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Scooter Braun Invests in Editorialist

Editorialist’s luxury content-and-commerce business joins the music entrepreneur’s growing list of investments under Ithaca Ventures.
Stephanie Seymour covers Editorialist's Fall/Winter 2017 issue | Photo: Gilles Bensimon
By
  • Chantal Fernandez

NEW YORK, United States — "During the music revolution in the early 2000s, when the digitalisation caused widespread economic changes in how people consumed their music — in the same way, fashion and media is changing so quickly," says Editorialist chief executive Kate Davidson Hudson. "We were really were born out of that idea of the marriage of the two."

When she and co-founder Stefania Allen, both former Elle editors, launched Editorialist in 2013, the goal was to bridge the gap between content and commerce in the luxury accessories space by producing a magazine for the e-commerce age: everything in its pages is available to purchase on Editorialist.com or, in the case of a Céline bag that cannot be purchased online, with the help of an on-call concierge service as well as through a private client stylist service. While it offers some designers through a drop-ship or consignment model, most of its product is held in inventory.

And after the failure or more than few high-profile content and commerce plays in recent years, Editorialist’s growth makes it an aberration. The company’s retail revenue is up 14 percent year-over-year as of August 1, advertising revenue is up 114 percent year-over-year and gross profit is up 61 percent year-over-year. (The company declined to share revenue figures.)

The results have attracted a new investor from outside the typical pool of fashion backers: music entrepreneur Scooter Braun, best known for crafting Justin Bieber's lucrative career and the founder of talent management and media-venture company SB Projects, which counts Karlie Kloss and Kanye West as some of the many talents on its roster. For the last few years, Braun has been making a number of investments in technology and media companies, such as Spotify and Uber, through a reported $120 million fund, Ithaca. A representative for Braun did not confirm any information about the fund.

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“When deciding what to invest in, I look for disrupters of their industry who have built something of true quality that breaks through the noise,” says Braun in an e-mail to BoF. “Editorialist is built by imaginative people who are driven and delivering something compelling to the marketplace. They are presenting a new model for fashion media, I’m excited to be a part of it and see how it continues to grow.”

Braun’s Ithaca is contributing to a third round of funding for Editorialist; Allen and Davidson Hudson declined to share how much money they have raised, citing all private investors with the exception of Braun, who will now also take on a consulting role at the company.

With Braun on board, Davidson Hudson and Allen plan to grow their content-driven sales model by investing in editorial content, which results in three times higher sell-through across Editorialist’s e-commerce platform. “Through the prism of the different celebrities and artists, we see that further heightened,” says Davidson Hudson. “We are looking to expand that into other areas — obviously the music sector is huge.”

They are also interested in Braun’s innovative marketing strategies. “[Braun] is so genius at understanding entertainment value and how to really project that and market that,” says Davidson Hudson, adding that the company is also planning to launch a private label line in the next two years.

Meanwhile, the company has made several hires to keep up with its own growth: Ana Maria Pimentel, formerly fashion director of accessories at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, is now contributing fashion director with a hybrid role that will also see her working on strategic e-commerce partnerships with designers; Louis-Marie de Castelbajac has signed on as artistic director; and Claudia Mata and Maria Dueñas Jacobs, former accessories directors at W and Elle magazines, respectively, are contributing editors. (Dueñas Jacobs also recently joined Stitch Fix as director of brand development.) And finally, former Maxim editor-in-chief Kate Lanphear is contributing creative director.

Lanphear contributed her first ever editorial photographs to Editorialist’s new Fall/Winter 2017 issue, which features a portfolio of female artists. “If we’re shooting anyone from Kim Kardashian to Stephanie Seymour to Jessica Alba, it’s all about telling the story and that experiential value of that editorial that instructs,” says Davidson Hudson.

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