• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 14, 2015

In retrospect, 2015 may be declared the year of the in-house native advertising studio, as a raft of publishers have sought to diversify their businesses and help advertisers tap into native by offering their own creative services.

That list now includes online fashion publisher Fashionista, which announced the launch of CoLab, an in-house native studio, along with its own private ad exchange.

Led by Fashionista creative director Nina Frazier Hansen, CoLab will focus on creating branded content for premium advertisers in categories including fashion, beauty, retail and luxury.

The new studio will draw on the publisher’s existing expertise in native ads, including recent projects like a holiday gift guide produced in collaboration with The Woolmark Company, as well as city guide series create in partnership with Uniqlo.

Fashionista also revealed plans for a new private online ad exchange, set to launch January 7, which will handle native and banner ad formats targeting desktop, tablet, and mobile audiences.

The move means that Fashionista ad inventory is no longer available via the ad network of consumer Web sites operated by Say Media, which has represented the site over the last four years, although it will continue to use Say Media’s content management system.

As noted, Fashionista is just the latest in a series of publishers to launch in-house native ad outfits. In October, Tribune Publishing launched Tribune Content Solutions to create multiplatform campaigns for local and national advertisers.

In August, Time Inc. launched The Foundry, a new cross-channel creative shop focused on content and intended to help launch new brands. In July The New Republic launched a new in-house content marketing agency called Novel.