Shape Magazine

Launched during the nascent fitness boom of the early 1980s, Shape magazine had grown to become America’s largest-circulation health and wellness publication for women by the mid-2010s. Like other fitness-centric brands, its trajectory was thwarted by the body positivity movement, which dismissed fitness and weight control as outmoded and inherently discriminatory precepts that vilified non-conforming body types. The mantra “Love the Skin You’re In” gained purchase, and the effort and difficulty involved in maintaining a so-called healthy weight came to be regarded as self-abuse and, for many, an unrealistic goal. Fat-shaming was no longer tolerated. Brands built on ideal physiques and anachronistic conventions risked ostracism (and potential boycotts), which led to desperate attempts at recalibration.

Towards the end of the decade, the core editorial mission of publications like Shape and Condé Nast’s Self, already reeling from increasingly difficult financial headwinds, became toxic to advertisers. For editors, the challenge of squaring the acceptance of excess weight with conventional notions of fitness proved impossible. By 2019, both print titles had flamed out as suddenly as they had once emerged. Brands from Cosmopolitan and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue to Dove and Victoria’s Secret would course-correct, scurrying away from traditionally accepted paragons of beauty to feature the plus-sized woman in solidarity with the new standard. Lizzo’s September 2020 Vogue cover represented a redefinition of beauty by the most vaunted gatekeeper of all.

Several years on, thin is in once again with the embrace of Semaglutide-class drugs for weight management. Its efficacy and explosive popularity has led panicked insurers to pump the brakes on coverage due to unsustainable costs. Predictably, the lionized body positive mantra collapsed like an umbrella in a hurricane once weight control could be solved by a proverbial pill.

Meanwhile, the Self and Shape brands live on as digital products, their former influence and cultural relevance as trusted publications vanished in the firehose of online content and lacking the journalistic rigor central to their print heritage.

Despite print media having been irrevocably transformed from a mass-market, advertiser-supported business model to highly-targeted, reader-subsidized, niche efforts, there remain openings for intrepid publishers to thread the needle between body acceptance and verified health and fitness editorial leadership. Positioned as investments in disease prevention, robust health, and longevity, quality content never goes out of style. A leading indicator for the category is evidenced by the rise in health club memberships, which have grown by an average of 2.98 percent annually over the past decade, with suburban chain Planet Fitness alone claiming 15.2 million members. Athleisure wear, dominated by Lululemon and Athleta, still infiltrates street fashion, virtue-signaling the fitness-focused, healthy lifestyle. The fitness apparel category, estimated at more than $358 billion in 2023, is projected to grow by 9.3 percent by 2030, according to a Grand View Research market intelligence report.

The unmet demand for high-quality content in the women’s fitness space mirrors the growing popularity of women’s team sports like basketball, soccer, and hockey at both collegiate and professional levels. This momentum echoes the editorial innovation pioneered by Joseph Heroun at Shape, where dynamic packaging elevated next-level health and wellness content into relevant, engaging reader service, which was (surprisingly) cost-effective to produce as a result of thinking differently. Shape’s aspirational cover stories seamlessly blended mental and physical well-being with attainable fashion, lifestyle, and nutrition — delivered in a visually sophisticated, thoughtfully curated format. Today, the case for a modern revival of publications in the spirit of Shape has never been stronger.