TikTok Fashion Publication Rag Report’s Plan to Become Gen Z’s Vogue
As traditional print magazines struggle, a number of digital and social medial platforms are looking to make inroads in the fashion media space. Among them is Rag Report, a TikTok fashion publication debuting its own merch collection on Wednesday.
Since launching in January, Rag Report, owned by Kyra Media, which focuses on Gen Z audiences, has garnered 1.3 million followers on the social media platform and the range of merch is designed to further increase awareness of the publication. In comparison, Vogue has 219,000 followers and W Magazine 415,000.
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For the collection, Rag Report will be working with a different artist, creative, designer or influencer once a month to produce a limited edition run of branded T-shirts. The first three designs were put together by boutique studio Resistant Material, whose clients include Burberry, Heron Preston and Maharishi.
“As we’ve grown the channel, our average post will have around 25,000 likes,” said James Cadwallader, cofounder and chief creative officer at Kyra. “It’s not so much about launching clothing as a revenue driver, but more so a way to build on our audience and connect more with our audience.”
Rag Report was the first of a handful of TikTok publications launched by Kyra and it claims to be one of the fastest-growing fashion accounts on the platform. It is staffed by a team of four, while also tapping into a network of global content creators and videos include fashion trends, style suggestions, closet tours, street style and more.
“Obviously that’s nothing new in publishing but in this kind of space it’s still quite innovative because what we’re starting to find is, if we want to tell a story about streetwear in Tokyo, we can tap into our network and we can have someone go create a Rag Report-branded TikTok for us in Tokyo,” added Cadwallader.
As for brand partnerships, it has worked with Diesel for a custom video campaign that resulted in a short documentary with Lilbittylivie and Justin Y that garnered 3 million views. Most recently, it acted as the publishing partner for TikTok as it launched its second annual Fashion Month. The collaboration is focused on “fashion and beauty frontrunners,” a series of features produced by the Rag Report team on the top 10 rising fashion personalities to watch.
Don’t expect to see it expanding out of TikTok and onto other platforms anytime soon, though. “We are a TikTok-first media business — that platform for us is our sweet spot. It’s our place where we have a lot of authority and it’s where we see the future of media unfolding,” said Cadwallader. “I personally think this has the potential to be the new Vogue for Gen Z.” For now, Rag Report still doesn’t even have a website.
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