Burberry has pledged to give its employees mandatory training and increase its support for the Samaritans after being widely condemned for putting a jumper with a “noose” design on the catwalk.
A week after the luxury fashion house apologised for the hoodie, which ties in the shape of a noose, its chief executive, Marco Gobbetti, said the brand would embrace diversity and inclusion through a series of initiatives. “We are not where we need or want to be,” he said in a statement posted on Instagram.
The brand had been accused of evoking images of lynchings and suicide by including the hoodie in the collection shown recently at London fashion week.
Gobbetti previously said Burberry was “deeply sorry for the distress” the item had caused, while Riccardo Tisci, its creative director, also apologised, saying he had come to “realize [sic] that it was insensitive”.
Alongside an image bearing the statement from Gobbetti, Burberry included a lengthy caption with details of its proposed strategy.
The first step, called “increasing our understanding”, included plans to give all employees further training as well as to assemble an advisory board of external experts. The fashion house has also developed a plan to “increase our consciousness and understanding of social issues”.
The brand said it would increase staff diversity by expanding its creative arts scholarship internationally and providing full-time employment for 50 graduates from the programme over the next five years, among other initiatives.
Burberry also pledged to champion those who help others by supporting “organisations promoting diversity and inclusion and providing assistance to people in crisis, including the Samaritans”. It gave no further details of what this will entail.
Samaritans said: “Samaritans has been approached by Burberry, but nothing has been agreed.”
The row over the item erupted when the model Liz Kennedy posted a photograph of the hoodie on Instagram with a caption criticising Tisci and “everyone at Burberry”.
“Suicide is not fashion,” she wrote. “It is not glamorous nor edgy and since this show is dedicated to the youth expressing their voice, here I go. Riccardo Tisci and everyone at Burberry – it is beyond me how you could let a look resembling a noose hanging from a neck out on the runway.”
• In the UK Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
