Fashion Bands together to “Fashion Our Future 2020”

On Thursday, a collective of designers, brand founders and industry leaders are launching a campaign to register one million voters by September 22 (which is National Voter Registration Day in the U.S.) and then ensure they cast their votes in November.

Led by Studio 189’s Abrima Erwiah, in partnership with Voto Latino (which was launched by her co-founder Rosario Dawson and Maria Teresa Kumar in 2004), Fashion Our Future 2020 aims to not only encourage voter registration, but to also provide resources to and educate voters — especially first-time and newly-registered ones — ahead of the 2020 election. Virgil Abloh has signed on as creative director of the multi-faceted campaign, which includes both product (a capsule of voting-themed merchandise by Abloh, Studio 189, Fe Noel, Tanya Taylor and Victor Glemaud, among others, will launch during New York Fashion Week) and programming (think panels, workshops and other virtual experiences, as well as content through partners like Refinery29 and IMG). Taylor, Glemaud, Refinery29, IMG, TheRealReal and Roswe ll Studios also helped in organizing this effort.  Beyond making merch, designers and brands that have signed on to Fashion Our Future 2020 commit to sharing information pertaining to voter registration and the upcoming election on their own platforms. They’re given a 2020 Voter Registration Tool Kit, created with Voto Latino, which includes an “Action Button” that they can add to their websites, e-commerce pages and social media accounts and allows customers to register to vote and access more voting-related resources.

At launch, the following fashion companies have pledged to support Fashion Our Future 2020: 12.29, 3.1 Phillip Lim, A.L.C., Alejandra Alonso Rojas, Asyha, Batsheva, Brandon Maxwell, Fe Noel, Gigi Burris Millinery, Good American, HVN, Jonathan Cohen, Khiry, La Ligne, Lemlem, Mara Hoffman, Post Imperial, Prabal Gurung, Proenza Schouler, Rachel Comey, Sergio Hudson, Sukeina, Tanya Taylor, Third Crown, Victor Glemaud and Zero + Maria Cornejo, as well as Studio 189 and Abloh. Annie Jean-Baptiste, Good American’s Emma Grede, Maison de Mode’s Hassan Pierre, Julie Gilhart, Julien Cahn, Meredith Koop, Opal Tometi, Samira Nasr, Tanya Taylor and Victor Glemaud, as well as Voto Latino’s Kumar and Dawson, served as advisors on the initiative.

“I love our country’s motto, ‘E pluribus unum,’ out of many, one. That’s what I see when I look at the number of eligible voters in this country – I see the possibility of us all getting involved, and I imagine what we could do if we joined forces and worked together,” Erwiah said in a statement. “Fashion can do more than sell clothes. It creates cultural moments that inspire movements, so let’s make celebrating our right to vote the biggest movement of 2020. We are standing on the shoulders of all the people who marched, fought, sacrificed and died for us to have this right to vote. I think about the power of all these collective voices and what we can do if we all come together and participate. Together, we can make a difference. We can make history.”

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Photo Credit:  Jacqueline Anders / Shutterstock.com