The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
NEW YORK, United States — The Business of Blogging has long been an important theme on BoF. While many in the mainstream media have treated bloggers as nothing more than a novelty or a passing fad, we have prided ourselves on selecting and sitting down with the industry's most influential bloggers to learn about how they are attracting audiences and monetising their craft. And from our very first interview with the inimitable Susie Bubble, we have demonstrated that for some influential voices, blogging is a serious business indeed and that there are numerous ways to monetise a fashion blog.
Back in 2005, long before the social media revolution swept through the fashion industry, an enterprising fashion enthusiast named Scott Schuman began sharing his photos on a blog simply called The Sartorialist, having noticed the success of Design Sponge, a blog from outside the fashion sector that served as inspiration. Of course, Mr Schuman could not have known he was about to spark the emergence of a now-widespread phenomenon known as 'street style,' which has since become an integral part of the fashion week experience.
Today, Mr Schuman is a successfully published photographer, having sold more than 100,000 copies of his debut book, and operates what can best be described as a niche media company generating books, events, product collaborations and, of course, The Sartorialist website itself. As if to underscore his longevity, he remains the number one blogger in the regular Style 99 fashion blogger rankings, despite all of the also-rans nipping at his heels.
But the story doesn't end there. That would be too easy.
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A few years later in 2008, Mr Schuman met Garance Doré for the first time, in Paris. She was already experimenting with blogging by sharing her illustrations online and the two became fast friends. Schuman instantly saw Ms Doré's potential and encouraged her to stretch herself beyond her comfort zone and begin to shoot photos. As it turns out, Schuman made a wise bet and the divine Ms Doré soon evolved into one of the industry's most authoritative (and internationally respected) bloggers, with a unique point of view of her own. She makes a living from a mixture of advertising revenue and brand collaborations, and has lately placed a strong emphasis on video content, for which she was tapped by luxury and sportswear conglomerate PPR to create a series of short films explaining the group's rebranding as Kering, which will take effect in June.
Today, Schuman and Doré are partners in life, as well as partners in business. Having been jointly awarded the CFDA’s Eugenia Sheppard Media Award, last year, they have also earned the respect of an industry that has now embraced them — and fashion blogging at large.
So, in the closing days of our campaign for the People's Voice Webby Award, we salute all of our blogging brethren, from the original fashion bloggers Diane Pernet and Susie Bubble, to the latest names to rise to the top, Emily Weiss of Into the Gloss and Leandra Medine, a.k.a The Man Repeller. They are our latest examples of how fashion means business.
Vote for BoF in the Webby Awards — there are only a few days remaining and we need your support!
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