ATSC Special Edition: the state of the girlies is strong

INSIDE: a shell ring, a 4th of July sale spreadsheet, and why we dominate in terms of purchasing power and people should recognize that,

Happy 5th of July! Hope everyone had an amazing and safe holiday – and tg it’s an Olympics year so we could channel the awe-inspiring power of Team USA (we are so blessed to be living at the same time as Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky lol) and… try to not to think about the Supreme Court 🙃🙃🙃

First and foremost, I want to flag that there are still a ton of INSANE holiday sales going on right now!! I am currently going a bit feral with WeWoreWhat, Lisa Says Gah, and Lioness. I also CANNOT recommend these Old Navy jean shorts (5-inch inseam is so trendy, comfy, and still flattering lol) that are only $20 today. laura reilly of Magasin also posted this incredibly comprehensive list of sales, don’t miss it!!!

Spotlight ✨

It’s been over a month since the last article heard ‘round the world went live – and no, somehow, it wasn’t from The Cut. This one came from GQ, specifically from GQ’s senior fashion editor, who declared that merch is dead.

While I did really enjoy the “merch boom” timeline in the essay, the rest of it pretty much amounted to proclaiming that no one cool was wearing merch anymore based on some anecdotal evidence of some of Manhattan’s “it-girl” neighborhoods (which, as a New Yorker who does sometimes wear merch… I feel like I still definitely see it around, even in Dimes Square…). The article also made a slight dig at Swifties, which went just about as well as you might think it did. The whole thing ultimately was giving Miranda Priestly with absolutely none of Meryl Streep’s charm.

On a positive note, however, this essay did set off a chain reaction that culminated in lots of think pieces about why people should feel like they can wear merch (a.k.a. express themselves and their interests however they want and not feel like they’re being judged), which I really enjoyed reading. emily north of angel cake’s remains one of my most favorites, I HIGHLY recommend a read.

I’m actually ~not~ going to focus so much on merch in my lil essay/rant – but rather, how ridiculous it is that anyone thinks they can tell women what they should or shouldn’t be buying and wearing right now.

First, a little context because it needs to be said that, in pretty much every way possible, women are an economic powerhouse (and please note that when I’m saying women, I essentially mean everyone who doesn’t identify as a man).

As women, we have an INSANE level of purchasing power and, by 2028, we will control 75% of discretionary spending (basically, any non-essential payments and purchases). And on top of this, in addition to spending, we are comparatively much better at saving as well. Men, on average, have 20% more personal debt, including credit card debt, than women, and women tend to be thriftier in general (probably because we do almost all of a household’s shopping). Women also are far more aware of money than men and, while we do buy more, are more cautious and nervous about it.

When you consider the fact that on top of all of this, we are still making less than men just by virtue of the fact of being women… it’s pretty f*ckin impressive of us.

That said, at the same time, I feel like there has been a longstanding notion, on the part of marketing execs and magazine editors alike, that women shoppers are easily manipulated. And this “manipulation” is how corporations, whose C-suites are largely white men, make millions and millions of dollars off of our spending.

Something about this merch conversation (the GQ piece was, unsurprisingly, a dude) just really triggered a thought for me about how entirely ridiculous it is that largely white, wealthy, influential, cis-men still feel like they can control the narrative about fashion and use ads, essays, and other tactics to get women to open their Apple wallets.

Not only are women power players when it comes to spending power and hyper-aware of their money, we are also more connected than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I was the kid who stole my mom’s Vogues as soon as they came to see what the tastemakers were saying. But now, with Instagram, TikTok, and a host of other apps – in addition to an incredibly strong culture of thrifting, street style, and innovation outside of traditional fashion hubs – there is no question that we, the general women public, are the tastemakers.

I think merch is actually a good example of this. While it originally was definitely cooked up by music executives to get even more money out of concerts and others like them, that is not so much the case. Take the Swifties for example – hundreds and hundreds of them are creating and selling their personally designed merch on sites like Etsy and making back. So much of merch is literally fan-to-fan commerce at this point.

I think influencer marketing is another good example. Given how much money PR agencies are pouring into it – for reference, it is projected that $24 billion will be spent on it in 2024 – these C-suite execs still clearly feel like they’re in control and finding ways to make us buy what they say is in. What’s different is these influencers, who are the brand messengers now, are not hand-picked super models or Disney-made stars (absolutely NO shade to them to be clear) – they’re people we’ve followed and elevated. Think of all the people that were working 9-to-5s and went viral for their impressive style and now are brand ambassadors. While there’s certainly algorithms in play, we now choose the people who we allow to sell things to us – and we will un-choose them if they do something terrible. We hold many more of the cards than we used to.

All this to say, I think it’s high time that it’s made incredibly clear that we as women are an economic and commercial powerhouse – and since we already have so much control in determining taste, we should simply cut out the C-suites who are profiting off of us. That, of course, means supporting local businesses and brands who actually look like and are their consumers to their leadership. It also means wearing as much or as little damn merch as you want.

But I want your takes too! And if you’re one of these “fan-to-fan” sellers, I’d love to hear your take on the whole situation as well 🫶

Other Corners of the Internet

• The amount of times I have had this issue is ridiculous… linking a thread that might help.

• Flagging that TikTok Shop Day (like Prime Day) is July 9th and Amazon Prime Day is July 16-17 (and plug that there are some small businesses on there to support, definitely going to try to seek them out!)

• I purchased this shell ring the MOMENT I saw it – should next week be a full shell-themed edition 👀

• Dooooo I buy this lil bag for my Eurotrip at the end of this month??? It’s on sale for $109….

• The July vibes we all need are right here

• Erika Veurink shared an excellent newsletter/message we all need to hear!!

• Last week’s top links were the Kate Spade x Heinz collab (I have gotten SO many ads), the gorgeous shell plates, and, for the second, this crafty girl summer TikTok!

That’s all for now :) thanks for sticking with me for this special edition and I’ll see you next week for our regularly schedule programming <3