The British Fashion Council have launched review into diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) auditing the demographics of the UK fashion industry.
British Fashion Council chief executive Caroline Rush said there’s an “alarming” lack of industry wide data.
“By gaining invaluable data insight into the UK fashion industry’s key demographics through this audit, we can accelerate tangible change to ensure fair representation and a truly inclusive workforce,” she added.
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The ‘fashion DEI census’ will be conducted via an anonymous, self-declaration survey designed to snapshot demographic data across the whole UK fashion industry, across all job roles (retail, brand, media, agency, freelancers etc), all functions (marketing, operations, HR, finance, store etc) and all seniorities (from graduate to c-suite).
Individuals will be asked to complete a short series of questions, taking only 5 minutes, without giving any further detail on their place of work or any personal data – with the intention being to review the industry as a collective, rather than to index progress across different organisations.
The audit forms the first part of a comprehensive review of the state of play of DEI in the UK fashion industry and will feed into a wider report to be published later this year, as part of a pilot programme led by the British Fashion Council and not-for-profits The Outsiders Perspective and the Fashion Minority Report.
The report will provide data and analysis on the status of DEI in the industry, as well as inform a best practice playbook – ensuring that future progress can be real and measurable.
The census will close on 18 September.
