Conversations with Kynfolk | Caroline Issa

Next in our Conversations with Kynfolk series, we sat down with chief executive and fashion director of London-based quarterly title TANK Magazine, editor of online magazine, Because, BFC Trustee, and AKYN Advisory Board Chair, Caroline Issa.

In this conversation, Caroline discusses the future of print media, and shares her thoughts on the role that storytelling can play in building a more sustainable fashion industry.

Q: You began your career in management consulting. What inspired you to pivot into fashion, and how does your business background inform your work today?

A: I spent my teenage years dreaming of high fashion through the pages of Sassy, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Clin D'Oeuil (a local, Québécois magazine). I also learnt to respect the business of creativity as a teenage model, but was always drawn to the brand and finance side of the industry. Given my poor modelling skills, I went to undergraduate school, and expressed my love of fashion through my vintage and thrift store finds, a daring but terrible buzz cut (I thought it was more of a pixie cut, but looking at my photos from that period, no, it was a buzz cut!) and a management consulting experience that counted retail strategy within. So when I got the chance to meet the TANK team and learn what they did, back in 2002, I was instantly hooked by the energy, the creativity and the opportunity to flex my business and creative muscles with the small team. I'm grateful for the business skills I learnt at the corporate level –  and even those horrible accounting classes – because as an entrepreneur, I appreciate what it takes to run a business and a brand.

"We all have the power to move the needle from conversation to action, and that's what gets me excited in the fashion space."

Q: TANK embraces a slower, more considered approach to fashion and media. Why is that important to you?

A: We've been slow ever since 1998! TANK was launched with the ambition of exploring culture with intellectual curiosity and rigour, and to this day we're as fanatical about the words in the magazine as we are in the challenging and beautiful images we commission too. It's incredible to have witnessed the passionate return of interest to and collection of long-form writing, indepth features and moving image, with the fatigue of social media and bite-sized, ephemeral content. It's personally important to me that in a world full of terrible news, terrible leadership and obvious signs that the strides humans have made for improvement have only benefited the few, it's a real privilege to have a platform where a community can share insight, opinion and carefully edited and curated knowledge, beauty and hope.

Q: As an independent voice in publishing, how do you see the future of print fashion media evolving?

A: I see there being something for everyone, an ecosystem that means short form and long form both thrive – and that I, as a reader and customer of fashion media, can just as much follow an individual creator as I can subscribe to a print magazine that comes through my letterbox like a treat every quarter.  I see the metaverse coming alive with amazing fashion content in new formats, I see AI being leveraged so that creators can focus on what they do best and that readers can connect with the content they want more easily. I'm excited and optimistic – I have to be.

Q: Fashion holds incredible cultural power. What role do you think storytelling could play in building a more sustainable fashion industry?

A: Look at the success of the few fashion-focused documentaries we've had - from First Monday in May, to Fashion Reimagined. Fashion through film connects people to a world they interact with every day when they pull on their outfits. Books, magazines, TikTok, XiaoHongShu, colouring books, stickers, Roblox – all of the ways we consume media have a part to play in educating, inspiring, exposing and affecting us in what we wear and who we support with the power of our wallet. Storytelling is crucial if we want knowledgeable consumers who prize both aesthetics and brand ethics, which I think go hand in hand these days.

Q: What gives you hope right now in the fashion space?

A: Creators like Amy Powney (I swear she didn't pay me to say that!) – people who care deeply about our planet, our politics and our communities. It's the manufacturers, the textile growers, the innovators, the editors, the stylists, the sales staff, the students, the teachers, the mannequin makers, the models, the agents – we all have the power to move the needle from conversation to action, and that's what gets me excited in the fashion space.

Meet our Advisory Board.

Photographer: Trisha Ward
Caroline wears our Noor Grey Undyed Jacket and Perla Grey Undyed Trousers.