Who What Wear Sells AI Visibility to Brands, Helping Fuel Double-Digit Revenue Growth

Few digital fashion publishers from the early 2000s are still around, let alone growing, but Who What Wear is a rare exception. Revenue at the U.S. outpost of the fashion publisher, which was acquired by the U.K. media firm Future, rose by “double digits” in fiscal 2026, according to its parent company. That's partly thanks to a new business line, centered around helping brands ensure they surface more readily in answer engines, which has become an object of focus, said Hillary Kerr, its cofounder and senior vice president. “The bigger story is that our ability to win in AI is so big,” said Elizabeth Bagdasarian, senior vice president and head of U.S. commercial at Future. “We are one of the most-cited publishers in the fashion space.” Through Future Optic, a product Future launched in early 2025, the company produces branded content built around the queries a partner wants to win. A jewelry brand, for example, might target “everyday stackable jewelry” and work with Who What Wear to create content structured for AI legibility around the thesis. Brands have run more than 40 campaigns through the product across the Future portfolio, and roughly half of those run over the past year appeared on Who What Wear, according to Bagdasarian. Luxury, fashion, and beauty brands have shown particular interest in improving their visibility in AI tools, she said. In its most recent full-year results, covering the fiscal year that ended in September 2025, Future reported revenue of around $990 million, a 6% decline year over year, or 3% on an organic basis. The company is scheduled to report fiscal 2026 results on Dec. 3. The positive trendline at Who What Wear—which also saw revenue uptick thanks to events and branded social, including social video, whose revenues rose 23% and 26%—underscores the way in which digital media companies are investing in the brands most capable of weathering the disruption brought about by artificial intelligence. Who What Wear, which has leaned into its staff of socially native creators, social commerce, and events, is better positioned than much of the Future portfolio to thrive even as the open web continues to contract. Commercial revenue Before Future acquired it in 2022, Who What Wear operated independently for 16 years, a stretch that forced the publisher to avoid leaning too heavily on any one revenue stream, according to Kerr. Today, its commercial strategy rests on packaging editorial, social, podcasts, newsletters, events, and commerce into single partnerships, “Sometimes a reader wants to read, listen, watch, and touch a piece of content,” Bagdasarian said. “When we build a commercial strategy, that is how we think about it.” Its newsletter, Retail Therapy, exemplifies the concept. Written by executive shopping director Bobby Schuessler, the newsletter became a top performer, and Who What Wear has since spun it into a serialized social video series with built-in brand integrations, the first season of which is in partnership with Nordstrom. Events have become a bigger part of the mix. This year, Who What Wear expanded its co-sponsored brand activations, including pop-ups with SharkNinja timed to Formula 1 Miami, as well as a New York Fashion Week party hosted with its sister brand Marie Claire, presented by BCBGMaxAzria. Marking 20 years The brand, which Kerr and Katherine Power founded in Los Angeles in 2006, marked its anniversary in October with its first out-of-home campaign, which included postings in Los Angeles and a takeover of Soho News in New York City. The celebration also included a retrospective vodcast, a collectible print issue, and an exclusive party at Chateau Marmont. More than 20 sponsors took part in the programming, and the campaign drew more than 5.8 million video views and 11 million impressions across its social channels. Next year, Who What Wear plans to debut New Hollywood, an annual editorial and experiential franchise that will identify rising talent across film, television, and music. Launching in January, it will pair a hero cover with social-first video and an awards-season event, per Kerr. “We have a long history of identifying talent right as it’s about to take off,” Kerr said.

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Who What Wear Sells AI Visibility to Brands, Helping Fuel Double-Digit Revenue Growth

The fashion publisher’s parent, Future plc, launched the AI visibility product Future Optic in 2025

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