What's next for Sprezza?

I'm 4 years into this; here's where we're at and where we're headed next.

Thoughts on writing for 4 years

I started Sprezza in the fall of 2020 while sitting on my ass at home. Like we all were.

I had just left a day job and was supremely burnt out. All of a sudden, I had time on my hands to do nothing and think. Which felt terrifying to me. At first.

Sidebar: having space to breathe is a luxury in this life, so if you ever have the margin to step back and evaluate where you are, take it with gratitude. It’s rare.

But if you know me personally, you know I’ve always loved clothes.

I love clothing as a form of self-expression and how it permeates everything.

So I started writing on Substack about clothing from the lens of dissecting little cultural moments, spotlighting bigger trends, and sharing products I’d find on the internet.

I launched this Substack with 200 readers, and my only goal was to write. And keep writing. 2-3 times a week, for a year straight.

Slowly, 200 readers turned to 500.

Then 1,000.

And 5,000.

Then 10k. And on it’s grown since.

Here’s the first piece I ever wrote.

By writing, I’ve realized that people enjoy Sprezza because it feels like a modern editorial outlet with a personal POV, aka me.

I never wanted Sprezza to be a place for—

• Shitposting

• Highlighting flash sales of cheap products

• Giving airtime to soulless trends

• Or playing into the hype cycles

Sprezza is about storytelling.

And within that, I’ve always focused on making content that is curated, discovery-driven, and educational.

Today, I’ve grown from being a no-name newsletter with zero visibility to a loyal community with incredible people who read in all 50 states and 100+ countries.

I’ve hosted events and popup shops in places like NYC and London with thousands of people.

I have had people read what I write from Apple, Nike, KITH, Adidas, Highsnobiety, Complex, The New York Times, Business of Fashion, and countless other defining businesses.

And it’s suddenly (read: slowly) gone from being a creative project out of my living room to being a business I’m lucky enough to work on full-time.

So, here’s where we’re going.

I’ve thought a lot about what the future looks like. And to make this worth investing in, I’m expanding beyond just the newsletter to create little touchpoints where we can all connect, both online and in-person (my favorite part!).

Here’s what that looks like.

The newsletter

I’ll continue writing weekly content with the goal of 3 posts per week.

The emails will be a mix of:

• Shopping guides

• Interviews + editorials

• Deep dives

• City and travel guides

• etc.

For now, I’ll use Substack to share email and written content, and I'll update the website soon.

If you want access to more of the content I’ve shared above, it’s best to upgrade from a free to paid sub.

I’m running a discount for a few weeks, so sign up on that link if you want to.

$50 works out to $4 per month, which is what you already pay for coffee every day.

So just pretend like you’re drinking coffee.

Events + in-person stuff

So far, I’ve done popup shops in NYC and London and little pub meetups. That will continue next year.

So far I’m planning—

• Sprezza activation at Paris Fashion Week in January

• Spring event in NYC

• More popup shops in new cities

• Activations + partnerships with brands (collabs incoming :)

If you want to work on this, HMU clayton@sprezza.xyz

The creative studio

I’ve always wanted to launch a more tangible arm out of the newsletter, one where I create things like limited-run physical goods, objects, and collectibles. I am now making plans to do that. Couple things:

1. Apparel — I am in the early stages of launching apparel (I won’t tell you what it is just yet), but it will be very, very good.

2. Print — at some point, there will be a magazine, too. Details forthcoming.

3. Partnerships — working with brands that I love to tell great stories.

Ultimately, these things will only work if I care about what I’m making. That won’t change.

Social

My Instagram page blew up this year, which was fun to see.

I’ll continue building that audience (I’m at about 75k followers now), so if you want me to make certain types of content, share new topics, or partner on branded content together, you know where to find me.

Follow Sprezza on Instagram

Advisory work

I can’t tell you how many brands contact me daily about helping them with projects. I try my best to offer as much support as possible, but I don’t have the bandwidth to do this for everyone. I really wish I did!

That said, I’m always open to paid advisory work and will have a couple of slots open next year to provide support on:

• Brand marketing strategy

• Editorial + creative direction

• Strategic collabs + partnerships

If you need help with that, let me know.

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So that’s what I got cooking. I'm super stoked about where we’re going.

The last thing I want to say is thank you.

Thank you for helping me reach the point where I can even work on it full-time. I never take that shit for granted, I promise.

I’m going to keep hacking away at this, and I hope we can create things that enrich your lives.

<3 from Clayton and the the family