Blood is Blood by Mother and Stuart Semple, US
US – For the start of New York Fashion Week, creative company Mother launched a limited-edition collection of protest art tools made with the blood of gay men to protest against the US Food & Drug Administration’s effective ban on gay men from donating blood.
Created in collaboration with artist and activist Stuart Semple, the launch comes as the US experiences a national shortage of blood and looks to draw attention to the discriminatory ban. Items include acrylic paint, a fountain pen, screen printing ink, paint pens and spray paint. ‘With these tools, others can help make some bloody noise on this issue – whether it’s shirts, murals or protest signs to fight back against the FDA’s homophobic policies,’ explains Mother.
All items can be purchased individually, with 100% of proceeds from sales going to LGBTQ-focused healthcare provider Callen-Lorde. Mother will also be partnering with LGBTQ+ creators and collaborators in the coming months to create pieces using the new collection and auctioning off the results on its website.
Go to our Intersectionality series for more examples of campaigns and brands championing purposeful action across progressive causes.
US – It has been hard to escape the headlines about the US-based outdoor fashion brand Patagonia’s announcement on 14 September that its billionaire owner Yvon Chouinard and his family would be giving 100% of their controlling shares, worth an estimated £2.6bn ($3bn, €3bn), over to a trust and non-profit organisation dedicated to fighting the climate crisis.
The activist fashion company has long pushed an anti-consumerism agenda and is famed for its Don’t Buy This Jacket advertisement in The New York Times on Black Friday 2011. The stock giveaway, which saw Chouinard hand over 2% voting stock to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the remaining 98% to non-profit organisation The Holdfast Collective, dedicated to climate causes, has been lauded. The resulting corporate tax structure means the collective can spend directly on political advocacy and lobby to influence policy.
But there have also been a few detractors highlighting the company’s increasing carbon footprint (its direct carbon emissions have grown on balance since 2018, according to The Independent) and its silence on the 2021 Garment Worker Protection Act in California, establishing fair wages and improved conditions for clothing makers in Patagonia’s home state.
At The Future Laboratory, we have highlighted how the brands that will thrive in this decade will embrace imperfection and focus on betterment; Patagonia has become the post-purpose era pin-up.
Yvon Chouinard presenting Patagonia's Next Chapter: Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder
