Victoria Beckham discusses the fashion industry and Black Lives Matter movement

By Press Association

June 5 2020, 3:39 pm

Victoria Beckham founded her fashion label 12 years ago (Ian West/PA)

Victoria Beckham has said that the fashion industry has “a huge role to play in the Black Lives Matter movement”, adding that her company needs to be “better” on issues around racial justice.

In a lengthy post on social media, she added that it is “each of our responsibilities to speak out and use our platforms for education, conversation and change”.

She added that she is “truly sickened by how deeply ingrained racism is in our society”.

View this post on Instagram
I’ve taken a step back this week to focus on the tragic events that have been highlighted recently. Watching things unfold and learning more about the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve been truly sickened by how deeply ingrained racism is in our society. It’s clear that it’s each of our responsibilities to speak out and I want to use my platform for education, conversation and change. The fashion industry has a huge role to play, and for me, it starts with representation, both within my business and who we work with externally. I’ve always aimed for inclusivity, but we all need to look inwards and be better. At Victoria Beckham, we’ve set up an internal working group as a first step and will provide additional support to ensure that we are listening to each other, discussing the issues, identifying unconscious bias in ourselves and ensuring our short and long-term actions reflect all our learnings. Whilst things won’t change or be solved in a day, we clearly can’t wait another day to start and I am absolutely committed to being better and doing more, both personally and professionally. I hope you all share my sentiment and are doing the same with your friends, family, brands and businesses so that we all play our part in this vital issue. x vb #blacklivesmatter
A post shared by Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Jun 5, 2020 at 6:21am PDT

The fashion designer and former pop star’s comments come after demonstrations about racism in cities including London, Birmingham and Manchester that were triggered by the death of George Floyd in the US.

Beckham said: “The fashion industry has a huge role to play in the Black Lives Matter movement, and I can be better. We can all be better.

“It starts with representation, both within our businesses and who we work with externally.”