2021-08-15
Sarah Chen
Design Dispatch, New York
The resurgence of interest in zines has led to brands taking notice, incorporating DIY aesthetics into their marketing strategies and even releasing their own zine-style publications. Meanwhile, this trend is also hurting the traditional publishing industry, as readers increasingly turn to self-published zines for unique content.
As the influence of zines continues to wax and wane among young audiences, some brands are taking notice – and pouring money into them in a bid for cultural cache. Polyester's founding editor-in-chief, Ione Gamble, is all too aware of this trend. "We're seeing more and more brands jumping on the bandwagon, trying to replicate the cool factor that zines have always had," she says.
Gamble has spent her entire career as an independent magazine founder navigating the ever-shifting landscape of print media. Over the past decade, she's lost count of the number of times someone has declared print dead or claimed it was back in vogue. Meanwhile, her own publishing peers are struggling to stay afloat. The market is becoming increasingly saturated with zines and other alternative publications, making it harder for small presses like Polyester to make ends meet.
As the popularity of zines continues to ebb and flow, one thing remains clear: brands are willing to pay top dollar to get in on the action. Meanwhile, indie publishers like Polyester are being squeezed out of the market by their own influence. For Gamble and her team, it's a difficult pill to swallow. "We're not just fighting for our own survival," she says, "we're fighting for the future of alternative publishing itself."