Editorial Standards

Who writes here

MenStyleFashion has published since 2012. These are the rules we hold ourselves to, and the terms on which we work with brands. They are public so that readers know what they are reading, and so that anyone proposing to work with us knows the answer before they ask.

Every article carries a byline. We do not publish anonymous copy, and we do not run material written by anyone outside our editorial team without saying so. Our writers are named, their backgrounds are real, and the bylines link to the full body of their work on this site.

When a piece is written by a contributor rather than a staff editor, it says so. And when there is something a reader might reasonably want to know — a stay that was hosted, a product that was provided, a brand we have a longer history with — we disclose it. Every new piece carries this, and we are adding the same disclosure across our existing coverage.

What we cover, and how we choose

We write about four things: hospitality, style, cars, and the occasional essay. We choose what to cover ourselves. A hotel, a garment, or a car appears here because an editor judged it worth a reader's time, not because its maker asked.

We review things we have actually seen, worn, driven, or stayed in. We do not write reviews from a press release. Where we have not experienced something first-hand, we do not call the resulting article a review, and we say what the piece is instead.

Our opinions are our own. A positive verdict cannot be bought, and a negative one cannot be removed by a brand that dislikes it. This is the entire value of the publication, and we will not trade it.

How we work with brands

We are a commercial publication and we are open about how that works. Some of our coverage involves an arrangement with the brand. None of it involves giving up our verdict.

Hospitality. We review hotels we have stayed in, and many of those stays are complimentary — arranged with the hotel for the purpose of the review. A complimentary stay buys our attention, not our approval. We write what the stay was actually like, including what failed, and a hotel that hosts us has no claim on the verdict. Where a stay was hosted, we mark it on the piece.

Watches, clothing, and other product. We will sometimes review a product that a brand provides. We accept it only when the thing is good enough that covering it serves our readers, not merely because it was offered. There is a floor: a piece has to justify itself against our time and the reader's, after our own costs. A serious watch can clear that bar; an inexpensive one sent on spec does not, and we decline it. When a product was provided for review, the piece says so, and the verdict — favourable or not — remains ours.

Paid editorial. The third route is commissioned work through MenStyleFashion Studio. It is created in collaboration with the brand, marked where required, and written to the same standard as everything else here — but it is a paid placement and it is treated as one, kept distinct from the coverage we choose and control.

That is the whole of it. Everything outside those three routes, we decline. Specifically:

We do not sell links. We do not publish "contributed" or "sponsored" articles whose purpose is to place a link to a third-party site, and we do not respond to outreach asking for our domain metrics, our guest-post rates, or a "natural" reference to an external page. Those requests are about search rankings, not readers.

We do not let an arrangement dictate an outcome. Accepting a stay, a watch, or a Studio commission does not buy a kinder review or quieter criticism, here or anywhere else on the site. The arrangement is disclosed; the judgement is not for sale.

Corrections

We get things wrong sometimes. When we do, we correct the article and, where the error was material, we note that a correction was made. We would rather be accurate late than wrong permanently. If you have found a factual error in something we have published, tell us and we will look at it.

Standing behind this

These standards are not a marketing document. They are the working rules of the publication, and they are the reason a MenStyleFashion review means something. If we ever fail to meet them, that is a failure worth telling us about.