How the fashion industry can be a voice for change in society: Kimberly McGlonn x Grant Blvd
The fashion industry has been under massive scrutiny over the past years regarding its environmental impact, treatment of workers, and the racism embedded in the industry.
Kimberly McGlonn, Ph.D., Founder, and CEO of the clothing store Grant Blvd., believes that fashion can not only spread awareness about injustices that plague our society, but it can also provide a different approach to solving them.
“My earliest motivation for creating Grant Blvd. was me looking for a way to leverage my awareness about the barriers that Black and Brown people face in becoming self-sufficient and breaking out of cycles of poverty, said McGlonn, “and figuring out how I can solve these problems.”
The retail industry was not safe from the economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, so McGlonn chose to pivot the business in a direction where help was most needed.
McGlonn highlighted how Grant Blvd had to navigate setbacks such as the postponement of the storefront’s opening from March to July, shifts in consumer behavior, and city restrictions.
“We switched over to supporting local nonprofits through our mask manufacturing, through a partnership with a local nonprofit,” said McGlonn, “that for every mask bought, we will donate to this nonprofit, which eventually led to manufacturing more masks for other nonprofits.”
McGlonn’s upbringing played a significant role in Grant Blvd’s conception due to her politically engaged parents.
“I think all of us have these exposures to help establish our values, said McGlonn, “as a little kid growing up on Grant Blvd, my parents were intentional in exposing me to how Black people have and still currently are oppressed.”
In recent years, the conversation around the detrimental effects of fast fashion on the environment has been a hot topic within the industry. Still, for McGlonn, she has been an advocate for sustainable fashion before it was trendy.
“Most of the people who are leading calls for change [in the industry] are those who have benefited from knowing change needed to be made and ignoring it,” said McGlonn
Fast fashion brands have been under fire in recent years for “greenwashing,” which can be seen in H&M’s Conscious collection.
McGlonn highlights that the right thing for fashion industry professionals to do is realign industry behaviors to address the rapid decline of the natural world, which many brands are not doing.
“These companies aren’t doing the hard work; they’re doing PR work,” said McGlonn.
Although McGlonn is skeptical about fast fashion brands leading the sustainable fashion conversation, she is optimistic about consumers’ future in fashion.
“I am optimistic that more consumers are hearing about sustainability and are taking it into consideration when it comes to how they shop,” said McGlonn