The Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever brand had a rocky start, but it was the kind of problem most start-ups dream of: the business’s founder underestimated interest in her product, and after selling out of the entire product line within minutes (twice), everything had to be adjusted so that As Ever wouldn’t be permanently sold-out. People criticized Meghan for her soldout lines (“she only had small numbers in stock, it was all a stunt”) just as they criticize her now for NOT selling out within minutes (“guess she isn’t that popular after all!”). In six months’ time, Meghan has turned As Ever into an actual business with products on demand, available for sale for weeks before selling out. She’s expanded As Ever organically into multiple wine lines, candles and jam holiday gift-boxes. She did all of this online, without having to collaborate with a brick-and-mortar chain like Target or Kohl’s (although I would love to see As Ever at Kohl’s). Well, Tom Sykes has decided, on his Royalist Substack, that As Ever is a flop because… the products are not being sold in Netflix’s two stores.
It’s been a bad ten days for Meghan and Harry, and the news doesn’t get any better today with an exclusive revelation by The Royalist that Meghan Markle’s As Ever line, which is backed by Netflix, will not be stocked at Netflix’s soon-to-open brick-and-mortar store in Dallas, Netflix House. A source confirmed the news to The Royalist after a tip-off from one of my Substack readers.
The news was subsequently confirmed to me by the Sussex camp. Their rep spun it as no big deal, saying that the plan for As Ever had always been that it would be an online offering.
It’s a line that is undermined by Meghan’s own comments just weeks ago at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., where she spoke brightly about exploring brick-and-mortar opportunities and “finding partners” to sell her products.
The truth is that Netflix appears to be losing interest in the As Ever project, in which they invested heavily (they are Meghan’s sole financial partner in the business).
The excuse that Netflix House shelf space was never part of the plan is somewhat undermined by the fact that Bridgerton-themed products (some of which appear to be made at the same white-label factory as Meghan’s items) are being sold there. This shows the suits clearly regard a Netflix House placement as a meaningful opportunity for their favored brands.
I think most people will conclude that the real reason Bridgerton (about a fictionalised British royal family) is in and Meghan is out is that With love, Meghan wasn’t a massive global hit. If the store can stock Shonda Rhimes’s pastel-toned Regency universe, it is not entirely clear why it wouldn’t wish to stock Meghan’s Santa Barbara idyll for anything other than commercial non-reasons.
The fact is that, As Ever, and With Love, Meghan have struggled to plant a flag in our consciousness like Bridgerton has…It looks to me like Netflix is being cautious about tying the Sussex brand too closely to its flagship ventures.
“They were given a shot at being producers,” one industry source told me recently, “It hasn’t exactly been a Hollywood success story.”
Something that amuses me is that royalists like Tom Sykes now admit that the Sussexes had a great deal from Netflix for five years, but they only admit that to mock the Sussexes’ new first-look deal. It’s true that it appears as if Meghan is downsizing her projects – she made it sound like With Love, Meghan is on hold for a while, same with her podcasting. She’s not downsizing because “everyone hates her, especially Netflix!” She’s culling her commitments because As Ever is so successful and it demands so much of her attention. She’s not making some cheesy Bridgerton-themed kitsch to be sold exclusively at Netflix’s two stores. She’s built an excellent direct-to-consumer platform which is already a huge success.
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Screencap courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s video. Photos courtesy of As Ever’s Instagram and site.
