Hi. Welcome back to Line Sheet and our first Tuesday edition! Sarah Shapiro is here with a look at the wild, wild world of affiliate marketing. If you work in fashion, beauty, or retail, you’re probably familiar with Liketoknow.it (not a typo) or its newish challenger, ShopMy. I’m downright thrilled Sarah has made it her mission to dig into the ambitions of the founders as the realities of what affiliate can really do for publishers sets in. (The short answer: a lot, but also a little.) In other news, I’ve got a bit of intel on the acquisition of Christian Lacroix by Spanish licensing firm Sociedad Textil Lonia (LVMH this is not) and the behind-the-scenes process of appointing a new C.E.O. at the British Fashion Council. Sarah also has an explanation for why the Saks Fifth Avenue in post-apocalyptic downtown San Francisco went by-appointment-only. Mentioned in this issue: LTK, Amber Venz Box, ShopMy, Alix Earle, Paige DeSorbo, Molly Sims, Hearst, Dotdash Meredith, Christian Lacroix, Sociedad Textil Lonia, Bernard Arnault, LVMH, the British Fashion Council, Laura Weir, Vogue, Edward Enninful, Saks and Neimans, Phoebe Philo, and many more…

Three Things You Should Know…

Lacroix for the polloi?: This morning, Vogue Business reported that the I.P. for Christian Lacroix had been acquired by Spanish management firm STL (that stands for Sociedad Textil Lonia, not Sisterhood, Trust and Love, if my fellow sorority sisters were wondering). Anyway, the big thing about Christian Lacroix is that it was the first brand Bernard Arnault ever funded from scratch. At the time, Lacroix was designing for Patou, another house owned by LVMH, which Arnault had just taken over (Despite Lacroix’s couture prowess and popularity—his supersized taffeta creations defined the ’80s—when ’90s minimalism set in, he was sidelined.) From there, Arnault gained the reputation as a brand reviver and manager, not a brand builder, which has pretty much stuck. (Rihanna’s Fenty line never took off. The Phoebe Philo experiment is ongoing.) In 2009, Arnault admitted failure by selling the brand to the (unfortunately named) Falic Group, which runs duty-free shops in the U.S. Nothing came of it, really. Lacroix, the person, now makes opera costumes. Now, the producer of CH Carolina Herrera—the Puig-owned brand’s fairly massive lower-priced line—is taking it over, and while it’s extremely unlikely Lacroix will be involved in any way, he did tell Vogue Business that he gave the deal his blessing. It’s an interesting moment for this to be happening, given that the party dresses on the circuit—big bows, polka dots, and fuchsia—owe a lot to Lacroix. As for what STL is capable of achieving with the brand…? I’m told by people on the ground that the group is “a hot mess,” and to expect any archive reissues to “look like Desigual.” (My guess is that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but that STL operates similarly to any of these other vulturous management firms.) The lesson? Even when a brand is a business failure, there will be someone who believes that they can extract value from the goodwill it has accumulated.
Who wants to be the C.E.O. of the British Fashion Council?: Yesterday, the B.F.C. announced that Laura Weir, the creative director of Selfridges—and before that, the editor-in-chief of ES Magazine—is set to succeed longtime C.E.O. Caroline Rush, who announced her (eventual) departure months ago. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, I had heard that the leading candidate for the gig was Vanessa Kingori, the former publisher of British Vogue (her official, final title was chief business officer of Condé Nast Britain) who decamped for Google amid the Edward Enninful shake-up. A Kingori appointment would have made a big splash, but these trade orgs are certainly not paying Google money. Weir is a sensible choice—as a former fashion journalist, she likely knows the sob stories of several B.F.C. members intimately, and can advocate for them. Of course, there are limits to what an organization like the B.F.C. can accomplish, but given the challenges that British designers are still facing in the wake of Brexit—from logistics headaches to the talent drain—there is a need for commiseration.

Sarah Shapiro

Extreme Makeover, department store edition: Last week, on an episode of Fashion People, I brought up the San Francisco Saks going appointment-only in the fall of 2024, and mentioned that I was personally a bit disappointed by the shopping experience. The assortment was awkwardly edited, there was nothing exciting on offer, and multiple empty floors made it feel like a ghost town. One listener wondered if this was perhaps due to a store renovation—but I’ve confirmed that is currently not the case here.What is clear, at least, is that Saks is testing new strategies—a noble goal as retailers try to figure out what is going to work. I spoke to someone close to Saks who felt like this appointment-only strategy was appealing for customers who are looking for more one-on-one attention. That may be true, but I still don’t think it’s the best option for browsing or restoring the joy of in-person shopping. In any case, since we are all curious what it has been like at Saks and Neimans following the acquisition announcement, I’m hearing that while there are still some lingering questions about the merger, there’s a sense that something new and exciting has started. Teams sat through numerous “town hall”-style meetings yesterday—never fun—but walked away mostly upbeat about their next chapter.

And now, on to the main event…

A Tale of Two Commerce Platforms

ShopMy’s new Series B investment suggests that the upper tier of the $24 billion fashion affiliate business is coming into focus, prompting a legit showdown with perennial leader LTK.

Sarah Shapiro

The rise of fashion and beauty commerce platform LTK reads like a bildungsroman from the influencer canon. Amber Venz Box, a Dallas personal shopper and blogger, originally created the platform in 2011 after her then-boyfriend (now husband) noted that her personal website was sending potential shopping clients straight to retailers without offering her a pass-through fee. Envisioning a future where hobbyist creators could become their own authentic recommendation engines, using their influence and credibility to lead to direct sales, Venz Box founded RewardStyle, which was later rebranded as LikeToKnowIt, and then shortened to LTK. The rest is influencer history. In 2021, Forbes estimated that Venz Box, still in her late 30s, was worth about $315 million. With auburn hair, sparkling eyes, and a girlboss-meet-tradwife wardrobe, she remains the face of the platform, which has become synonymous with the profusion of Utah momfluencers and suburban content creators who excel at holiday home tours and Amazon hauls. Venz Box embodies the aspirational lifestyle aesthetic, herself, in perfectly curated family photos that could, in her dreams, double as Ralph Lauren campaigns, alongside her co-founder/husband, Baxter Box. (Just comment “Thanksgiving” to get a shoppable link to all their looks on LTK.) LTK, whose most recent funding round was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, is now valued at $2 billion and is a dominant player in the ~$24 billion dollar creator marketing industry. Unsurprisingly, the fashion commerce space has been teeming with entrepreneurs trying to reverse engineer Venz Box’s serendipitous success ever since. Now, for the first time, a true challenger to LTK has emerged. In 2020, M.I.T. and Harvard alums Tiffany Lopinsky, Chris Tinsley, and Harry Rein founded ShopMy, which has attempted to differentiate itself by curating a more selective network of influencers—less Provo tradwife, more Phoebe Philo, perhaps. After proving out its concept last year, ShopMy raised an $18.5 million Series A that valued the company at roughly $110 million. Now it’s looking to raise $60 million in a Series B financing round at a $350 million valuation. (ShopMy declined to comment.) As the original disruptor, LTK got to write the rule book, which often meant flooding the zone, forging as many relationships as possible, and holding on to the data. The company currently has 22x the partnership volume of ShopMy, which has been more focused on forging quality relationships with influencers and brands and sharing analytics to help them boost their sales. (Puck has been using ShopMy as we experiment with our affiliate business. For what it’s worth, LTK does offer more insights within their app…) Unsurprisingly, ShopMy typically targets fashion girl influencers: Hot Mess host Alix Earle and Bravo reality star Paige DeSorbo are featured in their marketing campaigns. They’re working with folks who don’t view themselves as traditional influencers, either, including plenty of startup founders. For example, multihyphenate model-turned-entrepreneur Molly Sims has likely leveraged the ShopMy platform to earn as much as seven figures from pushing her YSE Beauty brand, Celine handbags, Frēda Salvador ballet flats, etcetera. So far, the market seems large enough for both LTK and ShopMy to thrive, and plenty of creators switch between them. Lately though, LTK appears increasingly defensive, scrambling to maintain their first-mover dominance in the space with new tactics, like paying influencers to attend events and offering them free black car services during busy fashion weeks. (LTK declined to comment.) In May 2024, LTK sued ShopMy for false advertising, trademark infringement, and unfair practices, but the case was dropped without prejudice a few months later. Anyway, the funding raise comes as the 4-year-old affiliate marketing platform positions itself as the choice for fashion’s new guard, who are heading to ShopMy to see the clicks, engagement, and sales generated by each link, and optimize accordingly. And yet, while these affiliate platforms make it easy to create links, few creators are actually becoming millionaires via commissions. The ecosystem is delicately balanced, with legacy publishers, creators, brands, and affiliate platforms all interdependent, and each player vulnerable to market shifts and strategy adjustments. This volatility, combined with ever-changing marketing budgets and priorities, means platforms must constantly evolve their value proposition beyond simple link-generation commissions to retain both creators and brands—which is what both LTK and ShopMy are racing to achieve. Indeed, if the buzzy news about ShopMy’s raise suggests anything, it’s that the affiliate business wars are only just getting started.

The Second-Mover Advantage

While LTK obviously helped create the modern affiliate business, and deserves tons of credit for hacking scale, sometimes it pays to be second. After all, much of ShopMy’s appeal derives from its juxtaposition with the O.G. Many creators welcomed an alternative to LTK, which often delayed payouts until this year, and whose tech often seems clunky in comparison to ShopMy’s. Clicking on an LTK link on Instagram, for example, takes a user to an LTK landing page rather than depositing them directly on the purchase page. (LTK is finally acknowledging that extra steps make shoppers less likely to convert, so an upgrade seems inevitable here.) Meanwhile, LTK needs to figure out how to be more transparent, provide better tools to brands (something ShopMy does really well), and hire more developers to improve the product. LTK is filled with influencers trying to promote dupes, and while influencers push hard with Amazon products, those links only offer commissions for 24 hours, leaving many without any earnings. (It’s worth noting that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, the median salary for influencers was $45,406.) Indeed, to continue driving affiliates and sharing thoughtfully curated links with a distinct perspective, influencers will need to stay competitive. Influencers make brands money by talking about them, especially with longer-format newsletters, and brands want to continue to partner. One model is Arielle Charnas, who has expensive luxury taste but also links to a huge number of products from Amazon and Walmart. Readers want content and to find special products they wouldn’t discover on their own. The influencer world feels like the most entertaining reality show out there—and it’s shoppable. It will be fascinating to behold the composition of ShopMy’s upcoming financing round. Would a media company like Hearst or Dotdash Meredith strategically invest to eventually augment their own commerce business? (Alas, probably not, given that the valuation could price them out.) A retailer perhaps? (Walmart, like many others, has already created their own affiliate program.) In the end, I would presume it’s a composition of V.C.s with consumer and enterprise interests, like Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia, etcetera. A market rivalry, after all, is simply a category awaiting a winner.

What Sarah’s Reading…

Everygirl stylist Allison Bornstein gives practical advice on looking good without having to suck it in. [The Allison Bornstein Newsletter] I love the Old Hollywood look that overwhelmed this year’s Golden Globes red carpet, but the data speaks for itself. According to “fashion search engine” Tagwalk, Globes looks reflected the most recent spate of runway shows, where both sequins and metallics were also trending upward. [Tagwalk on Instagram] Speaking of data and fashion, I also enjoyed listening to Madé Lapuerta, the creator of the fabulous Instagram account @Databutmakeitfashion, on how she designed her career and gathers insights. [Let’s Get Dressed] I bought this A24-published book after hearing about it on the podcast A Thing or Two with Claire and Erica, and the recommendations for family movies are fantastic. Just when I thought I had watched all the good ones… [“Hey Kids, Watch This”]

That’s it from Sarah and me. A final P.S.A. re: haircare: I almost exclusively use Rōz products, thanks to a recommendation from Future Publishing S.V.P. Hillary Kerr, even though our hair textures could not be more different. (Sarah is going to have more on Rōz in Friday’s email.) Last week, in search of a curl-defining product, another friend recommended that I add in Crown Affair’s Texturizing Air Dry Mousse. (As Sarah noted to me, they’re doing a whole very clever “Air Dry January” campaign.) I bought it, loved it, and two days later Hillary also recommended it in her newsletter. Some of these products are not for people with very fine hair, so proceed with caution. Until tomorrow, Lauren

Puck fashion correspondent Lauren Sherman and a rotating cast of industry insiders take you deep behind the scenes of this multitrillion-dollar biz, from creative director switcheroos to M&A drama, D.T.C. downfalls, and magazine mishaps. Fashion People is an extension of Line Sheet, Lauren’s private email for Puck, where she tracks what’s happening beyond the press releases in fashion, beauty, and media. New episodes publish every Tuesday and Friday.

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