Behind the success of the Business of Fashion

Haley Mlotek of Columbia Journalism Review takes a look at the success of The Business of Fashion.

Mlotek writes, “The Business of Fashion—a publication that is part trade reporting, part networking, for the industry professional who reads financial reports more than the enthusiast who follows Vogue covers—also grew out of a blog. Started in 2007 by Imran Amed, a forty-nine-year-old former McKinsey consultant, it has since developed a reputation for being required reading.

“BoF, as it’s known, derives its revenue almost entirely from subscribers, who pay to access an unusual combination of journalism, anthropological case studies, and Wikipedia-style fact sheets. Its hybrid newsroom comprises fashion obsessives and repotted business reporters who do not worship designers in the least; Baskin, for one, joined from the Wall Street Journal, where he’d focused on trucking. That formula has been successful.

“Today, BoF has more than a hundred thousand paying subscribers at different tiers, representing readers from more than a hundred and ninety countries; the highest level, the Executive Membership package, which debuted in April, costs a hundred and fifty dollars per month. BoF’s newsletters reach more than a million subscribers. Amed, now the editor in chief, continues to write and host a podcast; he posts to the BoF Instagram account, too, reaching about three million followers.”

Read more here.