All You Need to Know About The Black in Fashion Council
“We envision a world in which black people in fashion and beauty spaces can be open and honest, guaranteed equal rights, and be celebrated for our voices.”
Amidst Black Lives Matter protests, companies and brands alongside influential figures are being held accountable for their contribution to systemic racism. This year feels different, with more vitality and demand for change even in the fashion and beauty industry, and the call to action is more crucial now more than ever.
The Black in Fashion Council is a collective founded by Lindsay Peoples Wagner, editor in chief of Teen Vogue, and Sandrine Charles, owner and publicist of Sandrine Charles Consulting, to address this need for change. In a statement on their homepage, the Council states, “As a collective, we envision a world in which black people in fashion and beauty spaces can be open and honest, guaranteed equal rights, and be celebrated for our voices.”
The Council has partnered with the Human Rights Campaign to create an equality index score, which will “benchmark corporate policies and practices pertinent to the inclusivity of Black employees.” Essentially, companies will sign a three-year pledge and the Council will produce a yearly public report that will track the progress of these companies to ensure representation of Black employees on all levels. BOF also reports that “Companies that opt-in now will have the next six months to work with specific Black in Fashion Coalition board members, depending on their priorities, who will act as point people for programs and initiatives, and make changes before submitting data for evaluation in January 2021.” The first equality index score will be released in June 2021.
In an interview with Vogue, Peoples Wagner explained, “The Human Rights Campaign already has a Corporate Equality Index for people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community [but] 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 also plans to create a “digital directory of Black fashion and beauty professionals that brands can purchase to assist with diversifying their staffs.”
“What sets us apart is we want to show that we’re in solidarity with you,” Charles said. “We want to not only support your group but empower you with resources that you may or may not have. That’s really important: to have a network of people that are working for the same good with egos aside.”
The Black in Fashion Council will officially launch in July and is consists of 400 individual stakeholders as of now, with plans to partner with more businesses and entities. Follow the Council’s journey on Instagram here or check out their website here.
