What Nylon does

Nylon (legal entity: BDG Media, Inc.) is a digital media publication founded in 1999 and operated as a brand under Bustle Digital Group (BDG), a privately held digital media conglomerate that also owns Bustle, Elite Daily, Romper, Mic, Inverse, and The Zoe Report. The publication targets Gen Z and Millennial women (aged 18–34) with editorial coverage spanning fashion, beauty, music, entertainment, and pop culture, distributed through nylon.com, a daily email newsletter, and a multi-platform social presence (Instagram, X, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube). Specialized editorial verticals include Nylon Nights (nightlife and party coverage), NYLON Originals (long-form features such as NYLON 19 artist interviews, It Girl profiles, and NYLON House music content), and Amplifying Our Voices, a weekly digest focused on underrepresented voices in fashion, beauty, entertainment, and tech.

The product surface is a single content-driven website plus a newsletter; there is no paywall, no native app, no API/SDK offering, and no disclosed AI/ML capabilities. Revenue is generated through three streams: (1) display and sponsored-content advertising, (2) affiliate commerce commissions embedded in shopping stories, and (3) newsletter monetization via BDG's newsletter revenue operations. The company is editorially led by Lauren McCarthy (Editor-in-Chief), with Chelsea Peng (Managing Editor) and Kevin LeBlanc (Style Editor) on the masthead, while broader functional leadership (editorial operations, design, marketing, newsletter revenue, creative) sits at the BDG parent level. Geographic scope is digital and effectively global, though editorial coverage is U.S.-centric, with the company serving audiences through ad-supported content rather than direct reader payments.

Name

Nylon

Legal name

BDG Media, Inc.

Website

https://nylon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Nylon is a digital fashion, beauty, music, and pop-culture publication for Gen Z and Millennial women, operated by BDG Media, Inc. and monetized via advertising, affiliate commerce, and newsletter sponsorships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Sponsorships: Nylon generates revenue through display advertising, sponsored content, and branded partnerships. The site features affiliate links in commerce stories, with disclosure notices when BDG may earn revenue from product links.
2. Affiliate Commerce Revenue: Commerce stories contain affiliate links to products, generating revenue through commissions when readers purchase featured items through links.
3. Newsletter Revenue: Newsletter subscriptions drive revenue through BDG's newsletter revenue and marketing operations, with the 'Nylon Daily Newsletter' as a key offering.

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NYLON is a digital media publication that produces and distributes original editorial content covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and music for Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Its core offering is free, advertising-supported editorial content accessed via nylon.com, vertical sections (Nylon Nights, NYLON Originals, Amplifying Our Voices), and a daily email newsletter.

Product overview

NYLON is a digital media publication operating as a single unified website platform covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, music, and culture for young adult audiences. The company's product portfolio centers on nylon.com as the core content hub, supplemented by specialized editorial sections including Nylon Nights (nightlife and party coverage), NYLON Originals (original feature series including NYLON 19 artist interviews, It Girl profiles, and NYLON House music content), and the Amplifying Our Voices initiative (diversity-focused editorial digest). The primary offering is advertising-supported editorial content distributed through the website and email newsletter subscriptions, with no separate platform-modules architecture or distinct SaaS products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Nylon Nights: NYLON's nightlife and party coverage vertical featuring event reporting, party photos, and celebrity nightlife content.
• Amplifying Our Voices

Products and services

• NYLON Website (nylon.com) Digital media publication covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and music for young adult audiences. Operates as a content-driven website with article publishing, visual storytelling, and newsletter subscriptions.
• NYLON Daily Newsletter Daily email newsletter delivering fashion, beauty, entertainment, music, and culture content to subscribers under the NYLON brand.
• Nylon Nights Editorial vertical dedicated to nightlife, party coverage, celebrity events, and social scene reporting featuring fashion and entertainment industry happenings.
• NYLON Originals Original long-form content series including NYLON 19 artist interview series, It Girl profiles, and NYLON House music features.
• Amplifying Our Voices Weekly digest and editorial initiative centering and celebrating underrepresented voices changing fashion, beauty, entertainment, and tech; part of NYLON's diversity and inclusion editorial commitment.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Complex: Complex is a youth-culture digital media brand covering music, fashion, sneakers, and pop culture. It overlaps with NYLON's music and youth-culture coverage while operating a broader lifestyle portfolio.
• Cosmopolitan: Cosmopolitan is a legacy Hearst women's media brand covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and culture for a similar demographic. It competes for the same advertisers but operates as a much larger, multi-platform incumbent.
• Elle: Elle is a Hearst-owned global fashion, beauty, and lifestyle magazine competing for similar advertisers and cultural authority. As an established incumbent, it serves the same audience but with broader portfolio scale.
• Vogue: Vogue is the dominant global fashion and culture title under Condé Nast. It overlaps with NYLON in fashion editorial and advertiser access but is a much larger established incumbent with print, digital, and events.

Direct peers

• Refinery29: Refinery29 is a digital-first publication covering fashion, beauty, wellness, and entertainment for young women. It competes directly with NYLON for the same demographic, advertisers, and cultural authority in youth lifestyle media.
• PopSugar: PopSugar is a digital media brand delivering entertainment, celebrity, beauty, and fashion content to a Millennial and Gen Z female audience. It is directly comparable in audience, content mix, and affiliate-commerce revenue model.
• Dazed: Dazed is an independent fashion and culture magazine covering youth, identity, music, and art. It targets a similar Gen Z/Millennial culturally engaged audience and competes for fashion advertising and editorial prestige.
• i-D Magazine: i-D is a fashion and youth-culture publication known for its editorial authority among young style audiences. It competes with NYLON for the same fashion-forward, trend-setting reader demographic.
• Who What Wear: Who What Wear is a fashion-forward digital publication and shopping platform targeting style-conscious women. It overlaps with NYLON in fashion editorial and shoppable content, with strong affiliate-commerce mechanics.
• Bustle: Bustle is a sister publication to NYLON under BDG Media, targeting Millennial and Gen Z women with similar fashion, beauty, and entertainment editorial. It competes for the same audience and advertiser dollars, with overlapping content verticals and shared ad sales infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NylonMag
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/NylonMagazineTV
• Facebookfacebook.com/nylonmagazine
• Instagraminstagram.com/nylonmag
• Pinterestpinterest.com/nylonmag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nylon