”

The video includes bodycam footage recorded last November at True Religion’s U.K. showroom, which resulted in police involvement and a formal report filed against him.

In a message from True Religion to Saba following the incident, the brand said the report was filed due to Saba’s unauthorized entry to the offices by impersonating as a delivery person and his initial refusal to leave, which alarmed the brand’s staff. Saba shared the message on Instagram.

However, he claims bodycam footage he recorded during this interaction demonstrates that True Religion’s report was made in “bad faith” and was aimed at delaying legal discussions about compensation. The message from True Religion to Saba goes on to say that the products he was looking for are no longer at the showroom and that the brand would not continue to engage with him as it could interfere with the police investigation.

Saba has not yet filed a lawsuit against True Religion, but he told Sourcing Journal that legal action will be his next step.

In the lead-up to the YouTube launch, he has been posting daily across social media, detailing his conflicts with the brand in an effort to rally fan pressure on True Religion. He has also shared images and videos showcasing several collections he developed that ultimately never came to market.

“This is a final attempt to give True Religion the chance to resolve the issue through social pressure. Failing that, my legal team is fully prepared, with all supporting evidence in place, to initiate proceedings in the U.K., alongside discussions around pursuing action in the U.S. for multiple contractual breaches,” he told SJ Denim.

Saba also plans to put samples in his possession up for auction on April 8.

True Religion did not respond to SJ Denim’s request for comment on the conflict.

It’s a disappointing rift in a partnership that was meant to showcase a rising creative talent while helping a brand regain cultural relevance.

From 2019 to 2023, Saba says he maintained an “ongoing creative relationship” aimed at aligning the brand with youth culture touch points like hip-hop, gaming, internet culture, and post-streetwear fashion. According to Saba, True Religion senior leadership sought his perspective specifically for his fluency in these spaces. On Instagram, Saba even credits his own influence as a driving force behind True Religion’s sales doubling over a three-year period.

During this time, the designer says he provided original creative work spanning cultural strategy decks, visual systems, brand language, capsule collection concepts, styling direction, and lifestyle extensions. He claims these materials were confidential and unpublished, and shared in good faith alongside repeated assurances from the brand that a formal creative role and contract were “in progress” and “about to land.”

Disputes over Saba’s intellectual property and creative contributions escalated during his relationship with the brand, with claims spanning a broad range of issues.

Tensions began in 2020 during Saba’s collaboration with True Religion on a Selfridges collection. As the collection expanded internationally, Saba says it was released without his name and that his work was “absorbed and executed by internal teams without permission or acknowledgment.”

When Saba inquired about the unauthorized use of his intellectual property, True Religion responded with non-negotiable $8,000 buyout for his designs.

Additionally, Saba claims he was neither credited nor “compensated beyond the standard buyouts” for co-designing a Chief Keef collection and says he received no payment for facilitating the partnership between True Religion and B.B. Simon, an apparel and accessories brand known for their Swarovski crystal-embellished designs.

Saba details another partnership that never came to fruition: a 2020 collaboration with Xbox that would have included a custom True Religion controller as an “official Jaffa Saba product.” He claims the project was shelved due to delays, cancellations and a lack of commitment from True Religion, and says he was not compensated for his time or the sample costs he incurred.

Despite these challenges, the designer continued to produce multiple collections in-house. In an Instagram post, Saba said True Religion sold him a “long term dream” to launch his own collection in the U.S.

In 2022, Saba presented a fully developed proposal to expand True Religion into lifestyle and interiors, including a furniture concept that was to be sold at Selfridges. Although the collection (nearly 100 pieces) was intended for commercial release and fully hand-produced by Saba, it was never released, and he received only a portion of the artist fee was ever paid. He claims the designs were retained and used to furnish True Religion’s offices without attribution or any formal agreement governing their use.

In 2023, True Religion commissioned Saba to design and manufacture an in-house apparel collection, named the Woodstock Collection. The 60-piece handmade collection was also intended to launch at Selfridges. Despite working throughout 2023 to bring the collection to life, Saba said “True Religion repeatedly undervalued his creative input, exploiting his time and labor without allowing the project to move forward.” The brand canceled the release.  

Saba asserts he made repeated attempts to formalize his involvement with True Religion and to resolve the conflict privately, but responses from the brand “ranged from vague assurances to complete silence.” Communication stopped completely by early 2025.

Sourcing Journal reached out to True Religion’s PR company but did not hear back.