Can you introduce yourself and tell us where we are?

Sophie Barshall: I’m Sophie, and I’m the founding editor of The Toe Rag. I’m here with Joe, our
new art director, and we’re at Frieze London handing out our latest issue of The Toe Rag. It’s the
‘Fictions’ issue, our ninth issue, and it’s in partnership with AllSaints.

You come to Frieze every year to hand out copies of the October
issue of The Toe Rag – how did that tradition start?

SB: Well, we’re not in the Royal Parks because we’re not allowed. The first year I did this, we tried to
hand them out right outside the fair and I was escorted off the premises. Then I found The Art Newspaper people here and realised where we are now is probably the right place to stand. So that’s
what this spot is: it’s at the entrance slash exit of Frieze London. We like it here. It’s got shelter. It’s got
railings for your clothes.

Have you been inside Frieze yet?

SB: I went in yesterday for an hour. It’s always fun to go to the preview day because it’s really good
people watching, but it can get quite overwhelming.

Joe Bradley Hill: You get great people watching handing out the magazines as well.

SB: Yes, handing out magazines is the best for people watching. You learn a lot about human nature 
and different tendencies when you hand out magazines for six or something hours, which is a shift I
have done in the past.

What sort of encounters do you get handing out The Toe Rag?

SB: I guess they’re quite fleeting. It’s definitely easier now people know the name and recognise it.
You get nicer feedback from the process because maybe you meet someone who has read the
magazine and liked it. When you have a print project, in-person interactions are kind of the most
important and only feedback you get from the thing. So, it’s always very meaningful to have a small
moment of connection with someone.

Have there been any interactions you’ve been particularly struck by?

SB: Often people who are a little bit older will respond very well to the name, who wouldn’t have
picked it up otherwise. When I say, ‘Do you want a copy of The Toe Rag?’ they’re like, ‘Wow! What an
amazing name,’ and then they take one. So, that’s always nice.

JBH: It can also be quite hard to shout toe rag at someone before you give them a piece of paper.
Maybe people think we’re insulting them [laughs].

The Toe Rag is quite a unique name. How did it come to be?

SB: Toe rag is a Cockney insult, or also a term of endearment. A rag is like, you know, a bad
newspaper. So toe rag refers to both of those things. But I hope it’s not a bad newspaper! You know,
Anne Carson just won the Nobel Prize, she was in our previous issue and said it was the strangest
name for a magazine she’d ever heard.

What was it about the newspaper format you found inspiring?

SB: I think maybe the possibility for scale. I had some experience self-publishing with a small print
run and was interested in seeing if I could do something bigger. The newspaper format really allows
you to do that without a big initial investment. And then the distribution model also shapes itself
around that, too. When you have a big print run, it lends itself well to being free and then having
partnerships and advertising.

JBH: I think what’s interesting about it from my perspective is the ubiquity. I would always pick one
up from the train, even as a kid, just to walk around with it. I think there’s something about that
immediacy and ubiquitousness that is appealing.

This issue is called ‘Fictions’, can you tell us a bit more about it?

SB: The theme fictions came about because I thought it would be nice to do a fiction-heavy issue.
But that’s not actually what this issue ended up being at all. I was looking at all of these quotes that
have been misattributed to people, or entirely basically fabricated. I thought that they were so funny.
Then when I looked at them as a group, in a way, they weren’t as funny as I thought. I realised it didn’t really work, but the idea has been there since the beginning and ended up arriving in a
different way than we had thought. This is the form it took, and it’s more interesting, I think.

JBH: I think that’s a really key part of the process, developing that relationship of how we want it to
be seen. That’s what’s exciting about dealing with something that repeats throughout the year: it’s
always changing and evolving. Each issue is not fixed, and its voice is something that comes from
doing more issues. We’re always having one eye on the next one, and that’s what’s really nice about
working together.

SB: Exactly, The Toe Rag is an evolution and with each issue we’re able to make the magazine we want to make more and more. I love each issue, and each issue we’ve done is very special to me, but as we grow we’re able to commission people who we really want to work with and that allows us to
evolve. Joe is also teaching me about what the magazine is. When you are making things it can feel
like quite an intuitive process. So, it’s really amazing to have someone come in who you feel really
understands what you’re doing and help you refine that direction, in this case through a visual
language. I’m very excited! We’ve only just begun.

How has this issue evolved from previous ones?

SB: For the most part it resembles previous issues in terms of the balance of content, which is
always interviews, essays, reviews, fiction and poetry. We also publish artist projects, like original
commissions, cartoons, puzzles, games. And we do the Page 3 each issue.

Can you tell us more about the page three?

SB: I really thought of the idea of doing a Page 3 before I thought of almost anything else. I felt like there was so much potential with the format to renew it and have a new take on it. Also putting good writing alongside these more playful miscellaneous back page items. I thought it would be
interesting to not have to present the thing as something that is overly serious in order to be taken
seriously.

We do a Page 3 in every issue. This one was sourced from an open submission. We put a call
out on Instagram and asked people to send nudes, which is something you can’t actually do on
Instagram. You can’t solicit… Anyway, it got taken down and I had to re-upload it another way. But that was really fun and I’m really happy with how it turned out. This is Joe’s first issue with us as our art
director and the Page 3 was the first complete piece I handed to him.

JBH: Yeah, it was like straight away, let’s start with that. It’s only been a few weeks since I came on
board and I’d say it’s a really rich issue. I think that’s what I’ve always loved about The Toe Rag.
There’s so much in it. There’s so many different voices. The newspaper format is also the graphic
designer’s playground.

Why did AllSaints feel like a fitting partner?

SB: I knew of Aaron [Esh]’s own brand for quite a while. I love Aaron’s work. So when AllSaints got in
touch and proposed this partnership, I was really excited.

I think the London identity of the brand also feels like a really obvious thing that is connecting us. The Toe Rag started as something with more of a London focus and has grown beyond that. I’m sure
AllSaints, while it is rooted in the very London identity, is obviously a big global brand that people
connect with in all different kinds of places.

What is The Toe Rag’s relationship with style?

SB: For the most part we commission the page three shoots. So that is the fashion moment in the
magazine. Sometimes there’s a little bit more, we’ve had a few pieces that are like fashion essays, but
The Toe Rag is a culture magazine. I would say for the most part that falls between visual arts and
literature. But we also publish philosophy essays, fashion and music stories, too. With fashion, art and
literature, I don’t see these things as separate. I don’t experience them as being separate in my own
life and maybe the publication is a reflection of that. Having a partnership with a fashion brand is an
extension of that feeling of all these artistic languages being in dialogue with each other all the time.

AllSaints’ campaign, which features in this issue, is a fashion shoot but it has lots of different types of artists and photographers and musicians. There’s visual artists, there’s publishers. It’s exciting that AllSaints are working with creative people across all different industries. We’re excited to be part of that.