Staff Reports
They came for the props and the photo op, but what played out at The Wing’s estate sale was a public unmasking of an industry built more on brand theatre than real value. Shoppers and TikTok scavengers turned a liquidation into a spectacle, tearing down the millennial-pink trappings of a startup that promised empowerment but delivered an aesthetic — and the scene was captured by reporters who called it a feeding frenzy.
The Wing was sold as a feminist utopia where successful women could network over frosé and curated bookshelves, charging premium fees for the privilege while collecting venture capital from Silicon Valley big names. The business model relied on flashy membership perks and celebrity cosigns, not grassroots revenue resilience, and investors poured more than $100 million into the idea of haute feminism.
But the façade cracked under scrutiny: investigations and staff whistleblowers revealed a workplace that failed the very values it marketed, especially when it came to women of color, and the founder stepped down as employees organized and demanded accountability. The public relations posture of “empowerment” could not paper over accusations of hypocrisy and mismanagement, and the coverage left little doubt that the culture was part of the company’s undoing.
Then the pandemic struck, and a company that relied on physical, downtown sanctuaries for its $2,500–$3,000 annual memberships saw revenue evaporate almost overnight — reported losses were catastrophic and layoffs followed. The Wing went from glossy magazine profiles to emergency cost-cutting in a matter of weeks, reminding us that branding without fundamentals is a house of cards.
Investors and buyers eventually walked away or reshaped the asset, and the remaining locations were shuttered or absorbed as demand for downtown, niche social clubs collapsed. This was not the gentle pivot that heavy-hitting venture capital promised; it was the end of an expensive experiment in boutique identity politics disguised as business.
Hardworking Americans watching this should feel no schadenfreude in the abstract, only a sober lesson: businesses built on virtue signals and elite selfies are fragile when real economic pressures hit. We should praise entrepreneurs who build durable companies that serve customers and communities, not boutique brands that sell ideology to the affluent and crumble when scrutiny or storms arrive.
Conservatives should take notice and push for an economy that rewards substance over slogans, competence over performative virtue, and real opportunity over curated cliques. The fall of The Wing is a reminder that prosperity comes from honest work and value creation, not from selling a hollow identity to the highest bidder.
