Trace looks to rival the Face
By Owen Gibson The Guardian

Trace, a bi-monthly urban fashion and lifestyle magazine published in the UK and the US, has been bought by a newly formed Dutch company that plans to expand the title to rival the Face and Dazed & Confused.

The new company, Alliance Trace Media, has secured backing from a group of investors led by Goldman Sachs and has also bought MCM, the largest urban music TV station in France, from magazine giant Hachette.

It plans to rename the TV channel Trace@MCM and expand the magazine and the channel around the world.

The company has appointed Graham Martin Brown, who also runs soon to relaunch music and style website Ammo City, as UK editor.

Ben Martin, who was formerly advertising director of the Face, Arena and Pop at Emap, has been appointed commercial director of the UK edition.

The magazine was launched in the UK 1995 by 24-year-old Claude Grunitzky and moved to New York in 1998, where it expanded to encompass a record label, website and regular fashion events.

A new dedicated UK edition, which will mix content from the main edition with UK specific content, will launch next month.

Trace is also distributed to 26 other countries around the world and has a global circulation of about 210,000 copies.

However, its influence spreads beyond its comparatively small readership and has been lauded by Vogue as the "hip hop style bible" and the Sunday Times as "frightening cool".