By Kristina Monllos  •  May 14, 2025  •

American Eagle hopes to replicate an “almost group chat mentality” in terms of engagement with Gen Z who might be inclined to engage with more in-depth content beyond a mindless social scroll, said Craig Brommers, chief marketing officer of American Eagle. He did not say how many subscribers the newsletter had.

The newsletter will cover internet trends and data on what’s trending for American Eagle shoppers (the first edition has a section on the rise of jorts) and what matters to Gen Z consumers. The post’s cadence is yet to be determined. It will be guest edited by Casey Lewis, the Substack writer behind a youth culture newsletter, called After School. Brommers believes Lewis, whose Substack he called “a must read for any marketer that is engaging with Gen Z” will give the brand a leg up as it tests out the platform as it will give the brand cross-promotion with Lewis’s Substack. Working with Lewis is both an editorial partnership and paid partnership for the brand, though financial details were not disclosed.

Brands creating products seen from the likes of media companies is nothing new — brand-owned publications are arguably a cyclical trend. But brands using Substack are forced to reckon with age-old publisher questions: determining voice in writing and balancing the desire to build an audience with driving sales. Substack’s dedicated Standards and Enforcement team reviews content on the platform to “ensure the platform remains focused on editorial integrity,” as our sister publication Modern Retail previously reported.

Brommers sees more promise for brands testing out Substack than previous editorial efforts as they’re doing so on turf that their audience is already spending time rather than luring them elsewhere. “It’s natural to go where the audience is,” Brommers said. According to data from SimilarWeb, the highest audience share by age on Substack is that of the 25-34 demo, which accounts for 24% of the audience. Readers 18-24 make up 11.4% of the audience, according to the same data. Gen Zers range from ages 13-28.

Agency execs say anecdotally that Substack is coming up more frequently in conversation with brand marketers who see brands like The RealReal, Tory Burch and Rare Beauty garnering headlines for their efforts on the platform as being first movers and garnering a dedicated audience. As Modern Retail reported, beauty brand Saie nabbed 20% month-over-month growth in subscribers for its Substack.

“A lot of brands are curious,” said Liz Hanna, connections director at VML, adding that the shop has had conversations with clients but hasn’t yet launched a Substack for a brand.

To Hanna, Substack isn’t a place for every brand but one that could make sense for brands in categories like tech, fashion, finance and beauty, specifically for brands that “have a real point of view and have plenty of editorial to cover.” VML has cautioned clients about the platform, explaining that it “isn’t a short-term play,” said Hanna. “This is a long-term play. You have to be patient to see the ROI on it.” 

The current economic uncertainty that marketers are dealing with given the topsy-turvy tariffs policies has led to a focus on short-term thinking. That could have marketers putting investments into new platforms like Substack on the back burner.

Building a Substack presence doesn’t necessarily require a financial investment, but “it’s time and effort,” explained Hanna. “It’s going to be an investment in terms of effort and manpower of your company to actually put in the effort and pull in the right writers.”

Building out more editorial efforts could benefit marketers as they navigate the changing nature of search and the need to optimize search efforts for AI. Doing so wasn’t a “leading indicator” of American Eagle’s presence on Substack, Brommers said even though he sees it as an “interesting learning opportunity.”

“Anyone in retail is beginning to prepare for what a more AI-enhanced future is — to be honest, we already live there,” he said.

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