Roughly 80% of garment workers are women, many in unsafe or low-wage conditions. “The industry runs on women,” Steph Stephenson of the Cordes Foundation says on the latest Agents of Impact Podcast. “When we invest in ethical fashion and sustainable supply chains, we’re investing in women’s rights, economic mobility and dignity.” Founded in 2006 by Stephenson’s parents, Ron and Marty Cordes, the foundation from the start focused on women and girls. Since joining in 2014, Stephenson has channeled that mission into sustainable fashion, where labor, climate and gender issues collide.
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Creative economy
The Cordes Foundation backs groups advancing worker protections, circularity and fair supply chains. Model Alliance helped secure New York’s new Fashion Workers Act, providing long-overdue safeguards for models and creators.(see, “Sara Ziff, Model Alliance: Fighting for labor standards for fashion workers”). Remake is pushing consumers toward reuse and transparency through campaigns like No New Clothes. And The Nest links global brands with artisans while ensuring fair pay and preserving heritage craft. Other partners, like Indego Africa, train women artisans to become entrepreneurs. As the foundation looks ahead to its next decade, the family is leaning more on outside fund managers, like Closed Loop Partners and Alante Capital. “We realized we could help more by going deeper, not wider,” says Stephenson.
Fashion savvy
The Cordes Foundation has supported ImpactAlpha’s coverage of sustainable and ethical fashion. That includes reports on diverse designers and upcycled fashion at New York Fashion Week, Black investors funding emerging designers, fashion savvy Agents of Impact such as Ziff of Model Alliance and Edgar Villanueva of the Decolonizing Wealth Project, which champions Indigenous designers, and corporate leaders providing critical support for regenerative cotton production.