It definitely makes you question, when you look at an article in a magazine, was that item included because they think it’s really cool, or was it included because they have a really good relationship with the brand’s PR team? Or was it included because the brand is an advertiser and they have to?... I think it’s bribery 90 percent of the time. | | | | Jam session. A group from Vogue in Gjon Mili's studio, including Condé Nast President Iva Patcevitch & Edna Woolman Chase, 1943.
(Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “It definitely makes you question, when you look at an article in a magazine, was that item included because they think it’s really cool, or was it included because they have a really good relationship with the brand’s PR team? Or was it included because the brand is an advertiser and they have to?... I think it’s bribery 90 percent of the time.”
| - | "Anna," former PR professional, 2017 |
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| | rantnrave:// It’s common knowledge that fashion writers and editors get a lot of free stuff. My issue with gratis merch is that it can result in coverage that assumes very little of its readers. Or thinly veiled press releases skulking around in coverage. It creates power dynamics that aren't that useful to readers. Yet it comes with the territory. What happens when the territory starts to weigh on a person, both on the consciousness, and on the floor of a storage unit in NEW JERSEY, to the tune of 1182 pounds (legit)? RACKED is setting a high bar with The Swag Project. The result of a six-month long investigation into the circulation of swag in the fashion/beauty industry, it opens the door on a critical component of media literacy: PR and swag. At its best, the bestowal of swag gives editors a chance to see products and services so they can interpret the experience for readers. At worst, it creates a quid pro quo environment that makes people cringe and direct serious side-eye at media coverage. While swag may not be inherently bad, the combination of PR, time and resource-strapped staffs, and pressure from advertisers to push quantity over quality doesn't help matters. In what must be one entertaining spreadsheet (free bongs anyone?), Racked tracked every piece of swag sent to its team for six months, then broke it down into some fascinating statistics: the most/least expensive items, the types of products, the percentage of swag that ended up being covered by the team, the incredible amount of packaging that swathed all of it. The breakdown is a snapshot of brands' vying for coverage—around $92,500 worth of goods that had to be moved to offsite storage as it amassed. As Racked points out, it doesn't receive nearly as much free stuff as other publications. Is a perk that comes with a healthy dose of ethical ambivalence really a perk? Does full disclosure undermine a writer's ability to tell a story? You'll notice that today's top read is actually an intro to The Swag Project and a list of articles. Give them all a read. Each reveals different facets of swag in the fashion/beauty/shopping spheres. They're all enlightening. Shoutout to the whole team at Racked for a great idea and better execution. Readers appreciate it.... A clothing compromise... Traditional indigo dyeing in DALI... RADHIKA JONES is VANITY FAIR's next EIC. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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 | Racked |
| Our months-long accounting of free stuff. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| The question, always a driving force in fashion, has become even more meaningful in today’s unpredictable environment. | | |
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 | The Business of Fashion |
| In North Carolina, once a booming textiles and apparel hub, there are signs of struggle -- and life. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Looking at the legacy of the legendary editor. | | |
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| Racked |
| Tens of thousands of dollars go into editorial gifting for a payoff that’s impossible to predict. | | |
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 | CIVILIAN |
| In the beginning Nick Logan created The Face ... a Biblical moment in the history of independent magazine publishing and a touchstone for pretty much every "style bible" since. | | |
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| Racked |
| How editors turn their gifts into cash. | | |
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 | Grailed |
| Good design involves elegant solutions to ongoing problems. These solutions can be simple or complex, though after the fact they have a sense of inevitability. That’s the result of vision and an understanding of human nature. Sweatpants are none of these things. Sweatpants are the physical manifestation of giving up, of communicating that you have had enough. | | |
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| The New York Times |
| Despite fears that e-commerce would take over the shopping world, luxury brands are finding success with an integrated model. | | |
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| The Business of Fashion |
| The Italian luxury outerwear firm will discontinue its Gamme Bleu and Gamme Rouge runway collections after the Spring/Summer 2018 season, announcing a new strategy in the coming weeks. | | |
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 | Vestoj |
| On the sari's potential for reinvention. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| As the exhibition North: Fashioning Identity opens in London, one sartorially savvy export dissects the style signatures of the region’s men. | | |
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 | Dazed Digital |
| His futuristic creations transformed women into supervixens and otherworldly creatures - but not without controversy | | |
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 | MIT Technology Review |
| AI will blur the line between online and offline retail. | | |
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 | The Fashion Law |
| For an industry that talks a lot about transparency, fashion routinely falls short. This is demonstrated every time a publication features a product that has been gifted to them in exchange, of course, for preferential treatment. | | |
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 | WWD |
| The fund, geared at supporting young designers in their creation phase, will launch by end of year. | | |
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 | ABC Radio |
| Is Paris really the centre of the fashion world and what social and cultural forces have made it so dominant? | | |
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 | South China Morning Post |
| A super-celebrity in India, Mukherjee has dressed everyone from Bollywood stars to politicians. Now, with his trademark focus on quality materials and craftsmanship, he wants his clothes to be seen by a global audience. | | |
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 | Interview Magazine |
| The streetwear supernova behind L.A.’s most exciting concept store and label is not into ‘affordable luxury.’ | | |
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 | Glossy |
| The supply chain, often seen as the shadowy underbelly of fashion design, is coming out of the shadows with the encouragement of the CFDA. Luxury designers are being coached on restructuring their production cycles to be more efficient and sustainable, and used as a branding tool. | | |
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 | Stanford University |
| Clothing made from a fabric that keeps in warmth on cool days and releases heat on warm ones could save energy costs from cooling or heating buildings. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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