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Editors’ Letter: COOL HUNTING and the Ever-Changing Independent Media Landscape

What we are doing and how you can help

CH Editors

Dear Readers,

As the world moves through a moment in time unlike any we’ve experienced, being a community is more important than ever. Community exists on many levels, of which COOL HUNTING’s is a small but important one. You—our readers, collaborators and partners—have always played a key role in defining the future. You’re creatives and designers and entrepreneurs who are passionate about making things and experiences that many people will enjoy. Our role is to inspire and inform you throughout that journey and to celebrate the (often up-and-coming) artists, designers and brands whose work makes the world a better place.

We love what we do and have made many tough business decisions over the last 17 years in order to continue with uncompromising integrity. We’re an independent publication operating on a shoestring budget and the current global crisis is hitting us hard. We are very grateful to brands including Land Rover, NOMOS, Made In, Flexform, Mercedes-Benz, Casa Dragones, Arc’Teryx and Maserati for recently supporting us. With this crisis many of our advertising and consulting programs have been canceled or reduced in scope, and our CH-hosted trips are also now on hold.

With this letter we want to share what we’re doing to support our community and ask you to do what you can to support us.

What we’re doing:

First and foremost, we’re still making content. Now more than ever our community needs inspiration and even a bit of distraction. We will continue to review products, interview artists, dig in to design and explore cultural curiosities. We’ll still cover travel and hotels too, as that community needs our support as well—even if we can’t make plans in the short-term to visit or stay. We’re not ignoring the COVID-19 crisis, but we’re also not a hard news site so we’re keeping our eyes out for positive, productive stories, round-ups and links to include in our daily eclectic mix. Some recent stories we’re especially excited about:

How you can help us:

We feel very strongly about keeping our content free, so the most significant way you can help is to make a one-time or recurring monthly donation. Now more than ever we need support from our community so that we, in turn, can continue to find and share the stories you love. Here are other ways you can help:

  • If you’re investing marketing dollars, consider advertising with us or commissioning a custom edition of COOL HUNTING for your company
  • If your company is looking for help developing products, narratives, insights or collaborations, let’s talk
  • We’re launching à la carte CH Omakase sales shortly, which will make owning one of the items, all commissioned by us and hand-made in Japan by master craftspeople, more accessible. Stay tuned for that and shop if you can
  • If you have a story we should be sharing, contact us here or DM or tweet at us
  • Share our stories with family and friends that you think would enjoy them

Stay safe, be well and focus on the good.
Josh, Evan O, David, Katie, Evan M and the rest of the CH team

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