SI Swimsuit Is Building a Platform for All Women

A open letter from editor in chief MJ Day

At SI Swimsuit, we’ve always pushed ourselves to evolve, redefining what we stand for and who we are. Despite the callouts, criticism and naysayers, we've kept moving forward.

Then it dawned on us. We truly are more than swimsuits; we are a launchpad for success, a vehicle for change, and we are in the business of changing women’s lives. We’ve helped create media moguls, personal brands, actors, philanthropists, role models— you name it—and we are not stopping there.

But here’s the thing. Change isn’t a switch you turn on. It takes time. We’ve been laying the groundwork behind the scenes for years. Changing perceptions of what beauty looks like and who represents it. Changing our audience from men to women. Building a platform for all women and continuing to lead the charge in many industry firsts.

This year marks something radically different from anything we’ve done before. We’re opening the aperture of what it means to support, promote, progress and change the world for women in a whole new way. We have proudly announced our Pay With Change initiative, a new advertising mandate which will only allow brands who are helping drive gender equality forward to be featured in our annual print issue and across our digital footprint. Our ad space is now a place to create change for women and all brands making progress can buy in. We know that nothing brands say matters if not backed by action. Pay With Change is our proof of progress, proof of passion and proof of our belief that we must be the change we want to see.

We have removed the Swimsuit Issue from the predominantly male Sports Illustrated subscribership. For the first time ever, our issue will only be available on newsstands.

This issue will launch in mid-May to better align with our key interests and initiatives and focus our digital content offerings on the lifestyle that is SI Swimsuit. We are so proud to surround ourselves with motivated women and brands who are able to empower and inspire on many different levels and in many different ways.

This compelled us to create our first ever community based app, The Swimfluence Network, where women of all walks of life can come together to dream and support one another and work towards changing the narrative for the future, one step at a time. This is evident more than ever in the robust group of women selected to participate in our upcoming Swim Search photo shoot at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Stay tuned this week for announcements, highlights and sneak peeks from that shoot!

This month we will be celebrating Women’s History Month with a full slate of digital content developed to elevate a variety of diverse female voices. We are releasing Daily Covers, calling attention to some familiar and not-so-familiar faces that will allow our community to see the power and potential that we all possess. We’ve created a new digital series, “How She Built It,” an eight-episode series where our very own Kate Bock will interview a variety of powerhouse women who have launched incredible brands of their own with inspiring stories of female empowerment to share. Pay With Change will be front and center on SI Swimsuit social channels through spotlights on the women, brands and properties making a concerted effort to fight for women’s equality. We have a lot of work to do and we haven’t even scratched the surface.

At SI Swimsuit, it’s time to rewrite HERstory.

MJ Day, editor in chief