Suede - New Magazine from Essence

[Steeltrap]

February 24, 2005
Suede Magazine Halted After 4 Issues
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Essence Communications Partners announced yesterday that it was stopping publication, at least temporarily, of Suede, an ethnic fashion magazine aimed at young women, after four issues because of high production costs.

Essence owns the magazine jointly with Time Inc., which bought 49 percent of Essence in 2000 and announced in January that it had agreed to buy the remaining 51 percent. Time officials said yesterday that the deal was still on track.

"It has become clear that more time and resources would be needed to further develop this brand," Ed Lewis, chairman and chief executive officer of Essence Communications, said in a statement. He said the magazine was "going on hiatus," but other executives gave it less than a 50-50 chance of being revived. One said the title had failed to attract significant advertising interest. Only three issues of the magazine have been published; the April issue, the fourth, is at the printer now. The magazine was to become a monthly starting with this issue.

Magazines are notoriously expensive to start and are usually given four to five years to break even; by that standard, Suede was shelved with unusual haste. Michelle Ebanks, group publisher at Essence Communications Partners, said that Suede had been "overwhelmed" by trying to go monthly too quickly.