Apparel retail giant VF Corp. will establish a supplier diversity programme to double its spend with minority- and women-owned businesses by 2025 through enterprise direct and indirect procurement, and the activities of its brands.
The company today announced that it is implementing new programmes and actions to advance racial equity within the company and beyond.
By 2024, it will also assess and resolve any identified pay gaps for employees, sponsored athletes and influencers across the organisation through a pay equity analysis.
Building on the company’s Council to Advance Racial Equity (CARE), VF is complementing its previous work by adding a combination of actions and programmes, community partners and public policy initiatives to address opportunity gaps that Black and Brown Americans face in the areas of access to education, economic equity and environmental justice.
VF’s CARE recently established an initial set of commitments for VF to pursue, which directly align with the company’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action (IDEA) strategy.
It covers 8 main points. The company aspires to achieve 25 per cent Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) representation within its Director and above population by 2030.
The company will apply Mansfield Rule requirements, a recruitment benchmark originally developed for the legal industry, to its talent acquisition and development decisions across all company departments.
All the employees of company will participate in a foundational inclusion and diversity learning journey to ensure they share a common vocabulary and commitment to establishing a culture of belonging, allyship and advocacy.
“We’re excited about our new partnership with Management Leadership for Tomorrow and its Black Equity at Work certification programme as we take our support for social justice to the next level. At the same time, our partnership with PENSOLE directly aligns with our commitment to enable racial equity for marginalised communities with a specific focus on uplifting the Black and Brown communities, which have been traditionally under-represented in the fashion and design space,” said Steve Rendle, Chairman, President and CEO of the company.
