Chapter 9: Diversity, Inclusivity and Equality in the Fashion Industry

By the end of this chapter you should be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

The fashion industry has a history of prejudice, unfairness and social injustice ranging from the cotton plantations of the slave trade to the lack of opportunity faced by current female graduates; this chapter will attend to these issues and more. Adopting a social justice perspective, it will address dimensions such as race, ethnicity, body size, body shape, disability and concepts of beauty.

The chapter sets out to do three things:

Deciding when and where to start a book chapter on a subject that is so culturally, socially, politically and economically expansive in terms of time and place can be challenging. Dickerson highlights that ‘No other industry comes close to matching the significant role the textile sector has held in the history of trade’, with Sheng (2010) suggesting that silk weaving had its origins in China somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 and that there is evidence of cross-border trade with, for example, Ancient Rome, Japan and Korea. The fact that silk was the preserve of the wealthy and the powerful is in itself indicative of the economic, social and cultural exclusivity that has existed and continues to exist in the textile and clothing trades. This chapter could, therefore, legitimately work systematically through the centuries and millennia for at least 7000 bce to the present day. Space, however, denies us that opportunity and so we need to find a more recent and pivotal moment in history to commence.