It’s time to end racism in the fashion industry. But how?

Quand la mode veut se diversifier.

Lors des manifestations de Black Lives Matter, l'industrie de la mode s'est rapidement retrouvée pointée du doigt pour son manque flagrant de diversité : du petit nombre de mannequins ou d’employés de couleur au sein des grandes marques à l'absence de création de produits adaptés à différents types de peau. Comment remédier au problème ? Des initiatives sont en cours...

On June 1, Tom Ford, the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, sent a letter to the board about its meeting the next day. He wanted the board to address the Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice, he said, and systemic racism in the fashion industry. Almost everyone Zoomed in: Michael Kors, Virgil Abloh, Prabal Gurung and Vera Wang among them. The group agreed that a statement would be released and an action plan written.

2. Two days later, the statement appeared. It listed four initiatives to follow, including an employment program charged with placing Black talent in all sectors of the fashion business to help achieve a racially balanced industry. Not everyone liked the result. It was, according to Kerby JeanRaymond, a CFDA board member, a “watereddown statement that didn’t address the issues.”

3. More than 250 Black fashion professionals, calling themselves the Kelly Initiative, sent a public letter to the CFDA accusing the organization of allowing “exploitative cultures of prejudice, tokenism and employment discrimination to thrive,” and announcing a more robust plan of their own. Then Aurora James, the founder of Brother Vellies, introduced the 15 Percent Pledge, which calls on retailers to devote 15% of their shelf space to products made by Black-owned companies.

4. And then it turned out that another organization, the Black in Fashion Council, was being created by Lindsay Peoples Wagner, the editor of Teen Vogue. Suddenly the debate was no longer just about systemic racism in fashion but rather just how far the industry was willing to go to be at the forefront of social change, and who was best positioned to lead the charge.

WHO WILL LEAD THE CHANGE?

5. Black-owned businesses constitute 1.3% of total retail sales in the United States compared to the 88% of overall sales for white-owned businesses. Given that Black people comprise 15% of the U.S. population, the pledge is partly about having equal representation in shelf space. It is also about creating infrastructures and networks to sustain these Black-owned businesses once they do have representation.

6. Tracy Reese is vice chairwoman of the CFDA and its longest-serving Black board member. “This is a white industry and unless you are Black within it, you can’t begin to understand what that is like,” she said. “If we are going to make meaningful progress, there has to be a joint effort, not a factional effort — or 20 different efforts.” “The people forming these factions know what they want to say — they are brave,” Reese continued. “They are stepping up, and that’s important to do. But it will go further if we are all working toward a common goal: equity, equality, anti-racism.”