👋 Hi Reader,

You may not know this, but my wife and I ran a fashion startup (virtual try-ons) for a year. In 2020. In the heat of COVID.

Naturally that did not work out: people were happy to continue in their pajamas.

But the tenacity with which we kept tabs on the fashion niche like a hawk never let go. The Business of Fashion subscription might have helped too :)

So when Plum Sykes published 'The Fashion-Trust Metric' Substack issue from the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, naturally I devoured every line.

This issue was special. You know why? Because it was Balenciaga partnering with Plum on Substack. Not just her Substack, but launching brand sponsorships for fashion brands writing on Substack.

Balenciaga enters the inbox

In June 2026, Balenciaga became the first fashion house in history to join Substack's native sponsorship program.

Balenciaga had already been building on Substack since last year, when they became one of the first luxury brands to launch a profile on the platform. Their creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, has been writing occasional dispatches. They live-streamed a runway show on Substack.

And now, through the native sponsorship deal, Balenciaga can place ads inside newsletters, promote products directly within Substack content, share affiliate links, and co-host events with creators.

If it still has not sunk in, one of the largest couture houses (that sells handbags for the price of a home) just decided on this thesis:

They are not alone. The RealReal is sponsoring Lena Dunham's newsletter. Still Here NYC partnered with five Substack creators for a product launch, gave each creator full creative control, and reported a 75% open rate, with their jeans sold out on launch day.

Plum gets the newsletter game right. She knows she can command the kind of click-through rates on Substack with 16k+ followers, what would need at least 100k followers on Instagram.

The Substack conundrum

Let's keep ourselves honest for a good minute.

Substack does offer you distribution and awareness. In this case, it might place you on the radar of Balenciaga if your newsletter audience is engaged. But it also sits between you and the subscriber. Although it is not apples-to-apples like Instagram, you are building on their rails, and still governed by their terms.

So the reason I asked you to be honest is:

Nothing to be guilty of. But just so you are informed, you are building for acquisitions, not community. If community is what you are after, you might want to understand how you can move your readership to an owned platform and email list later in the process.

One more thing about Substack partnerships

Plum talked about an observation, which is in plain sight for marketers like me, but might not be apparent for a lot of new newsletter creators:

GEO

GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, is where AI tools now recommend products and brands based on authoritative suggestions from niche creators. If a third-party editorial on Substack with an engaged audience mentions a product, that's much more likely to show up in ChatGPT than your own brand's newsletter.

This is a fundamentally new form of distribution power that newsletter operators already possess, but most may not even realize they are sitting on.

Which is why a fashion newsletter with 5000 readers that include buyers, editors, and tastemakers, can drive more commercial impact than an Instagram account with 500k followers.

Oof. How do I jump on this trend?

I have written before about the attention economy and how a handful of media empires have quietly consolidated the social attention span online.

What Balenciaga is doing is the beginning of a counter-trend: the brands themselves are starting to realize that renting attention on social platforms is not the same as earning trust in someone's inbox. For once, a brand partnership value is now accrued on the creator's trust with the audience where the creator says:

Not the other way around, as it has been till date.

I believe the next wave of newsletter monetization is going to be built on creator-led partnerships, not brand-led. So if you are on the fence about collaborating with a big-name brand, I would love to talk to you.

Let me know by hitting ‘Reply’ on this email, or send a note to marketing@letterstack.co.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Alien Design

Looking for a partner to bring your digital product ideas to life? Alien specializes in product design, web design, and Webflow development. Alien helps businesses build visually appealing digital experiences that drive results. From concept to launch, Alien focus on delivering solutions that fit your brand and meet your business goals.

Want to get featured as the next sponsor on LetterStack? Reach out to us on marketing@letterstack.co!

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Cheers,

Renga from LetterStack

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