Condé Nast International has extended the Vogue brand into the B2B market with the launch of a new global newsletter-led title for fashion industry professionals, Vogue Business.
Promising to be global in its focus and driven by data and facts, Vogue Business will draw on insights from 29 markets, from China to the United States, and taps into Condé Nast International’s global network of brands – Vogue, GQ, Glamour and Wired – fashion and luxury experts, industry leaders and business partners.
While it bears the Vogue brand, Condé Nast said it would be run as a separate entity from the fashion consumer title and have its own distinctive voice and independent editorial team – led by Lauren Indvik, the former Editor in Chief of Fashionista.com – which is based in London.
Condé Nast says Vogue Business is prioritising engagement with a select audience over reach (hence the newsletter approach) and will include content for industry decision-makers, from startups to CEOs. It will take a particular interest in the intersection between fashion and other industries, notably technology.
As well as the newsletter, which will be distributed twice-weekly from launch, Vogue Business will have a dedicated website and social media channels. For now the newsletter will be free of charge and the publisher said it would be spending this year building its audience and engagement, with a view to moving to a paid subscription later, though pricing has yet to be determined.
“In a consolidating media landscape, the launch of a new global title is a rare thing,” said Wolfgang Blau, President of Condé Nast International. “No one else in the world employs more fashion journalists in more places than we do. Our global network of over 800 journalists, digital editors and researchers are immersed in the relevant fashion trends on all inhabited continents, giving the team of Vogue Business access to an unparalleled depth of knowledge, from local design trends to changes in manufacturing, training, technology and distribution.”
Acclaimed fashion critic Suzy Menkes, who is editor of Vogue International, will be one of the contributors to the new initiative, which has been created by “applying an incubator model of agile development and constant experimentation together with our beta users in 29 markets”. Among those companies to have participated in the beta testing are Farfetch, Burberry and Prada.
“We take a new global, visual and data-driven approach to journalism,” said Indvik, who is Chief Editor of Vogue Business and who for the past two years has led the Vogue International news and features team in London. “Our journalism is designed for maximum impact and accessibility, making it easy to understand key ideas at a glance, and to enable fashion leaders to make the decisions that will grow and future-proof their businesses and careers.”
