Written by The Strategy

Magazines are the heroes that make the fashion world go round. Without them, the masses would have had little to no source of current fashions as well as being deprived of the excitement of receiving mail. 

Nowadays, while the fate of the print magazine is in a bit of a limbo state, we still find them incredibly important. We hang on the words of Vogue, we pour over the images of Harper’s Bazaar, and we absorb whatever is presented to us in countless other magazines that have shaped how we view much of the world around us. Online magazines are all fine and good, but there is something special about holding the physical object in your hands that no computer screen will ever replicate.

With such a saturated industry, the question is “What makes a magazine good?” Yes, there are names upon names of fashion magazines to list, but the mainstays- Vogue, Harper’s, W, Elle, etc- have a certain reputation that places them on the forefront of everyone’s lists. What is it that makes them better, for lack of a better term, than other magazines? And if they are the best of the best, are they accepting new members?

Launching a magazine today means going up against tried and true powerhouses of not only fashion, but media, advertising, and holding a place in hearts of the consumers. In the magazine industry, much like Project Runway, one minute you’re in and the next you’re out. Building a reputation against the “Classics” is no walk in the park, not to mention the struggle of maintaining that reputation. New comers, namely Porter, seem to doing a pretty good job of stacking up against the competition. 

A new dynamic of blending the hard copy magazine with the online content of the modern day fashion industry gives the new publication a leg up in creating a new experience for the reader. Not only do we get to turn the Porter pages, we get to shop the issues online, watch videos and take part in the magazine in a way that hasn’t existed before. Porter is giving the rest of them a run for their money, which is, what we guess, the spark that lit the sudden rush of exclusive on line content across the board.

The powerhouse magazines are definitely here to stay, and there is always room for more. We are sure that as Porter grows it will come to be on the same pedestal as it’s predecessors.

Written by Katrina Garofalo