Nylon is an Americanmultimedia brand and publishing company, which produces alifestyle magazine that focuses onpop culture and fashion. Its coverage includes art, beauty, music, design,celebrities, technology, and travel. Originally a print publication, it switched to an all-digital format in 2017. Its name referencesNew York andLondon, and it is currently owned by theBustle Digital Group (BDG).[2] In 2023, the magazine announced it would return to print in 2024. It continues to release a print magazine biannually.[3][4]
Nylon was co-founded in 1999[5] by editorial director Mark Blackwell, art director Madonna Badger,[6] creative directorHelena Christensen,[7] development director Michael "Mic" Neumann,[7] and the husband and wife publishing team of Marvin and Jaclynn Jarrett, with an initial investment from businesspersonSam Waksal.[8] The Jarretts, Blackwell and Neumann had previously worked together in the same roles atRay Gun Magazine. The Jarretts had recently sold their shares in Ray Gun Publishing.[9] According to Jaclynn Jarrett, the magazine's name was chosen because her husband Marvin liked the sound ofNylon. After picking it, they realized that NY and LON could link the brand to New York and London, which was congruent withNylon's editorial focus in these two cities.[10] The design of the magazine was intended to be "hyper-legible", in an attempt to mitigate against the criticism ofRay-Gun's "chaotic" layouts. The first issue was published on April 6, 1999.[9]
In 2003,Nylon launched its website nylonmag.com (now nylon.com) under the leadership of Ronen Shapiro. Later that year, the digital readership surpassed the print edition and became the center ofNylon's business. In 2005,Nylon was bought by Pennsylvania businessman Don Hellinger.[11] The following spring,Nylon andMySpace collaborated on their first International Music issue.Nylon was freely available online for a time.[12][13]Nylon TV was launched in 2006 with the creation of its own YouTube channel, and by 2014 had 62 thousand subscribers and 62 million cumulative views.[14]Nylon partnered withMySpace 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 its June/July International Music and MySpace issue online for free viewing.[15] Marvin 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 famousWhite Stripes on the cover, as selected byNylon's MySpace fans.[16]
On its 10-year anniversary in 2009,Nylon made the April 1999 inaugural issue freely available online, including all articles, in scanned form.[18] Later that year,Nylon partnered with iTunes for its annual music issue, which included a free summer playlist download of 22 tracks.[19]
Nylon came together with YouTube in 2010 for its Young Hollywood issue, allowing readers to watch the entire issue. That year also brought the launch ofNylon Dailies, emails written by local writers every day in ten key American cities.[20]
In 2011, then-President Don Hellinger and then-CFO Jami Pearlman[11][21] were charged with operating an illegal money transmission business (for an online casino), unrelated toNylon.[11][22] They subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.[23][24]
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. The new owners did not retain publisher Marvin Jarrett. The staff learned of the takeover via the press.[28][29]
In September 2017, it announced it was transitioning to an all-digital platform. The print edition ofNylon was discontinued between October 2017 and 2019, and 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.[30] One was digital team senior editor, Gabrielle Korn, who was then promoted to editor-in-chief.[31]
In June 2019, Nylon was acquired by theBustle Digital Group, founded by Bryan Goldberg.[2] Its current editor-in-chief is Lauren McCarthy.
Nylon Japan, which first hit Tokyo newsstands in 2004, is now run by editor-in-chief Takashi Togawa.[32]
Nylon Korea premiered in August 2008,[33] and in April 2014,K-pop girl bandGirls' Generation (also known as SNSD), was featured inNylon international editions.[34] In March 2018, the publisher ofNylon Korea was acquired by Krispy Studio, a subsidiary ofkakao M (formerly LOEN Entertainment), fromSeoul Cultural Publishers [ko].[35]
Nylon Indonesia began publishing in 2011. It ceased publication in 2017.
Nylon Singapore,[36] launched in 2012 and went fully digital in 2017.
Nylon France (published asNylon FR), launched in March 2021 as a digital magazine. The French edition is also edited on printed every two months with a limited drop in selected stores and on the magazine's e-shop.[44][45]
The firstNylon cover model for the debut issue was actressLiv Tyler in April 1999.[5] She was both photographed and interviewed byNylon magazine's co-founder, creative director, and supermodelHelena Christensen.[5][48]
Media Life Magazine's Jennifer Cox wrote in 2001 thatNylon 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, whenNylon was nominated for the ASME National Magazine award. She described the April issue as "groundbreaking" (for a fashion magazine) to feature an overweight woman in a history of women's weight, and 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 notedNylon's distinctive "heavy emphasis on music coverage."[56]
TheAmerican Society of Magazine Editors noted the magazine three times:Nylon was nominated for "National Magazine Award for General Excellence (100,000–400,000 circulation)" in 2001,[57] was a finalist for "General Excellence (100,000 to 250,000 circulation)" in 2003,[58][59] and was a finalist for the 2006 ASME "Design" award.[60]
In 2006,Nylon was a Nominee at the 10th AnnualWebby Awards, in the Fashion category,[61][62] and an Official Honoree at the 12th Annual Webby Awards in the Magazine category in 2008.[63]
In 2008 industry monitorMedia 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 giveNylon a hip, unique look that is truly hard to come by in the category. Nxtbook provides slick, downloadable digital magazine issues".[64]
Nylon partnered withRizzoli Publishing to publish three books:Street, on global street fashion;Pretty, on beauty; andPlay, on music.[10]Pretty: The Nylon Book of Beauty was listed in the New York Public Library's bestBooks for the Teen Age 2008.[66][67] In 2009 Jarrett foundedNylon Records and signed French female pop groupPlastiscines as its first act, after seeing them on the cover of French fashion and style magazineCitizen K.[68][69]Also in 2009,Nylon introduced itsiPhoneapp;MinOnline listed it (among "Top 5 iPhone Mags You May Have Missed") as "a pleasant surprise. This fashion and culture mag has one of the more attractive magazine-like designs among print brands on mobile."[70]
The September 2010 issue of the magazine was released on theiPad, including video, music, and some exclusive content. The iPad edition is in the Apple iTunes newsstand.[71]
^Women's Wear Daily with FashionIndie's founders, Beca Alexander and Daniel Saynt, maintaining their editor-in-chief and creative director titles, respectively.
