Balenciaga is jumping full-force into the creator economy by becoming the first fashion house to join Substack's newly launched sponsorships program.
The newsletter platform announced the program on June 15, revealing at the time that Balenciaga would be among seven inaugural partners to invest in creators on the platform. The other six brands are Yahoo Scout, Whatnot, Granola, T-Mobile, Polymarket, and Uber.
Under the deal, Balenciaga can place ads inside newsletters, promote products directly within Substack content, share affiliate links, and co-host events with creators.
“These are not arbitrarily inserted ads,” Substack CEO Chris Best wrote when introducing the program. “They are direct partnerships between brands and publishers who have already built robust audience-first businesses.”
The move builds on a relationship between fashion house and publisher that dates back to last year. Balenciaga was among the first fashion brands to launch a Substack profile, joining the newsletter program last July, and creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli has contributed since. The brand was also the first to live-stream runway shows on the website.
Balenciaga CEO Gianfranco Gianangeli released a statement about the brand’s involvement in Substack’s program.
“Substack is reshaping the media landscape by giving greater control to independent publishers and creators. Balenciaga has a long history of supporting bold voices across culture, and this partnership felt like a natural extension of that commitment,” said Gianangeli, per Vogue Business. “This reflects our commitment to supporting creativity, independent thinking, and new forms of cultural expression.”
To commemorate the partnership, Balenciaga and Substack hosted a panel at Cannes on June 24 about the changing nature of media and influence.
Best spoke about the Balenciaga partnership to Vogue Business.
“On Substack, people do work they believe in for an audience that chooses to subscribe to them directly, with many choosing to pay. That creates a different dynamic than much of the internet,” he said. “These types of partnerships will succeed by adding value to that relationship through unlocking creative ambition as well as equity for brands. This model works because the incentives align with the trust relationship between creator and subscriber.”
