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Fashion faced a reckoning in June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, and made promises to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) internally. Three and a half years on, the movement has lost steam. DE&I budgets are being cut, teams are shrinking and a slew of creative director hires have been . Is the industry backsliding?
“There has been a regression in terms of our commitment to tackling DE&I. It’s obviously been affected by what’s happening economically, but I think that’s been used as too much of a crutch,” says Daniel Peters, founder of London-based consultancy Fashion Minority Report, which has worked with Tapestry and Farfetch. Experts point instead to a certain level of fatigue with the conversation, polarisation over what constitutes inclusive practices, and an ongoing lack of understanding around the business imperative of DE&I.
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Research shows having a diverse team and an inclusive company culture is a driver of success. Companies in the top quartile when it comes to representation of women and people of ethnically diverse backgrounds are 39 per cent more likely to financially outperform than those in the bottom quartile, according to , published in early December.
A diverse team can connect with a broader consumer base. In the UK, for example, the combined disposable income of ethnic minority communities is expected to reach over £3 trillion by 2031 and £16.7 trillion by 2061, a shows. “Divesting from DE&I because it’s no longer ‘trending’ is a short-sighted view because it overlooks the influential association customers make between their purchases and their principles,” says Yaseen Eldik, executive advisor for DE&I at US firm Fixer Advisory, which has worked with the CFDA, Gucci and Khaite.
Economic uncertainties: Reason or excuse?
As companies struggle with macroeconomic challenges and the cost of living crisis, budgets are being cut — DE&I included. According to recruitment firm , only 5 per cent of recruiters rated DE&I as a top priority. Some employers report that DE&I programmes are among the first to go when costs are cut, closely behind company events and bonuses. On the mass-market end, Asos scrapped its diversity bonus targets for directors so as not to “detract from our emphasis on profitability”, with diversity measures shifted to a longer-term scheme insead. A also shows that DE&I roles globally are seeing a disproportionate level of lay-offs.
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