I have to admit something: the Daily Mail was actually right about one little thing and I was wrong. In the Mail’s grumpy article about the Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever line going on sale, they made some strange claims about how no one would buy As Ever products (the sold out in less than an hour) and that “Netflix staff” hate Meghan and how disorganized everything is with the product line. All of that is clearly BS, but they also said that Meghan was sending out products to influencers to hype As Ever. I was like… no, that’s stupid, she’s not doing that. But she is, sort of. The As Ever team sent out gift boxes full of the As Ever product line to Meghan’s friends and various influencer-types. Boxes were sent to: Kris Jenner, Zoe Saldana, “fashion journalist” Elizabeth Holmes, fashion designer Annie Bing, Tracy Robbins and more.
I have no idea if the gift-boxes were meant as general As Ever hype or if Meghan had any idea that the products would sell out as quickly as they did. But I do know that a new cottage industry has sprung up this week: people derangersplaining why As Ever sold out, with conspiracies about just how few products were really made.
Kudos to Meghan Sussex (nee Markle). Prince Harry’s wife, who is leaning into her royal title, the Duchess of Sussex (despite loathing the royal family), debuted her As Ever product line and sold out of her $28 jars of honey, $14 jams, $12 teas and $15 dried flowers within an hour Wednesday. And while more products are in the works, insiders were skeptical about the “limited edition” selling out so fast.
“Limited Edition means, not many products were available — it was a test drive,” one industry insider told me. “It’s all about perception with her — a little smoke and mirrors. Like Netflix announcing a ‘second season’ of her show (‘With Love, Meghan’) when it was already shot and contractually built in. It’s not like they actually re-signed her and shot a whole new season. It’s the same thing here. Of course you can sell out of anything if there’s scarcity of product. It’s like saying the Loro Piana sweater Meghan owns sold out after she wore it on her show — well they only make like five of them!”
There is no way of knowing how many teas, jams and honey jars were made — and Markle is not letting people know which factory made them (most factories make similar products for many companies — it would be embarrassing to find out, say, that Markle’s $14 raspberry jam in keepsake packaging was made for another company at half the price).
Either way, most of the products are overpriced, even for the luxury market… similar “organic” dried edible flowers can be found on Amazon for $5 cheaper.
”That’s probably where she got them from and just repackaged them and put her name on it like she did with the pretzels (on her show),” the insider sniffed.
Meanwhile, Netflix staffers working on the product line are starting to grumble, complaining Markle’s business venture is a “logistical nightmare,” according to the Daily Mail. “The buying team are having an issue as they can’t work out what the demand will be, if any,” the source told the Daily Mail.
The PR team is in full motion, however, as The New York Times published a puff piece entitled, “Inside Meghan’s Real Kitchen, Away From the Cameras — Cooking with the Duchess of Sussex as she navigates her rebrand from recovering royal to domestic goddess,” and Meghan has a slew of friends set to cover social media with her products.
”I kind of hope this works out for her,” said a publishing insider. “She’s kind of blowing her wad all at once. The New York Times piece was a bit of a shock — they normally don’t glad hand like that — but you can be sure: They won’t do it again.”
[From NewsNation]
The truth behind Meghan Markle’s As Ever products selling out
“They normally don’t glad hand like that — but you can be sure: They won’t do it again” – people considered that NY Times piece to be a “glad handing puff piece”? It was not. It was snotty, catty and bitchy towards Meghan, Harry and even Doria. I hope Meghan never lets one of those snide white women into her home again. And “kind of blowing her wad all at once”?? She gave two interviews in the week her product line was released and she sent out some product gift boxes. How is that “blowing her wad?” And it did, in fact, work out for her – the line sold out, the haters are mad that they can’t find out where her products are made, and Meghan has enough information about the demand for her products to ensure that there will be more in stock next time around. Anyway, Meghan’s multiple successes this year are really driving people crazy. I hope she keeps winning.
Zoe Saldana – “Thank you Meghan for this beautiful and yummy gift! Proud of you Aseverofficial”
Looks gorgeous 😍#AsEverMeghan #AsEver pic.twitter.com/aecb31rLcT
— ChrisBaronSmith (@ChrisBaronSmit1) April 3, 2025
Photos courtesy of Netflix, Meghan’s IG.
She is not leaning into titles. It’s her legal name.
Actually, it is a very common business practice, especially for celebrity products, to release a limited amount of a new product that is intended to “sell out” to generate buzz. This is a smart business move, not a criticism of Meghan. Look for restocks in weeks if not days.
I am not leaning into the ‘she only had a few so it could sell out’ the boxes out to ‘influencers’ tell a different story…these ‘Influencers’ were perhaps expected to show those as the days went on to hype the products…the demand for the products did not allow that promotional strategy to activate. I will say that whatever amount they settled on, they underestimate the demand!
These ‘insiders’ and derangers and ‘journalists’ had hit pieces ready. Now they are pivoting to something that is plausible to their deranged fans to fan that flame, as I am seeing those derangers going with this theory ALL OVER the place.
Meanwhile Netflix is looking at Meghan and saying “can you please hurry with another batch” so we can watch this happen again. And speaking of Netflix, do people seriously think that they would invest into someone that is playing those sort of games? Netflix is all about the profit
I don’t know anything about food manufacturing but we saw the video of those jars of jam coming off the line. I assume there is a minimum order they have to hit to even get there. This first round will gauge how much demand there is for products and they will adjust the inventory accordingly. At some point I’m sure she’s hoping to scale up but this was definitely a successful first launch, no matter how hard they try to disparage it.
Hailey bieber did this/still does this with her skincare business Rhode. But also meghan restocked some of the products that sold out and then they quickly sold out again so doubt they had a limited stock.
I’m old enough to remember the “Blu Ivy Park” craze when celebs were posting the unboxings.
Everything the writer is whining about is SOP. The limited production to test the market, the legacy media promos, the social media promos, all standard operating procedure. The non-stop scrutiny by these idiots has turned Meghan’s tiniest move into a global story. And now they want to pretend they’re surprised that her products sell out? Seriously, lol-ing all the way to the bank.
I do think they made a limited amount on purpose but I think the goal was for it to sell out in a few days not ONE hour lol. If that were the case I think they would’ve sent out the packages to influencers/celebs a few days earlier. Now you’ve got celebs like Kerrh Washington and Zoe Saldana posting about products that are already out of stock. It’s a good problem to have though and they can use these insights for their next round of distribution.
It’s interesting to me how it’s always wrong or desperate or shocking when Meghan does pretty standard things. Has a TV show coming out? Doing too much by promoting it on talk shows and her social media. Has a product line coming out? Doing too much marketing it so that it sells, because the goal is obviously for her to not sell it.
And I seriously don’t understand the conspiracy theories around is selling out quickly. Has she not caused various brands to sell out of shoes, coats, shirts, sweaters, bags for years? Why would people be so gung ho about supporting other brands just because she was wearing them, but for some reason wouldn’t support hers? Were they really telling themselves that these people were buying something because Meghan was wearing it but only because they didn’t have to give the money to her?
This stuff about the pricing is stupid too. It’s not that expensive, you can’t compare a specialty item to the cheapest item you can find and act like it’s comparable. How long is it going to take for them to get that she is successful despite their best efforts? All these articles just come across now as, I don’t understand why people like things I don’t like.
The outfit from The Gap that she is wearing on her latest instagram reel sold out within hours of her posting a link on ShopMy
The Uniqlo trench coat though… still plenty available in the different sizes and colours.
The GAP Lounge Wear looked like Winter items, so the stock would be less after months of Autumn & Winter season. Trench coat, on the other hand is a staple for Spring Season, so I’m guessing there are a lot of them in stock, and Uniqlo has many shops & online stores in many countries worldwide.
Also, sending out gift boxes to influencers is also a very common practice. I’m assuming once they restock, they will start doing that as well.
Netflix has said it is a passive investor in As Ever so why would Netflix staffers be working on the product line? That’s the opposite of passive. I believe Meghan keeps Netflix executives updated on As Ever and they may even give her advice but passive investment means no Netflix staff would be working on the line.
That was odd to me too. Wouldn’t it be a matter of industry specialisation? Netflix with her TV series, As Ever for her homewares
Also what has Netflix employees have to do with the production line of jams? I’m sure Meghan now has a couple of employees or contractors helping her with her “As Ever” line – the people she has mentioned or tagged in her Instagram account.
These sources are all over the place again. 🙄
I don’t believe anything they say about their Netflix insiders. I’m convinced they mean people that subscribe to Netflix and work for these newspapers. How do you always have Insiders at an organization after Harry and Meghan announce a connection, but never break any stories beforehand?
These insiders know that staff are sick of working the line? Because Netflix has a huge production warehouse somewhere in California I’m sure like Ford or General Motors, with Laverne and Shirley working it. They however didn’t know that the trailer for WLM was dropping, that a second season was coming, that it had already been filmed, or that they were investors? Sure.
In her interview with Inc. they said that she only has 10 employees working for her at As ever. These people are blatantly lying knowing that their readers are dumb as rocks
OMG @Dee(2), scared the cat with my loling at your Laverne & Shirley comment. Awesome. Netflix employees also work production lines!
Of odd things I’ve read, this is something else:
”I kind of hope this works out for her,” said a publishing insider. “She’s kind of blowing her wad all at once. The New York Times piece was a bit of a shock — they normally don’t glad hand like that — but you can be sure: They won’t do it again.”
WTF? I kind of hope this works for her but she’s blowing her wad. Who the eff are you “publishing insider”? You are gross. If you want to say such things about Madam, Duchess of Success, save it until (which I don’t believe Meghan will do), she releases HER memoir and experience with the Leftovers. That book would probably outsell SPARE.
There’s a really good inc interview with
Meghan that gets more into the business side and Netflix’s involvement. It’s informative sans snark.
https://www.inc.com/ali-donaldson/meghan-duchess-of-sussex-takes-on-a-new-title-founder/91166953
Yeah, I read that instead of NY Times. No snark, just business talk. I didn’t know Meghan is friends with the founder of Bumble. That was surprising to me. She really has a mad talent for networking. I still can’t believe how stupid BRF is for losing her.
Wow! And after all what that Bumble CEO went through. Take that FT!
She really is a girl’s girl.
Yeah I was surprised by the appearance of Kris Jenner etc in her feed with a wonderful hamper of goodies because she didn’t need extra publicity. But I guess this is her way of rewarding her friends and associates who are only too happy to show off their exclusive hamper because it’s not available to the general public.
My next question is whether she’d consider selling these hampers? Especially for Christmas? Fortnum and Mason does a roaring trade in hampers and I’m sure she was inspired by them too.
Maybe she can send an “As Ever” hamper to Lazy for Easter 😂🤣😅
I was actually thinking it’s too bad that Charles is such a pos person. Bc technically, he’d probably love to try some Cali raspberry jam and honey and in another world it would’ve been a sweet gift to send him some. You know they would have sent some to the Queen and Phillip if they were still around. And yes, an Easter gift of jam to the Wales couple bc we know how serious they are about their easter gifts😂.
Maybe that’s what all the proxy bitching by Chuck is all about this week. HE WANTS AN “AS EVER” HAMPER! Just like Kris Jenner.
For free of course. 😉
i was thinking the hampers might be coming out later on the website. She sent Kris Jenner some jam last year so I wasn’t surprised that she got a hamper.
I did think it interesting that it seemed most people got the hampers the day after the launch. Maybe it was with the intention of keeping the momentum going, not anticipating a sell out in the first hour?
The one I was most surprised at was Elizabeth holmes. so many thoughts about that one.
There’s an Elizabeth Holmes who works for the NYT. She has Meghan on her IG and I think she went to Vancouver for the pre-launch of Invictus Games.
@Becks1: oh could you share your thoughts about Elizabeth Holmes? I’d be curious to know your thoughts! I know Elizabeth covers Kate too and wrote a whole book about the Queen, Kate, and Meghan’s fashion.
But since Kate was mostly MIA last year and really hasn’t done much this year either, she’s been mostly covering Meghan lately since Meghan has been active on her Instagram, launching her show, As Ever product line, a podcast, the ShopMe page. In fact, I don’t think we’ve seen Meghan ever so active before since she married Harry (I didn’t follow her before she married Harry and didn’t know who she was and had never heard of Suits). With Kate mostly absent, Elizabeth will cover her Meghan instead. I know Elizabeth really toes the line between the two women and seems to refuse to outright criticize the Windsors. She has in the past offered mild criticism but she stops short of outright saying they’re wrong and out of touch. I’m not surprised Meghan sent her a gift box though given Elizabeth has been invited to cover events like Invictus.
@ VILLEROSE. People need to know that E Holmes is a true K fan through and through.
She criticized (or abused) Meghan during M’s whole “Senior Royal” time, most of what she wrote were unnecessary & racist. Then 2020 BLM happened, she posted an apology for her white woman view (but not directly apologized to Meghan) . After that she still seeks fault of M’s style, just used more “careful” language. She would buy some what K wore and even flew to Boston when W&K was there for 🌎 shot. She seemed to began her “fix” on Meghan in 2024, after K “disappeared”. Now she is fully SWF Meghan. She got to go to IG 2025 because she wrote for T&C.
Today she posted AsEver warehouse/distribution center location on her IG. Who do that? Unless you want deranged people to 1. Harass the workers there; 2. Get people to rob/steal the merchandise; 3. Destroy the products?
I already saw derangers want people who ordered As Ever products to tell them how was it shipped? Where was it shipped from? What the outside package looked like? What condition was the package & products when it arrived? And many more. The haters are set to pick on any tiny bitsy fault with As Ever. Then you have Ms. EHolmes also asked her followers similar questions.
So, here is what E Holmes truly is: a royalist & K fan using M to makes money & get followers.
@Becks, I was also surprised to see that Elizabeth Holmes received one. She is absolutely a Kate loyalist.
Can you imagine royal commentators using such crude language about Princess Kate or any other woman in the family?
Yes they have. They’re nasty rats – if you don’t play with them, they’ll be nasty until you bend. See mattress, Duchess of Pork etc.
But unlike the others, Meghan has not bent to them.
Right?! I mean, I’m no prude. People here know that I’m an incorrigible potty mouth myself, lol. But even I was taken aback by that “blowing her wad” bit. WTF was that?!
Right? Like who are really the vulgar ones here? It ain’t Meghan that’s for sure.
Miranda, I wondered if they threw that in to sound like they were getting their information from Americans. We know they usually sound British. They need to do better if they’re going to start using colloquialisms.
Yeah I did a double take on that one. Disgusting. It made me wonder for a second if they even knew what that phrase meant.
Not defending the a-holes in British media, just the English language. “Blowing your wad” is an old expression relating to muzzle loading guns, wherein the gun goes off but without a bullet or cannonball, only the wad or stuffing that goes in the muzzle to pack it. It just means using up your gunpowder or resources without being effective. The meaning you’re thinking of is much more modern (and American) slang and probably wouldn’t occur to this stuffy old writer.
But no one caught it? Its super vulgar and not a niche phrase in the US.
They just have to tear her down and any success she has. Imagine saying she’s taking someone else’s products and just packaging it as her own. Like come-on. And it’s just interesting how one side sees the nyt article as glad-handing while others saw it as snarky. I’d love for a journalist to write an article without having to list all the negative viewpoints from the BM. They act like they’re not being balanced if they don’t mention both sides, like oh maybe she’s a narcissist. Why? Bc the BM and a bunch of YT accounts say so and bc she’s making a show about herself🙄. I don’t think writers should be sycophants but choosing to not give weight or air to BM narratives does not make a writer a sycophant, just saying.
Because this is what they do! They buy in bulk and repackage it as their own.
Therefore Meghan must be doing the same! 🙄
I could find nothing on line to indicate that Loro Piana only makes 5 sweaters at a time. The whole tone of the article ignores the fact that Meghan has added millions in media impact value to brands and that people clicking on her shop my links have overloaded sites. Just yet another lying article that ignores Meghan’s real impact.
They don’t. It’s very rare that Loro Piana would have a hand-knitted sweater, they’re all machine knit – and a factory needs a run of hundreds to make it worthwhile. Maybe this industry insider is from a different industry, like sewage and drain cleaning.
The promotional campaign she did was minimal in terms of the platform she has, but I am surprised she sent gift boxes for promotion. That means the supply quantity wasn’t that low that they didn’t expect them to sell out in a hour. These people couldn’t even post before it was all sold out. People see the promotional posts and goes to her website. If there is no product to purchase immediately, there isn’t much value to gain from this kind of promotion.
Also, if she didn’t sell all the products on the same day, they would write articles about how it was a failure 🙄 Meghan can never win with these people.
That’s why I don’t believe their whole argument that she intentionally put out limited quantities for her launch in order to sell out quickly and sent gift boxes of her products to her celebrity friends to promote her product and boost sales. The celebrity friends were posting after the items had already sold out so what they are saying doesn’t make any sense. These same people will be the ones telling us that she has no friends and celebrities are turning their backs on her and Harry. They can’t make up their mind of what they want us to believe so they add all of their lies together because they know their deranged followers will believe anything they tell them even if it makes no sense at all.
The articles should say: biracial woman does what every other white person does to get her business started including some great PR before product launch HOW DARE SHE!!
🎯
You have hit the nail on the head with that one. What I want to know is why she was expected to know how many she would sell before she put it up for sale.
And also, why it would be a “nightmare” for business people to not know how much something will sell at a first launch. Wouldn’t that be the case for pretty much every first launch?
So much sour grapes. I love it.
OMG, now I desperately want As Ever’s next product to be a sour grape jam.
What a deliciously mean thought.
So…sour. 🙂
Lol, the industry insider doesn’t know how to read – only the honey was limited edition. And there’s no way a Loro Piana ready-to-wear style is limited to 5 items – it wouldn’t pay to have a factory run of 5.
As for the NYT “puff piece,” so what if it is? The NYT doesn’t write puff pieces for just anybody. They sent someone to Montecito, they negotiated the interview, agreed to no photos, etc., etc. – they don’t do that for just anyone who starts a business.
And yes, I want one of those gift boxes.
I’ll never stop admiring her for living her life to the fullest despite the mountain range of MSM hate.
Same. She’s a much stronger woman than I am, that’s for sure. I love seeing her succeed!
Beyonce did this with her athleisure wear. She sent boxes to Reese Witherspoon, Viola davis, Taraji Henson. I remember them all posting videos about it so this is a common practice to generate interest. The marketing people she has would have told her all this. Amazing that no one says anything when others do it but it’s a problem when she does. They did underestimate the demand. So what if the flower sprinkles are $5 less on Amazon??? You can also get jams and honey for less too. I don’t understand the point. I missed out but I keep refreshing the page waiting for things to come back in stock.
I agree about that NYT article- it left a bad taste in my mouth- that writer turned her article into a bitchfest. Some people are assholes, there is no way around it.
Yeah, I certainly didn’t think it was a “puff piece,” either. It was low-key bitchyAF toward Meghan.
Insiders, people who get paid for dreaming up nasty stories.
Just so we’re clear, their new complaint is that Meghan works too hard and too well?
Also, it’s not surprising that the DM and other members of the rota are absolutely astonished by any sort of hustle. It’s a novel idea to them!
As Meg said, she’s learning, making mistakes, and having successes and I for one am happy to extend her the grace and patience needed to be successful in her endeavors.
What they don’t like is that she doesn’t need them to be successful. They have been ignored for a solid 5 yrs and the Sussex family still wins. They don’t like that their lack of influence is showing and the royals don’t like that people might start to say : Hey, they can make their own money……
It is kind of funny that some of the derangers have purchased some products and other derangers are now accusing them of being H and M plants. It is very MAGA in its stupidity.
Meghan sending gift boxes is very standard for promotion and it is a non story.
My items have already shipped!! I’m excited to get them as a treat for myself. Haters can suck it.
Me too, Piperrrrr (White Lotus Style)
“…Markle is not letting people know which factory made them…”
WOW. Talk about grasping at straws. Does Smuckers jam “tell people” where they manufacture their jam? And even if As Ever did use the “same” factory (because lord knows there are only a few factories that produce jam!), it’s not like they’re putting Smuckers jam into As Ever packaging. I saw another DF article that said something to the effect of “… her As Ever raspberry spread — made in a factory — blah blah blah…” What??? Should she be producing them in her “real kitchen” by hand? Of course it’s made in a factory — it’s a FOOD product made for commercial sale.
The desperation is sad; how are they not embarrassed?
As others have already said, why would anyone be surprised that her own products would sellout as fast as they did, when that is what has always happened regarding anything she’s worn, carried or been seen using. She wore a black sweatshirt with engraving of her children’s names on the collar and as soon as people learned who made it, it was selling out. Companies that were close to shutting down have been resurrected to the point of needing to purchasing larger warehouses. The idea that she would need to send packages to celebrity friends in order to hype her product and cause her items to sell out doesn’t compute because her items sold out before we even saw the posts from her celebrity friends. They don’t have any Netflix sources or anything else because if they did, they would be able to tell you how many products she was selling at launch and where the products are being packaged and distributed from. They know nothing except how to whine about everything and it’s enough already. Get your own lives derangers.
The New York Times article wasn’t a puff piece. I didn’t think it was as snarky as other celebitches did, but it wasn’t completely deranged so I guess by rota standards, it was glad-handing.
I wasn’t bothered by The NY Times article other than saying Heart of Invictus and Polo were flops because what is considered a flop? Not being in the top 10? The part getting into her cooking background and hearing Black women’s perspective was definitely the most interesting.
I just finally sat down and read the NYT piece and I didn’t find it snotty or catty. The first half of the article focuses on the criticism lobbed at Meghan and unfortunately, you can’t write a piece about Meghan WITHOUT mentioning it. You just can’t. The NYT wouldn’t be doing its due diligence if they didn’t talk about it. The British media manufactured controversy around her and Harry and Meghan did a whole show about why they left the UK and the unfair criticism and situation they were in. The hate she faces is part of the narrative now, whether we like it or not. There is a lot of truth in what the NYT mentions: Meghan is still figuring out her identity, why is she now choosing to return to the spotlight. But the second half was really interesting, going into her relationship with food and her background with cooking. I actually wish they had focused more on that because I love hearing about people’s stories about food. I thought the article was interesting since we learned more about her family background. Some of the info was old but some of it was new too.
As for other influencers/friends getting some As Ever gift baskets, I’m not at all surprised. She sent out the jam as a way to gauge interest to celebrities last year. Meghan is smart and thoughtful. She knows if celebrities show their unboxing, other people will want to buy the gift box too if/when it becomes available.
Meghan knows who she is. She knew before she met Harry. She was not hiding. She is doing what she planned to do, start her business. She needs to support her fàmily. Meghan has Always worked. She is not they type to sit in her garden all day. People forget Harry only inherited money from his mother. That was only because she died young. The spare gets nothing except allowance determined by the heir.
They’re so jelly! 😊
The math here makes absolutely no sense. So half a dozen friends are mentioned as having received baskets. If each got two jars of jam, that’s a dozen jars that are now unavailable. Just for fun let’s say Meghan sent out 50 baskets to friends—that’s just 100 jars of jam that are off the market. Nobody is saying Meghan had fewer than, say, 1,000 jars made, are they? That wouldn’t make economic sense because of the cost of gathering ingredients, setting up the webpage, and so on. These gift baskets are mere droplets in the huge vat of Meghan’s jam production.