Popsugar Fashion Fashion News How the 15 Percent Pledge Supports Black Owned Businesses Aurora James Tells Us Exactly What It Means When a Retailer Takes the 15 Percent Pledge June 16, 2020 by Sarah Wasilak View On One Page Photo 4 of 6 ADVERTISEMENT () Start Slideshow View this post on Instagram We want our actions as a business to be substantive and systematic, so we are doing the slow work to build a clear and sustained long-term strategy to fight systemic racism and make Rent the Runway, and the wider fashion industry, more diverse and anti-racist. Today, we are donating $100,000 to immediately support organizations combating racial injustice, including @NAACP and @blackvisionscollective. We will also be allocating an additional $1,000,000 to support Black designers through our wholesale, platform and co-manufacturing initiatives, which includes providing design resources, data, mentorship and financial support to create collections for RTR. It is critically important to us that a significant portion of our $1M goes towards launching fashion brands from Black designers who have not had the investment capital to launch on their own. For too long, the fashion industry has co-opted the style, inspiration and ideas of Black culture without ensuring that Black people are economically compensated for this. Therefore, we will also support @aurorajames’ #15PercentPledge. We are committing today that at least 15% of the fashion talent that we feature and support moving forward are from the Black community, inclusive of the models in our marketing, the ambassadors we use, and the styling talent, photographers, videographers and crews behind the camera. We know that the Black community is tired of the long-standing racism and violence. We also acknowledge the cyclical nature of society’s attention to moments of such injustice, so we vow to take systematic actions as a business that will last beyond this current moment in time. This is just the start, and we look forward to sharing further details on other plans soon. Our work has just begun. A post shared by Rent the Runway (@renttherunway) on Jun 1, 2020 at 7:15pm PDT Share This Link Copy ← Use Arrow Keys → 4 Rent The Runway's 15 Percent Pledge Previous Next Start Slideshow Fashion NewsFashion DesignersSephoraFashion InterviewShoppingAntiracismAurora JamesFashion Instagrams