Nylon (magazine) - History

History

In preparation for founding Nylon, Ray Gun and Bikini publishers Marvin Scott Jarrett and Jaclynn Jarrett sold their majority interests in Ray Gun Publishing for an "undisclosed sum", then formed Pop Media. Nylon was co-founded in 1999 by the Jarretts, with ex-Ray Gun Editorial Director Mark Blackwell, Madonna Badger as Art Director, and supermodel Helena Christensen as Creative Director (the latter two are longer involved). According to Publisher Jaclynn Jarrett, the magazine's name was chosen because "...Marvin Scott Jarrett, our Editor-in-Chief, just liked the sound of Nylon. After picking it, we realized the New York/London tie-in, which is congruous with our 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 (New York London). The design of the magazine was intended to be "hyper-legible", in answer to criticism of Ray-Gun 's "chaotic" layouts. The first issue was published on April 6, 1999.

Nylon Japan, the first international issue, was published in 2004.

In 2005, Nylon was bought by Pennsylvania businessman Don Hellinger.

In 2006, 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 has a following of over 59,600 subscribers and 52,493,000 views to date.Nylon partnered with MySpace in 2006 for its annual June/July music issue.

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 Korea premiered in 2008. In that same year,Nylon and Nylon Guys took to social media with Facebook and Twitter pages. Nylon 's Twitter account has gained over 525,000 followers and over 280,000 on Facebook to date. Nylon teamed up with Live Nation that year 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 Japan was first published in 2009.

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.

Nylon Indonesia had its first issue published in 2011, followed by Nylon Singapore in 2012. In 2011, Nylon then-President Don Hellinger and then-CFO Jami Pearlman were charged with money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business. In 2012, Hellinger pled guilty to charges of illegal money transfer.

Nylon joined with Facebook in 2012 for its June/July music issue. 2012 also brought a Summer Music Tour, featuring Neon Trees and co-produced by Starbucks. America's Next Top Model announced that Nylon would be its media partner for the show's 19th cycle, airing on August 24, 2012.