Gucci launches a global cultural diversity program following blackface controversy
Images via Gucci
Words by Tara Smith
After discussions with community leaders.
Following its blackface controversy, Gucci is launching a cultural awareness and diversity program to be carried out this year.
As reported by WWD, the luxury fashion house outlined four long-term initiatives to achieve greater cultural diversity and awareness.
The four initiatives (which were created after discussions with Dapper Dan and other community leaders in New York) include the following:
- Hiring global and regional directors for diversity and inclusion
- Setting up a multicultural design scholarship program
- Launching a diversity and inclusivity awareness program
- Launching a global exchange program
As part of its pledge, Gucci will invest in educating all 18,000 of its employees around the world to ‘achieve a much higher level of global cultural awareness’. The brand will immediately hire five new designers from around the world (to be based at its Rome design office) with Alessandro Michele personally involved in the selection process.
On the education front, the scholarship program will partner with fashion schools all over the world to ‘amplify opportunities for underrepresented groups of talents’. The schools will be located in New York, Nairobi, Kenya, New Delhi, Beijing, Hangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo, Beirut, London and Dubai.
According to WWD, president and chief executive officer, Marco Bizzarri, said Gucci accepted “full accountability for this incident, which has clearly exposed shortfalls in our ongoing strategic approach to embedding diversity and inclusion in both our organization and in our activities.”
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