How the Internet’s Most Beloved Tastemakers Are Making Fashion Their Own
By Lauren CochraneThe first ‘merch’, as we know it today, is thought to have been made for fans of Elvis Presley. Colonel Parker, Elvis’s talent manager, signed a deal in July 1956 for a company to produce everything from T-shirts to sneakers and belts, all emblazoned with the rockn’roller. By December of the same year, the range had grossed over $20m.
Nearly 70 years later, and merch can mean anything from a T-shirt proclaiming support for your favourite band to a tote bag from a book shop or an apron from a much-loved restaurant. It remains big business. For her ‘Eras’ tour in 2023, Taylor Swift is thought to have made over $200m from merch.
Of course, merch also exists on a micro level: a way to signpost an iykyk element to any outfit, whether with a T-shirt for an obscure band or a baseball cap from IDEA Books. It’s about belonging, with the size of subcultures have gotten progressively smaller over the years. But perhaps the most recent development in the long and successful arc of merch doubles down on the obscurity. Enter: newsletter merch.
The boom of style-based newsletters – either on Substack or other platforms – has been well documented, with a rise of 80 percent in fashion and beauty subscribers across Substack since January. The accepted wisdom is that these weekly missives have replaced the much loved fashion blog of the noughties. Popular examples include Laura Reilly’s Magasin which takes advantage of her great taste and insider knowledge for shopping tips across the web, or Jalil Johnson’s Consider Yourself Cultured which showcases amazing creative outfits for inbox inspiration. Now, some of these writers and tastemakers are realising their popularity can be monetised beyond paid subscriptions: they’re starting to make items that appeal to their small but devoted following, tangible goods that lean into the shared taste between them and their fans.
Blackbird Spyplane, the style newsletter set up by Jonah Weiner and Erin Wylie in 2020 and loved for its logo aesthetics, style essays and interviews with A-listers like musician Andre 3000 and fashion’s favourite footballer Hector Bellerin, was early on this trend when they released a small run of T-shirts in 2022. They recently followed this up with a collaboration with footwear brand Oboz, on what they called, “the Waviest Shoes of Our Time”.
It’s an increasingly well-trodden track with a growing number of newsletters following those early adopters: Throwing Fits, the menswear newsletter and podcast, has produced collabs with London label Percival, and its latest merch is a pair of smart pleated trousers advertised as simply “pants” on its Instagram. Meanwhile Jake Bell, the marketing expert behind Who Do You Know?, made some caps with the phrase on earlier in the summer. Emilia Petrarca, who set up the fun Shop Rat in 2023, launched a tote bag this year. This might be the most cliquey in-joke example of merch. It comes complete with a badge reading ‘no flaccid totes’, inspired by one of Petrarca’s essays, describing her “ultimate ick” on a date: a guy with a flaccid tote bag.
There’s no doubt for the people that love these newsletters it’s a thrill to buy something made by their creators – a way to support them, but also, as with all merch, a way to start a conversation with other fans by wearing a cap or carrying a bag. If that demographic is inevitably going to number less people than those wearing Eras T-shirts, that is sort of the point – these are items for a microfanbase, of tastemakers who appreciate tastemakers.
For the writers, they boost the income and profile of their newsletter. But it also allows them to cross over from looking at stylish items all day to having a go at designing yourself. Some see it as part of the plan. “When I started this newsletter, I knew I would make some merch,” wrote Petrarca. Others are more obviously knowing about the impact these items could have out in the world. “It’s more than just a hat. It’s a symbol that opens doors, invites conversation, and could get you laid. That last part is up to you,” wrote Bell when his cap was launched. But the final word might go to Blackbird Spyplane: “when you’re as good as Blackbird Spyplane at finding, wearing and writing about cool unique things, sometimes – rarely, judiciously, exquisitely – you’re tempted to make a cool unique thing, too.”
Lauren Cochrane is Senior Fashion Writer of The Guardian and contributes to publications including The Face, ELLE, Service95, Konfekt and Mr Porter. Based in London, she writes about everything from catwalk shows to footballers’ style and the linguistics of Love Island. She is author of The Ten: The Stories Behind the Fashion Classics. You can read more of Lauren’s writing on Something Curated here.
Header image courtesy shopratshop.com.