Nylon (magazine)


Nylon is an American multimedia brand, publishing company, and lifestyle magazine that focuses on pop culture and fashion. Its coverage includes art, beauty, music, design, celebrities, technology and travel. Originally a magazine, it switched to an all digital format in 2017. Its name references New York and London. It is owned by Bustle Digital Group.

History

Nylon was co-founded in 1999 by writer editor Mark Blackwell, advertising veteran Madonna Badger, Kung Faux creator Mic Neumann, supermodel Helena Christensen, and the husband and wife publishing team of Marvin and Jaclynn Jarrett, with investment from businessperson Sam Waksal. Four of the founders had previously worked together in their same roles at Ray Gun Magazine: Editor Marvin Jarrett, Publisher Jaclynn his wife, Editorial Director Mark Blackwell, and Development Director Mic Neumann; the Jarretts had recently sold their interest in Ray Gun Publishing. According to Publisher Jaclynn Jarrett, the magazine's name was chosen because her husband Marvin just liked the sound of Nylon. After picking it, they realized the New York/London tie-in, which was congruous to Nylon's editorial focus on these two cities. The first two letters are the initials for New York and the last three letters are the first three letters of London. The design of the magazine was intended to be "hyper-legible", in answer to criticism of Ray-Guns "chaotic" layouts. The first issue was published on April 6, 1999.
In 2003, Nylon launched its website nylonmag.com, under the leadership of Ronen Shapiro, later that year the digital readership surpassed the print edition and became the center of Nylon's business. In 2005, Nylon was bought by Pennsylvania businessman Don Hellinger. The following spring, Nylon and MySpace collaborated on their first International Music issue, making it freely available online for a time. Nylon TV was launched in 2006 with the creation of its own YouTube channel, and by 2014 gained 62 thousand subscribers and 62 million cumulative views. Nylon partnered with MySpace in 2006 for its annual June/July music issue. Nine months later the magazine became generally available online in digital form in March 2007. Nylon released their June/July International Music and MySpace issue online for free viewing. Marvin Scott Jarrett's Editor's Letter described it as a collaboration with MySpace, focusing on eight "music and style mecca" cities around the world, featuring the White Stripes on the cover, as selected by Nylon's MySpace fans.
Nylon teamed up with Live Nation Entertainment in 2008 to produce its first Nylon Music Tour, headlined by electro rockers She Wants Revenge.

On their 10-year anniversary in 2009, Nylon made the April 1999 inaugural issue freely available online, including all articles, in scanned form. Later that year, Nylon partnered with iTunes for its annual music issue, which included a free summer playlist download of 22 tracks.
Nylon came together with YouTube in 2010 for its Young Hollywood issue, allowing readers to watch the entire issue on YouTube. The partnership extended for the 2011 Young Hollywood issue as well. 2010 also brought the launch of Nylon Dailies, emails written by local writers every day in ten key American cities.
In 2011, then-President Don Hellinger and then-CFO Jami Pearlman were charged with operating an illegal money transmission business, unrelated to Nylon. They subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Nylon joined with Facebook in 2012 for its June/July music issue. 2012 also brought a Summer Music Tour, featuring Neon Trees, and sponsored by Starbucks. America's Next Top Model announced that Nylon would be its media partner for the show's 19th cycle.
Nylon had established a material social media presence. By early 2014, Nylon was active on Instagram, had over 700,000 Twitter followers, and had a million Facebook fans.
In May 2014, Nylon was acquired by a new ownership group, including an affiliate of LA-based investor Marc Luzzatto through Diversis Capital, LLC. The new venture also acquired FashionIndie, with FashionIndie's founders, Beca Alexander and Daniel Saynt, maintaining their titles of editor-in-chief and creative director, respectively. Publisher Marvin Jarrett was blindsided, and he was not retained by the new owners. The staff learned of the takeover via the press.
In September 2017, announced that it was transitioning to an all-digital platform. The print edition of Nylon was discontinued between October 2017 until 2019. The print staff was laid off. Upon the departure of the core print team, only two original staff members, of the 60-odd employees from before the sale in 2014, remained. One of those original staff members included digital team Senior Editor, Gabrielle Korn, who was then promoted to Editor-in-Chief.
In June 2019, Nylon was acquired by the Bustle Digital Group, founded by Bryan Goldberg.

International editions

Asia

Marvin Scottt Jarrett was the original Editor in Chief from the time of the magazine's creation to his departure in 2014.
Michelle Lee was named Editor in Chief 2014, then named Editor in Chief of Allure magazine in 2015.
Melissa Giannini was named editor-in-chief in 2015.
Gabrielle Korn was named editor-in-chief in 2018.
Publishers: Jaclynn Jarrett, Sam Waksal, Don Hellinger, Bryan Goldberg
Creative Directors: Helena Christensen, Paul Mittleman, Molly Butterfoss
Development Directors: Mic Neumann, Marc Luzzatto
Editorial Directors: Mark Blackwell, Susanna Howe
Art Directors: Madonna Badger, Kayla Kern
Producers: Ricky Michiels, Ryland McIntyre
Senior Editors: Ben Barna, Randy Bookasta
Features Directors: Lisa Mischianti
Senior Beauty Editors: Jade Taylor
Fashion Directors: Joseph Errico
Style Directors: Dani Stahl
Market Editors: Marissa Smith
Assistant Editors: Nicole Draga
Associate Editors: Keryce Henry
Editorial Assistants: Austen Tosone

Cover Models

The first Nylon cover subject was Liv Tyler in April 1999, photographed and interviewed by Helena Christensen.
Cover models have included: Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera, The Horrors, Avril Lavigne, Selena Gomez, Lily Allen, Paris Hilton, The Kills, Camilla Belle, Karen O, Evan Rachel Wood, Mary-Kate Olsen, Lea Michele, Lil' Kim, Zooey Deschanel, Kristen Stewart, Rachel Bilson, Scarlett Johansson, Cory Kennedy, Mischa Barton, Christina Ricci, Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, Taylor Momsen, The White Stripes, Sienna Miller, Nicole Richie, Megan Fox, Hilary Duff, Emma Stone, Lindsay Lohan, MIA, Zoe Saldana, Drew Barrymore, Jessica Szohr, Mila Kunis, Emily Browning, Katy Perry, Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Selena Gomez, Emma Roberts, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lily Collins, Hayley Williams, and Lana Del Rey.

Reception

Medialife Magazine's Jennifer Cox wrote in 2001 that Nylon was "a little uppity, and it's not hard to understand why", describing it as "bold, idiosyncratic, challenging, absolutely of-the-moment," but unnoticed by "the mainstream" until March 2001, when Nylon was nominated for the ASME National Magazine award. She described the April issue as "groundbreaking" to feature an overweight woman in a history of women's weight, noted that the magazine's models "are more often interesting looking than beautiful per se." She found its photo spreads "bold with their use of white space and innovative photography" and noted Nylon's distinctive "heavy emphasis on music coverage."

Recognition

The American Society of Magazine Editors noted the magazine three times: Nylon was nominated for "National Magazine Award for General Excellence " in 2001, was a finalist for "General Excellence " in 2003, and was a finalist for the 2006 ASME "Design" award.
In 2006, Nylon was a Nominee at the 10th Annual Webby Awards, in the Fashion category, and an Official Honoree at the 12th Annual Webby Awards in the Magazine category in 2008.
In 2008 industry monitor Media Industry News Online editors selected Nylon.com as the penultimate of their "Top 5 Women's Fashion Mag Website Picks", judging on "visual appeal, functionality and usefulness of information". They found it to be the "destination of choice for alternative, fashion minds everywhere", and "...Nylon's entertainment radar is still alive and well. Its funky illustrations and graphics give Nylon a hip, unique look that is truly hard to come by in the category. Nxtbook provides slick, downloadable digital magazine issues".

Brand extensions

The magazine had Radar, Fashion, and Style pages. There was also a Nylon Guys magazine, first announced in 2003 and published independently in 2004, which has featured Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 500 Days of Summer.
Nylon partnered with Rizzoli Publishing to publish three books: Street, on global street fashion; Pretty, on beauty; and Play, on music.
Pretty: The Nylon Book of Beauty was listed in the New York Public Library's best Books for the Teen Age 2008.
In 2009 Jarrett founded Nylon Records and signed French female pop group Plastiscines as its first act, after seeing them on the cover of French fashion and style magazine Citizen K.
Also in 2009, Nylon introduced its iPhone app; MinOnline listed it as "a pleasant surprise. This fashion and culture mag has one of the more attractive magazine-like designs among print brands on mobile."
The September 2010 issue of the magazine was released on the iPad, including video, music and some exclusive content. The iPad edition is in the Apple iTunes newsstand.