Inside THE ICONIC’s 2019 Roundtable Discussion

As THE ICONIC publicly shares its progress to date and its commitments to community, diversity & inclusion, sustainability & ethical sourcing in THE ICONIC's Annual Progress Report 19, it’s an important time to discuss inclusivity and representation as well as how the industry intends to become more sustainable and ethical.

Moderated by reporter and presenter Brooke Boney and with top models and a model agent at the table, the conversation covered the importance of firsts. “When you’re the first of something or the first to do something it changes the world and it changes the way people see themselves.”

Model manager Chelsea Bonner agreed. “When I signed Jess Vander Leahy, who’s one of my top girls, I said it’s going to be hard because you’re curvy and you’re mixed race and in Australia we don’t do curvy and we don’t do mixed race models but please stick with me and I will give you everything I’ve got. And today she’s one of Australia’s top models, she has an amazing career and she’s travelled all over the world. It’s a partnership, we have each other’s back 100% and that’s how we’ve been able to change the industry.”

“We need the leaders, we need the game-changers, we need people to go first in society. They’re opening doors, building bridges for the rest of us to follow. To the media I would say, when you’re writing about inclusion and diversity just think about how far we’ve come.”

Earlier this year Halima Aden was the first model to appear on Sports Illustrated wearing a hijab. “I will agree 100% that somebody needs to be the first. In my case, there was never a hijab-wearing model. There was never a single person in fashion that a little girl like myself could look up to and I think it’s so important that every little boy and girl has someone that they can relate to. We all need to see ourselves in order to be – it’s like if they can do it I can do it too. But I also say it means nothing if there’s not a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth and I’m so proud to say I might’ve been the first but I’m not the last.”

Graeme Lewsey CEO of Vamff called out a roadblock that THE ICONIC has also come across over the years, highlighted in its 2019 report. “To model agencies I just want to say to you guys that you are really so important to the change. When we do our model castings – and we probably employ more models for the runway than anyone else in this country – over the years it’s been a real struggle to get this diversity … If we don’t have agencies that are curating a more diverse audience then we’ve got no-one to choose.”

An unignorable topic that's on everyone’s minds, sustainability was also core to the discussion. In 2017 THE ICONIC hired a dedicated Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing team – headed up by now GFG CSO Jaana Quaintance James – reflecting the importance of our continued commitment to progress in social and environmental sustainability. As Fashion Revolution coordinator, Melinda Tually said, “you’re the first CSO in a company in Australia, that needs to be applauded and that needs to be mimicked.”

For model Charlee Fraser, the incentive to do better is simple. “I grew up around animals, in nature and being that I’m Indigenous Australian I feel connected to the land as well. When I come home here to Australia I feel extremely connected to wherever I am. And with being in this industry, seeing how many clothes we make, how many clothes we waste…”

In terms of sustainability and ethical sourcing, “this [report] is our way of holding ourselves to account,” says Jaana. “You will find things that are awkward to say publicly and I can 100% guarantee you that there will be someone who criticises us for something that’s within that report, but we’re okay with that because we want to be transparent about where we got to and where we didn't.”

Sacha Laing CEO General Pants shares, “What we’ve learnt from our consumers is that they’re sick of businesses like ours talking at them, they wanted us to talk with them. The generations that are coming through ... think unequivocally that they will fix the problems that they’ve inherited from the generations before them. They don’t know how but they know they’re going to take positive steps every day and they’ll get there.”

While there was praise from all sides for small steps that lead to big change, Melinda Tually now believes it’s time to ramp efforts up. “It’s time for bold steps and bold leadership … When it comes to profits, we don’t set small targets we set bold, ambitious targets to be profitable which is a great thing and that ambition should be met in this field as well.”

“There are some very exciting targets and a tonne of work to be done in the next two years, five years and beyond,” Jaana admits. “90% of our private labels to be made from sustainable materials, 50% of our range will be included in the Considered edit – our sustainable fashion filtering system. I think it’s really bold for us to put it out there publicly so that we can continue. This is not just a trend, it’s actually how we want to do business and this is a part of our success and how we win as a business.”

Watch the highlights...

Thank you to Brooke Boney, Paul Sweet, Charlee Fraser, Halima Aden, Jaana Quaintance-James, Melinda Tually, Sacha Laing, Graeme Lewsey, Chelsea Bonner.