Monday, July 15, 2024

Want a Job at Carolina Herrera, Carhartt WIP or House of Sunny?

Is fashion done with diversity departments?
ADVERTISEMENT

In this week's Careers Newsletter, read BoF senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young's latest: Is Fashion Done With Diversity Departments?

In 2019, Liela Touré, a public relations lead at a high-end e-commerce retailer, approached the company's leadership about creating an employee resource group for racial-minority staffers. Her first point of contact – the company's global social responsibility manager — told Touré he had already made the suggestion to senior executives several times to no avail.

"It just wasn't a priority,'" she said. "Then, cut to 2020."

As the now-familiar tale goes, after George Floyd's death, the global protests and feedback from Black employees, Touré's company greenlit the employee groups and created a diversity, equity and inclusion committee. Touré, who is Black and Asian, was appointed as one of its chairs.

But by the time she left the company about a year later, the committee, which was mostly made up of volunteers from the human resources department, hadn't done much beyond arranging a few meetings and posting job openings for DEI specialists.

"It was altruistic intentions, but there wasn't actually a figured-out formula as to how it would operate," she said.

Touré's experience is typical in the fashion industry, where many companies can show halting progress at best towards the ambitious goals they set in 2020 for everything from diversifying the executive ranks to increased representation in marketing to improving morale among minority employees.

Increasingly, the departments and staff tasked with meeting DEI goals are themselves the target. Some minority employees doubt their effectiveness, while executives question the link between investing in diversity and the bottom line. Meanwhile, conservative activists are looking to abolish DEI programmes via the courts.

→ READ MORE

FIND YOUR NEXT JOB
TOP JOBS ON BoF CAREERS

Production Manager - Carolina Herrera (Fashion)

Carolina Herrera

New York (US)

Part Time Photography Studio Assistant - Maternity Cover

Paul Smith

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (GB)

DESIGNER

House of Sunny

London (Central), London (Greater) (GB)

Senior CRM Manager (m/f/x)

Carhartt Work In Progress

Berlin (DE)

Buying Manager

Ralph Lauren

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

WORKPLACE & TALENT

BoF CAREERS
Building a Career in Fashion with Paper Magazine's Justin Moran

Tune into LinkedIn Live where editor-in-chief of Paper Magazine, Justin Moran will share his insights on building a career in fashion on Tuesday, July 16 at 16:00 BST / 11:00 EDT.

Justin Moran studied fashion business with magazine journalism at Columbia College Chicago before starting his career as a freelance journalist and editor, contributing to the likes of Paper Magazine and Nylon. He went on to work at Nicopanda and Out Magazine before returning to Paper Magazine, where he is now editor-in-chief.

Packed with career advice for those entering the industry or looking to take their next step in fashion, this LinkedIn Live broadcast offers a unique opportunity to engage with a global fashion senior leader.

SIGN UP HERE

No comments:

Post a Comment

The House GOP’s margin call

An evening recap of the action on Capitol Hill and preview of the day ahead ...