Fairchild Publications Inc.
7 W. 34th Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
212.630.3500
http://www.wwd.com
The Wind-Up
While titles like Marie Claire and Glamour provide coverage of the fashion industry chapter-and-verse, Fairchild Publications' flagship Women's Wear Daily remains the true
bible for fashionistas. The daily, which launched in 1911, is a must-read for fashion, beauty, retail and media executives, Wall Street players and just about anyone who follows
the constant navel-gazing throughout the fashion orbit. It places a huge emphasis on breaking news, but also provides in-depth coverage of the deals, the personalities and the
drama inherent in the fashion business. "We take the pulse of the market, which companies are up, which companies are going out of business or what the CFO of a big retailer is up
to. The glossies don't get involved in all of that," says Lisa Lockwood, WWD news director, who started at WWD in 1984 as sportswear editor. The publication, which runs Monday-
Friday, has headquarters in New York along with bureaus in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. and satellite offices in London, Milan and Paris. WWD The Magazine, a
glossy focusing on the New York/Milan/Paris/London collections, runs bi-annually, with the next issue slated for November.
The Pitch
The publication unfolds like a daily, with special sections running throughout the week. So it's important to study the masthead and find out who covers what. Reporters and
editors generally prefer e-mail or voice mail. The "Accessories Report" runs on Monday and is edited by Melanie Kletter, [email protected]. The "Media/Advertising" section runs on Tuesday and Friday and is handled by Greg Lindsay, [email protected], and Jacob Bernstein, [email protected]. Sportswear pieces run Wednesday and should be pitched to Eric Wilson, [email protected], and Evan Clark, [email protected]. Thursday
features "Denim Dish," or all things denim, and is edited by Scott Malone, [email protected]; Malone also covers the
textiles industry. "The WWD List," ranging from the top 10 highest paid U.S. apparel executives of publicly-listed companies to the most productive shopping malls in terms of
square footage, for example, also runs on Thursday and is edited by Sharon Edelson, [email protected]. "Beauty
Day" runs Friday, featuring about 8-10 pages of beauty coverage. Pete Born, [email protected], steers that section. David
Moin, [email protected], is the retail editor. Julee Greenberg, [email protected], edits the junior sportswear pages, called "The Beat," which runs on Thursday and covers junior
and contemporary sportswear. Lockwood says the publication thrives on exclusives and prefers "ideas with broad implications that are not self-serving and can take a view of the
market. We're not very big on one-company profiles." Keep in mind there's a full-blown editorial meeting every day at 10:00 a.m., where story ideas are fleshed out and assigned,
and another meeting among senior editors at 3:00 p.m. Breaking news can be pitched up until 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. "We've been known to rip up the paper when an unbelievably
crucial story comes in at deadline," Lockwood says. Non-breaking news features are filed by the reporter at least a day before publication.
The Follow-Through
WWD has a full line of special issues coming down the editorial runway. The "Sounds of Style," which plugs into the connection between rock and fashion, runs on Sept. 4;
"Inside New York," with wall-to-wall coverage of New York Fashion Week, will appear in the Sept. 12 issue; fashion coverage of the Emmy Awards -- featuring stories on the
stylists who dress television stars -- runs on Sept. 23, while L.A. Fashion week hits on Nov. 4.