NEW YORK,
N.Y.? Mode magazine, the first and only high
fashion monthly targeted to full-figured American
women, will stop publishing, announced Lewit
and LeWinter/Freedom Magazines. The Mode shutdown,
effective immediately, comes as a result of
difficult economic conditions resulting in
unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer for
the magazine.
?Freedom has an outstanding product and a
strong audience in Mode magazine, but Mode
has not reached a level of profitability in
this very tough economic environment. In addition,
Freedom magazines has recently focused its
strategy on the business-to-business segment
of the market and Mode did not fit in with
that mix,? said Colin Ungaro, President of
Freedom Magazines, Inc.
?We want to thank all of
the dedicated Mode associates who worked so
hard in making the magazine a standard of
excellence and more importantly a real value
to its readers.? The shutdown affects a staff
of 38 people, who were told of the closing
Monday afternoon. The October Mode issue,
which has already been printed, will be the
final issue of the magazine.
?Mode magazine is both
a product and a philosophy. It has forever
changed the way women feel about themselves
and the way the world feels about them,? said
Julie Lewit and Nancy LeWinter.
Mode has enjoyed increasing
popularity with readers, with a present circulation
of 600,000 subscribers and approximately 3.5
million readers. While highly successful in
capturing the fashion and retail segment of
advertisers despite its stand-alone status,
Mode was unable to attract sufficient beauty
advertisers ? cosmetics, perfumes, etc. ?
due, in part, to strong competitive corporate
packages for consumer magazines.
Lewit and LeWinter, two
publishing veterans of the high-fashion magazine
industry, launched Mode in 1997. The magazine
was immediately embraced by readers, and garnered
continued national exposure on television
talk shows and the print media.
Freedom Magazines formed
a partnership with the founders later that
year, acquiring 50 percent of the property.
?Mode was our only
consumer title and we had no way to leverage
it with any of our other magazine titles,?
Ungaro said. ?Our long-term strategy is
to have magazine titles that focus on business-to-business.?
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