Fashion has a new influencer: Gandhi. As the Indian civil rights leaderonce said: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in theservice of others,” and this spirit resonates deeply with the four fashionindustry professionals with whom I shared a panel during Fashinnovation’s3rd Worldwide Talks. As our industry attempts to find itself, climbing outof the rubble of COVID, they see a path to success through collaboration.While we’ve come to associate the word “collab” with trendy commercialpartnerships like last week’s Prada Adidas sneaker drop, this is adifferent union. Collaboration in this case is not about selling overhypedproduct, it’s about giving back.
For Jeannie Barsam, founder and CEO of Gifting Brands, this involveswhat she calls “Inventory Philanthropy.” Gifting Brands aims to providebrands with an alternative to selling off unsold inventory to off-priceretailers or destroying it, as has been an unfortunate practice in thepast, or even worse, letting it go to landflll. Instead brands can donatethe goods to Gifting Brands, where they will get a tax credit and their ownbrand home page, and walk away knowing that 100 percent of the proceeds goto charity. Barsam describes her 501c3 non-profit as “the first evere-commerce website that partners with fashion and luxury brands to donateexcess inventory.” One of the charities Gifting Brands partners with is TheFamily Place which provides shelter for women at risk just as the pandemiccreated a spike in cases of women trapped at home or subject to domesticviolence.
Kimberly Carney, founder and CEO of Fashwire, a B2B data hub whichprovides brands with consumer insight and a B2C shopping platform featuring300 designers from 30 countries, says philanthropy has been what helped hernavigate the pandemic, or what she calls “the Next Normal.” ThroughFashwire’s philanthropic arm, Fashgive, in partnership with RetailersUnited, this meeting of executive minds from tech and retail raised fundsfor COVID relief efforts and to help America reopen, and provides grantsfor designers struggling during this time.
Crisis brings opportunity to fashion industry
Fashwire’s Seattle store had been performing well prior to Covid but nowtheir Direct-to-Consumer business has taken off. Gifting Brands’ launch wasinitially scheduled for later in the year but Barsam decided to bring itforward to May, despite having only a few brands on-board. The pandemictest run paid off and Barsam says it elevates brands to boast connectionswith both charities and sustainability and can become part of theirstorytelling.
Helen Aboah, CEO of Urban Zen, Donna Karan’s range of luxury artisanalpieces sourced from around the world, with its attached charitablefoundation focusing on culture, education and wellness, says, “This periodhas been incredible for our foundation in supporting healthcare, nurses,training for self-care techniques and meditation.” Although no longer ableto enter hospitals during the pandemic, the foundation pivoted to digitalcommunication, and says Aboah, they were able to share 5-minute videos forfree to every frontline work in the country.
Theo Killion, a C-suite veteran who serves on several boards includingthat of the organization A Better Chance founded in 1963 which providestalented children of color who may not have the means to get into privateschool a platform for their future, believes collaboration is key to thiscurrent moment in history. Covid has laid bare all the infrastructureissues in healthcare, education, unemployment, and racial inequity, and forhim, A Better Chance alum, giving back is personal. He refers to it as“closing the circle”: “A Better Chance got me started, they gave me a liftso I owe it to people to create 500 opportunities every year for youngpeople to be able to get the same chance that I had.” Gifting Brands alsocounts A Better Chance as a partner charity.
Fashion and the art of collaboration
“At Urban Zen, collaboration is about connecting creatively, with two ormore companies coming together to make something beautiful,” says Aboah.“Whether in homeware, apparel or jewelry, rather than commissioning someoneto do something for us, we prefer to share the stage, bringing together whowe are with who that other person is.” Urban Zen’s artisanal collaborationsemerge organically from Karan’s travels when she meets people and formsrelationships. “She gets in there, molding clay,” says Aboah.
While efforts to place people above profit and slow down fashion hadtentatively begun pre-Covid Killion reminds us that the industry has beengiven the green light to accelerate activities: “The Business Roundtable, agroup of 181 of the most powerful CEOs have said it’s no longer aboutshareholders but about stakeholders, and that includes communities andemployees. So all of a sudden if you’re one of those corporations you havepermission to do good work. The other thing is institutional investors forthe past three years have been focused on ESG, that’s Environmental,Social, and Governance.”
A positive outlook for fashion industry
Mentors have been important to these industry leaders throughout theircareers. Aboah who has worked with Donna Karan since the company’s LVMHdays names the designer herself as one, citing her admiration for Karan’stireless philanthropy, from her work on Seventh on Sale, the CFDA AIDSbenefit, Kids for Kids carnival for Pediatric AIDS, and Super Saturdaybenefiting Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Karan was addressing consciousconsumerism long before it was commonplace and creating products craftedwith an ethos before it was popular. “It was always about the we and notthe me,” says Aboah, “she was always thinking about how to give back, andthis resonated with my upbringing.”
From Aboah’s partnerships with everyone from the mayor’s office toessential workers, she sees hope on the ground and an entrepreneurialspirit. “I think we’re going to get out of this stronger and better.”
A positive outlook is essential in those who will lead our industry intocalmer waters and Killion provides the perfect perspective for movingforward, reminding us that after the 1918 pandemic which lasted two years,came the Roaring Twenties. “Everyone was dancing, everyone was fashionable,everyone was collaborating, and there was a celebration of freedom, withfashion at the forefront.”
Let’s unite behind the new roaring twenties.
Fashion editor Jackie Mallon is also an educator and author of Silk forthe Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.
Photos Fashinnovation
