By CultureBanx Team
- Prada deepens its commitment to diversity through new internship programs aimed at fashion designers of color
- Prada’s diversity council consists of Theaster Gates & Ava DuVernay among others
Italian fashion house Prada (1913.HK -2.11%) is deepening its commitment to diversity, while increasing representation within the luxury fashion industry through new internship programs aimed at designers of color. The company is heavily leaning on its Diversity Council to divert attention away from any lingering blackface backlash. Sculptor Theaster Gates and filmmaker Ava DuVernay, are tasked to “elevate voices of color” as urban cultural influences on the luxury fashion sector expand. Can Prada’s Diversity Council help to close the massive gap between a post-racial fashion industry and today’s reality?
Why This Matters: In effort to successfully carry out this new initiative, Prada is heavily relying on its Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Co-Chair, Theaster Gates, to create a design lab for diverse designers and artists in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Many people have said the fashion industry has failed the Black community all while appropriating its culture. Case in point, Prada had come under fire for products and marketing seen as racially insensitive. In December 2018, the company displayed a monkey figurine that resembled blackface. There were no Black employees working at Prada headquarters at all during the time of the Pradamalia incident, according to The New York Times.
Through this new diversity council Prada wants to address these issues and create internship and apprenticeship programs in diverse communities. “Prada Group is taking real and significant actions that will expand career and professional opportunities for people of colour in the fashion industry,” said Malika Savell, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer for Prada North America in a statement.
Brands should be worried because it’s estimated a company could lose up to $4 billion in market value due to bad media attention related to racism and sexism. That’s not the type of money Prada which has experienced declining sales since 2014 before returning to growth in 2018, can afford to lose. The Hong Kong-listed company’s revenues declined 24% in FY2020. Barring any other racially insensitive design sanfus, Prada notes digital sales were up 200%. Shares of the company have increased more than 10% in the past three months.
What’s Next: As Prada looks to right their diversity shortcomings, the company is partnering with the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) to develop scholarships focused exclusively on aspiring fashion industry professionals and undergraduate students of color in the United States and Africa. No time frame has been given on exactly when the program will start.
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