Update, 4:57 p.m. ET, 8/5: The Black in Fashion Council has announced that it's now working with 38 different brands to help them make internal changes on diversity and inclusion. The companies who have agreed to participate include talent agencies such as CAA and DNA Models, beauty companies Birchbox and L'Oréal, e-commerce retailers Farfetch, Everlane, and Moda Operandi, and media publications such as Condé Nast and Fashionista. Designers who are on board include the likes of Brandon Maxwell, Prabal Gurung, and Tamara Mellon. (You can see the full list of partners here (opens in new tab).)
In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, individuals in fashion and media are banding together to push for actionable change to help dismantle systemic racism in the fashion industry. It's not enough for brands or organizations to provide lip service on the topic of diversity in the workplace; there has to be trackable accountability, too. The Black in Fashion Council (opens in new tab), founded by Lindsay Peoples Wagner (editor in chief of Teen Vogue) and Sandrine Charles (owner of Sandrine Charles Consulting) aims to spearhead and track these changes.
The participating companies will be working with the BIFC and with the Human Rights Campaign for the next three years to "put policies into practice further to demonstrate their commitment (opens in new tab)to Black employees at all levels." Results on progress and achievements from these partnerships will be presented in a report in fall 2021.
"The Human Rights Campaign already has a Corporate Equality Index (opens in new tab) for people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community that companies like Kering are already a part of," Peoples Wagner said to Vogue (opens in new tab). "This would be a way to continue to give companies a report card of accountability without them feeling like they’re being shamed into it, and giving them the actual resources of what people are saying they want to see changed." The council will also create a "digital directory of Black fashion and beauty professionals that brands can purchase to assist with diversifying their staffs."
Currently, the Black in Fashion Council is made up of 400 individual stakeholders, but will soon expand to include businesses and other entities the council will partner with. Follow along the council's journey on its Instagram here (opens in new tab) and read up on the latest materials, below, on how you can be an active ally to the Black community.
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