Shopping
Forget Instagram & TikTok: Substack is Where It’s at for Luxe Shopping
Have you bought them, the cropped flares that ate your feed? The $860 Kick pants by Alissa Zachary’s brand, High Sport, are inescapable lately, from social media to the tabloids, where they’ve been photographed on Katie Holmes, Chloë Sevigny, and Olivia Rodrigo. The designer, formerly of the Row, doesn’t attribute this success to any one celebrity. Zachary gives most of the credit to Substack.
The paid subscription newsletter platform was launched in 2017 as a bastion of independent commentary—the political pundit Andrew Sullivan and the historian Heather Cox Richardson were early adopters—and now it’s also changing the way its 35 million active users shop, with a leaderboard of fashion professionals delivering tony, direct-to-inbox recommendations that, for some people, are more persuasive than tips from other media. With Instagram and TikTok, “you’re absorbing information across many different topics,” Zachary says. “If you’re following a Substacker, it’s because you’re interested in their edit, and you want to be able to shop it.”
The queen bee of the style Substack is Leandra Medine Cohen, whose Cereal Aisle newsletter boasts more than 135,000 pen pals. “When I started, in 2021, fashion was not even a category,” says Medine Cohen, 35, the founder of the defunct media company Man Repeller. “I remember talking to Substack representatives who said, ‘Why are you putting so many pictures in the body of the email? It’s supposed to be written.’ I just had this idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to use the emails.”
It worked. Last year alone Substack reported 80 percent growth in subscriptions to its Fashion & Beauty content. Creators earn money through affiliate links, custom URLs that earn them a commission for each sale. Engagement doesn’t yet rival TikTok and Instagram, but e-commerce experts and brands that figure prominently on the platform say Substackers tend to shop with intention.
“It’s really hard to find what you want or need, because there’s so much garbage in every shopping forum,” says Amy Odell, 38, whose Back Row counts 48,000 subs. “Online shopping has become a really frustrating exercise, and Substack provides something that’s more personal.”
Greta Lee is one of the many celebrities who has been spotted out in the buzzy High Sport kick flare pants.
Then there’s Becky Malinsky, 40, who launched 5 Things You Should Buy two years ago as a passion project shortly after leaving a job as a fashion editor at the Wall Street Journal; she now has a dedicated following of more than 55,000. And Ilana Torbiner, 29, a marketer-turned-influencer whose single mention of a $238 wool V-neck sweater from L.A.-based Almina Concept can send her 9,000 Inside My Mind subscribers into a frenzy. Almina’s founder, Angela Gahng, says Torbiner’s references alone have been instrumental in selling out pieces. “We are definitely adding Substack as a focus in our marketing efforts.”
What’s Buzzy on Substack Right Now
Toteme Draped Fringed Wool-Blend Jacket
Jamie Haller The Penny Loafer
Kallmeyer Kiernan Shrunken Blazer
Maria McManus High-Waisted Cropped Trousers
Bally Pathy Leather Derby Shoes
Meanwhile, the Earl Earl newsletter from 38-year-old fashion editor Laurel Pantin keeps 20,000-plus subscribers hooked on everything from Almina’s $168 knits to Jockey’s $40 French cut panties. “Am I the granny panty wizard of West L.A.?” she wonders, adding that she’s a shopper on other Substack accounts herself. “I would buy a designer handbag that I saw styled eight different ways on Substack faster than I would through Instagram.”
The biggest age group in Instagram’s and TikTok’s vast global audiences is 18–29. Substack does not share demographic data for its Fashion & Beauty newsletters, perhaps because the category is just beginning to grow. But Medine Cohen, Malinsky, and Pantin assume the bulk of their readers are millennials. “The culture of fashion Substack is forming,” Medine Cohen says, “and that conversation is not about buying more things but buying better things.” On her 5 Things, Malinsky can go long on common wardrobe issues—say, how to style stretch pants, pairing a cropped flare with Loro Piana booties and a Ralph Lauren flannel.
“When people read my newsletter, they’re looking at it directly instead of looking at lots of people’s images and opinions,” she says. “I’m able to flesh out an idea and describe why it’s important, as opposed to a photo on Instagram where people aren’t even opening the caption.” That’s the thing about Substack—it’s for the readers, not the scrollers.
This story appears in the October 2024 issue of Town & Country. Subscribe
Sophie Dweck is the associate shopping editor for Town & Country, where she covers beauty, fashion, home and décor, and more.
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