When Maggie Winter was growing up, she collected stacks of J.Crew catalogs and sketched the women in their pages—those smiling, glossy-haired models in crewneck sweaters and button-down shirts. “The imagery just felt so aspirational,” she says. “Growing up in a small town, it’s like, ‘Oh, yes. Someday that’s what I want.’”

It was the ’90s and early ’00s, so her only connection with brands like J.Crew and Delia’s was through the pages that came in the mail. “I would keep them and look over them over and over again and could see myself in them,” she says. “I would imagine being that cool girl at the mall in a Delia’s book or imagine being that gorgeous girl biking down a shady beach lane in J.Crew.”

Now, two decades later, as cofounder and CEO of the beloved NYC fashion label AYR, Winter is putting out a catalog of her own—one that pays tribute to the pages of her youth while still feeling distinctly current (and, of course, peddling denim).

The old-school channel might seem like an unusual bet for a digital-native brand, but printed mailers are in the midst of a renaissance of sorts, as venture-funded start-ups look to break through the noise of social media and heritage brands try to tap into the current thirst for all things nostalgic. Which means brands like AYR, which have built a customer base largely through word-of-mouth, Instagram, and email marketing, are going analog.

In 2019 these books look a little different. AYR’s catalog—the nearly six-year-old brand’s first foray into snail mail—doesn’t feature professional models, for one: Instead, Winter and cofounders Max Bonbrest and Jac Cameron (the company’s chief operating officer and creative director, respectively) rounded up a group of friends, family, and employees, and shot them near the brand’s SoHo store, using film for a lo-fi touch. They also tapped Amelia Diamond, the former head of creative at Man Repeller, to guest-edit the book, and illustrator Julie Houts to create grown-up paper dolls complete with cartoon pizza slices and an inner monologue about the “rejuvenating mindfulness exercise” of staring at one’s closet.

AYR is not alone in its appreciation—and embrace—of printed mailings. Last month, Guess, an iconic brand of the ’80s and ’90s, launched a campaign for climate change awareness with a zine called “Planet Saving Information.” It was inspired by one it made with the Environmental Media Association back in 1993.

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