If there’s been one theme underpinning so many of our conversations throughout this pivotal year, it’s been social justice within the fashion industry.
With COVID-19, Black Lives Matter and the climate emergency as our backdrop, what we’ve been talking about more than anything else in 2020 - across our supply chains, marketing, retail stores, sustainability efforts and beyond - is how to bring true justice to all stakeholders associated with this industry.
So we dedicated one of our FashMash Focus sessions solely to this last week, with an amazing cross-section of members in attendance, all of whom touch this subject in some capacity. Here are some of the key highlights:
ON ‘JUSTICE’ ITSELF
Intersectionality has been top of mind in 2020 as we address the notion that environmental and social issues cannot live independently, but intrinsically weaved together. Talking about social (or indeed climate) ‘action’ however, is not enough. We need ‘justice’ to be the starting point; it completely changes the conversation.
THE TIME IS NOW
It’s a simple thing to say, but the time is right now. Never before have we been presented with such obvious examples of how much impact we have as an industry (thank you to the #PayUp campaign as one example), but also the opportunity that’s out there through more citizens than ever engaged and caring about what happens. There's no excuse not to change anymore.
ON NEW LEADERSHIP
There’s a growing risk that activism merely becomes a part of the existing business model, feeding into our broken system, rather than dismantling it and offering true justice through a new version all together. For that scale of change, we need new, diverse leaders, who can reshape the industry from a fresh and just perspective.
Comentarios