In the Fashion Industry, Black Activists Push For Deeper Change – The Wall Street Journal

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“While I’m happy to see it, it’s conflicting because it feels as if it’s a one-time notion and the fight for racial injustice cannot be summed up in a one-time contribution to the NAACP legal fund or by putting up a black square” on Instagram, said Hannah Stoudemire, co-founder of Fashion For All Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes diversity through education. “We need the brands to reshape the way they do business around black lives,” said Ms. Stoudemire, who worked as a stylist and in sales at Lanvin’s men’s division before starting the foundation.

Fueling much of the outrage is the idea that the industry has long capitalized on black culture. Streetwear staples initially popularized by young black men and women like the hoodie and colorful sneakers have been repackaged as luxury goods. Consumers across racial lines are influenced by fashion worn by celebrities of color like Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Russell Westbrook and Offset of Migos, one of a number of rappers who regularly sit front row at fashion shows. Fashion magazines now frequently put black stars on their covers while brands call on them to boost their cool factor.

Yet there are still few black professionals in top industry roles. Virgil Abloh at

Louis Vuitton

menswear and Olivier Rousteing at Balmain remain the rare black men to lead design at big high-end fashion labels. In 2019 Rihanna signed a deal with LVMH to start a new luxury label, marking the first time a black woman has led an LVMH brand. Jide J. Zeitlin of Tapestry, which owns Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, is the rare black CEO of a major fashion company.

All 12 members of the executive committees at both Kering, which owns brands including Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, and LVMH are white. LVMH’s corporate board of directors is entirely white, while Kering’s 13-member board includes just two people of color. Of the nine members on Prada’s board of directors, eight are white. Prada and LVMH, whose brands include Dior and Fendi, declined to comment on the board composition.

The scrutiny over fashion labels’ responses to the social-justice movement comes as the industry had already been grappling with fallout from racial controversies.

Prada, a brand that has previously drawn criticism for a dearth of black models, faced new censure in 2018 after a boutique window displayed a charm with a design similar to a blackface character. In 2019, Gucci was assailed for selling a balaclava-style sweater that resembled blackface. Later that month,

Burberry

drew criticism for a runway style that featured what looked to many like a noose.

Each apologized and launched initiatives to be more inclusive in hiring, as well as training programs and scholarships for people of color. Gucci and Prada hired diversity and inclusion officers. Gucci also hired a black man, Antoine Phillips, as vice president of brand and culture engagement last year.

Burberry and Gucci declined to share data on the demographic composition of their workforces and said the initiatives they launched are making progress. Prada declined to comment.

Some black thought leaders say those measures didn’t go far enough. “Oftentimes when you kind of slap together these initiatives just out of embarrassment or just trying to patch the hole, it seems inauthentic,” said Kimberly Jenkins, an assistant professor of fashion studies at Ryerson University who has provided advice on diversity issues to fashion executives.

More recently, after the surge of social justice calls following the Floyd killing, some fashion fans have denounced donations and planned changes to corporate culture as insufficient. Supreme was chastised on social media for what some fans perceived as an inadequate donation of $500,000 split between Black Lives Matter, the Equal Rights Initiative, Campaign Zero and Black Futures Lab. The brand declined to comment on the criticisms. In an Instagram post announcing the donation the brand stated, “The Black community has inspired and supported Supreme since day one.”

Adidas said it would increase the number of black employees and invest $120 million in black communities through 2025 after some U.S. employees complained the company was profiting off black culture without doing enough to help. In a statement the company said, “Adidas and Reebok have always been and will always be against discrimination in all forms and we stand united against racism.”

Earlier this month, the Council of Fashion Designers of America said it will create an in-house employment program with an emphasis on placing black talent across the fashion business and identifying black creatives to pair with employers. The CFDA will also create mentorship and internship programs for black students and recent graduates, offer more diversity training and make charitable donations, a spokesman said.

But a group of black fashion professionals quickly issued a petition, saying they want the CFDA initiatives to go further. “Until I hear the fashion community looking left and right at best practices, we’ll still be in a space of, if not performance, not active change,” said fashion writer Kibwe Chase-Marshall, an organizer of the petition.

The CFDA spokesman didn’t address the petition’s specifics. He said the council had heard from several organizations “but at this time have selected a few key groups to work with so that we can focus our energy and fundraising abilities.”

Bethann Hardison, a former model and a longtime advocate of integration in fashion, said some companies she has talked to have been engaged in training and scholarships, work whose results might take time to see.

Ms. Hardison is an inaugural member of Gucci’s Changemakers Council, launched last year. Earlier this month, Gucci announced the first class of its North American Changemakers Scholars, a scholarship program. The 20 students—all people of color—will receive up to $20,000 as well as mentorship and internship opportunities at Gucci America.

“The movement is going to change the way things are seen and done because now people feel put upon and because of that, they’re now going to start to want to see how they can include or be thoughtful,” Ms. Hardison said.

Write to Ray A. Smith at ray.smith@wsj.com and Jacob Gallagher at Jacob.Gallagher@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Adidas said it would invest $120 million in black communities through 2025. An earlier version of this article said Adidas would invest $20 million, a figure the company announced June 9 and then increased.(Corrected on June 21)