Old Navy Donates $500,000 To The 15% Pledge; Expands Project WE

Old Navy is expanding its Project WE initiative in partnership with The Fifteen Percent Pledge to improve visibility of Black creatives and artists who’ve been impacted by systemic racism. Project WE is an initiative centered around Tee-shirts designed by Black artists and entrepreneurs and other groups who have never been able to scale their businesses due to systemic racism. Old Navy and the Pledge curated a selection of artists from historically marginalized groups to share their visions and voices with graphic Tee releases through 2023, marking the Pledge’s first product collaboration.

“Old Navy is proud to amplify and celebrate diverse voices through our Project WE initiative in support of creating a better future for future generations,” said Sarah Holme, executive vice president of design and visual merchandising at Old Navy. “Through our collaboration with the Fifteen Percent Pledge team, we are thrilled to shine a light on the next generation of talented Black creators.”

The new Project WE series kicks off with two incredible talents: Latinx Brazilian artist and illustrator Camila Rosa and Brooklyn-based artist Shanée Benjamin.

The retailer is one of the 29 companies that have signed The Fifteen Percent Pledge. “Signing the pledge is a multi-year contract, and really dictates how the pledge will work with each retailer and corporation to apply the 15% proposition to ensure that they diversify their supply chain so 15% is working with Black entrepreneurs,” LaToya Williams-Belfort, executive director of The Fifteen Percent Pledge told me.

“What we do, as we figure out the best work plan for each corporation, we look at many strategic opportunities to create visibility and drive revenue,” said Williams-Belfort said. “Project WE was a really great opportunity to deepen our partnership. Old Navy has taken the pledge and is working with us overall to diversify their supply chain.

“Project WE was a really good strategic opportunity, so we just looked at a segment of Black entrepreneurs, who are creative, artistic and who have experienced the same systemic challenges,” Williams-Belfort added. “We created an opportunity and campaign for them to have additional visibility and partner with a major retailer like Old Navy. It was a great project to really give entrepreneurs an opportunity to work in a way that they hadn’t before.”

Black creatives have historically lacked representation in the art world. Over 85% of the works in all major U.S. museums belong to white male artists, and work by Black artists only makes up 1.2% of the global auction market over the past 10 years, according to Hyperallergic, a newsletter that highlights various opportunities for artists. To help address this, Old Navy is also donating $500,000 to The Pledge to further support the rise of Black creative entrepreneurs.

“The Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta have all taken The Fifteen Percent Pledge,” Williams-Belfort said. “For us, as an organization, we pride ourselves that one of our pillars of work is accountability. We wouldn’t engage in a strategic partnership with a company that could take The Pledge, but hadn’t yet taken it. Companies that can take The Pledge, where their business is able to apply this proposition,” must take The Pledge first.

“This project is really a growth and expansion and a deepening of our work together,” Williams-Belfort said. “What we want to do with our partners also, is continue to put forward the idea that taking The Pledge is good for everyone and society. Because we’re supporting Black entrepreneurs, Project WE is a way that Old Navy can display that they are living their values as an organization, and we can also engage the larger community in understanding why The Pledge is important. All the engagements and opportunities that are closing the racial gap are good for us as a society overall.”

Why not target Black women entrepreneurs? After all, aren’t they more marginalized than Black men.

“From the Pledge’s perspective, we really think of entrepreneurs across the board, and how Black entrepreneurs haven’t had an opportunity to build generational wealth, so when we get this type of opportunity, we want to be inclusive, and really wide-ranging and thinking about how we can maximize an engagement and cross-cutting who we work with,” Williams-Belfort said. “But, I will also say that launching Project WE is a showcase of what’s possible, and there are many more things that are coming down the line as we develop our work at The Pledge and we really understand all the intersectionality as it relates to groups. So, this is a great launch and an opportunity to showcase what’s possible as we continue to do this work going forward.”

“We don’t have anything right now that we can talk about externally, but as the world opens up, you know The Pledge has really been operating in a remote environment,” Williams-Belfort said. “We’ve been doing this work for the past two years with the pandemic swirling, but fingers crossed, we’ll continue to move forward to a safe, public health environment. As we can do more in-person engagements, more pop-ups, more different opportunities to continue to engage with more community members and have a universal impact model, which again, gives us the opportunity to lift values.

“The model and thinking about more work like this, more community engagement work is definitely a part of our work plan,” Williams-Belfort said.

Are there any retailers on The Pledge’s wish list that have been hard to engage?

“That is a fabulous question, I like to call it the million dollar question,” Williams-Belfort said. “It’s obvious that we have 29 amazing large retailers and corporations that have taken the pledge. But there are some obviously missing. When you think about the Targets and the WalmartWMT
s of the world, they’re really important to this proposition in relation to what they bring in from an annual revenue perspective. 15% of that really helps closing the racial gap in a sustainable way.

“You want to engage the really big retailers, and you know, Walmart and TargetTGT
have initiatives and they understand the business value of diversity,” she added. “But at The Pledge, two of our core components of work are accountability, and public transparency. At The Pledge, we work at a very data-driven approach. We feel like we can partner with major retailers like Target and help to advance and grow what they’re already doing. They’ve already shown their commitment and understanding that supporting Black entrepreneurs is just good business, so we’re calling them in, we’d love to partner with them.

“Societally, we can get maximum impact. We haven’t had a direct understanding of why they haven’t taken The Pledge yet, but we do know that they are aware of The Fifteen Percent Pledge and what we’re attempting to do is to make contact and figure out how we can get things in motion,” Williams-Belfort said. “Many times, companies don’t understand the nuances of The Fifteen Percent Pledge’s work and the strategy. Big companies like Target or Walmart have gotten used to working somewhat the same way for a very long time.

“Innovation is very scary, but to solve big, systemic problems, society needs courage,” Williams-Belfort said. “We’d love to have an opportunity to explain what our model is and how we work, and again, that it’s really rooted in business. Even though we’re a nonprofit organization, and it’s really about how do you create new customers and retain current customers, and ultimately drive the bottom line for retailers and give Black businesses an opportunity to have a seat at the table that we haven’t historically had.”

Those things – doing good business work – are paramount at this moment in time with all of the economic challenges we’re facing societally, Williams-Belfort said, adding that some new, innovative ideas “could really help us to move forward in the best way possible.”

Are retailers still conducting racial profiling? “Yes, racism is still alive and well, even though we’ve made a lot of strides, having critical conversations and understanding the history of race in this country,” Williams-Belfort said. “People who have never come along the race journey are starting to understand, but I do think we have a way to go where people of color aren’t being discriminated against and profiled. Unfortunately, profiling is still happening in 2022.”