In two weeks Fashion Students Online will become a members only website. Memberships will cost €10 per YEAR (approx. $13.50USD) and they can be earned for free also by writing an article for us. The membership fee that is being implemented will help us build the site and pay writers. There are many other sewing, costuming and fashion sites which charge money for their articles. They took these business models because it allowed them to provide quality content and a good service to those readers who genuinely appreciate their site. It is our goal to be accessible and so we are determined to ask only for this small token payment rather than the much higher $100/yr that some sites request.
All current regular members will receive their first year membership for free. If you are currently a registered member of FSO you do not need to sign up again, nor pay any membership fees until May 2011. However starting May 1, 2010 all new members will be required to pay the €10 fee for their one year membership. In the beginning this fee will allow us to pay for our hosting, buy additional software, and pay our authors however as the membership base grows this fee will also allow us to provide ad-free blogs and portfolio hosting for every member.
If you are not a registered member right now, make sure you register before May 1st so that you can also benefit from the one year free membership. If you would like to learn more please read the announcement that was mailed out to the FSO mailing list 2 weeks ago:
FSO to become a paid-member site
