At THE ICONIC, diversity, inclusion and belonging isn’t a tick box exercise. We work to empower true self-expression with respect and dignity for all. It’s at the heart of our culture and is in our DNA.
We’re creating opportunities and belonging for all. A workplace and shopping experience where everyone can express their authentic selves. We’re ensuring that our people represent our communities. We’re embracing diversity of thought and we honour all unique lived experiences.
Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging, we aim to create a true sense of belonging for all our people. For our customers and the communities we serve, we will continue to curate the best assortment as we create a better way to shop, with equal opportunity for our team, suppliers and partners.
Indigenous Engagement
We have a vision for an Australia that is fiercely proud of its First Nations histories and cultures, one that is unafraid to confront and engage in difficult conversations, and one that is on a continual pathway of growing together and learning from each other.
As it relates to our industry, we aspire for a fashion and retail industry that puts First Nations design and business principles at the heart of how we define ourselves.
We have a vision for an industry that moves beyond inclusivity; to one that affirms First Nations leadership, as a way to explore new business models, design excellence and sustainable and ethical practice.
As we get ready to publish our INNOVATE RAP in 2024, in 2023 we innovated with an industry-first program. And, the principles of our Indigenous Engagement Strategy continue to be brought to life in all that we do. Those principles are co-design, two-way learning, partnerships and celebration.
Our INNOVATE Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group formed - a cross functional team of talent to help us bring the principles of our Indigenous Engagement Strategy to life by planning and embedding our RAP deliverables.
- Our Senior Leaders took part in Immersive Cultural Awareness Workshops, with First Nations cultural awareness elearns made available for all our people.
- Working closely with our First Nations Partners, Cox Inall Ridgeway, we offered internal awareness campaigns with resources and workshops on The Uluru Statement from the Heart and provided specialised First Nations counselling services for our people in the lead up to the Referendum.
- We ran events with guest speakers from Local Aboriginal Land Councils, across all our hubs for Reconciliation Action and NAIDOC Week.
- THE ICONIC X FNFD Incubator Program launched in 2023, and this industry-first program in partnership and co-designed with First Nations Fashion + Design (FNFD) was successfully completed in January 2024 with Designer Showcase to celebrate the capsule collections on site, our inaugural First Nations Edit.
We will continue to:
- Innovate in Indigenous engagement and bring our shared principles to life.
- Undertake deep listening and build understanding of the opportunities and challenges for First Nations people in the fashion industry.
- Work with our First Nations partners to drive practical and meaningful two-way learning opportunities for our people to make a difference.
- Explore ways to co-design with our First Nations partners, as we celebrate, mark and honour significant dates for First Nations peoples across our business.
- Build our First Nations workforce and stakeholder network at all levels and in all parts of our business.
THE ICONIC and First Nations Fashion + Design (FNFD) teamed up in 2022 to support the growth of the First Nations fashion ecology.
Through this partnership and our co-designed THE ICONIC X FNFD Incubator Program, we work to support the next generation of First Nations fashion designers via mentoring, business support and economic development. This program leverages THE ICONIC’s industry leading position to promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fashion brands, with FNFD bringing expertise and perspective from community engagement and industry influence. Using THE ICONIC as a retail platform, where we can we will continue to foster the long-term growth of the First Nations fashion industry.
All Gender Equity
At THE ICONIC, our commitment to gender equity is always on. We are proud to keep this area of diversity, inclusion and belonging front of mind as we remain ambitious to build an inclusive, flexible and respectful workplace that fosters and develops our people and leaders of all genders.
Through 2023, we shared updates with all our people and with our Executive Team on the changes coming into effect under the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), along with our reports. In 2024, when WGEA published the 2022-2023 Gender Pay Gap (GPG) information for Australian private sector employers with 100 or more employees as expected, we shared these results with all our people.
Making gender pay gaps visible, provides a deeper understanding of workplace gender equality in Australia and is an important step towards accelerating employer action on workplace gender equality. At THE ICONIC, we are all in for this - because we know, with greater transparency comes greater accountability, which ultimately leads to greater progress, always.
- We co-designed and produced a special event, to a full-house with record breaking attendance and a curated panel discussion with our CEO, alongside the female Founder of Mentor Walks and special guest speakers for International Women’s Day.
- We continued our proud partnership with Mentor Walks Sydney, with 10 successful walks on Sydney Harbour.
- We co-developed and launched Western Sydney Mentor Walks for aspiring women leaders in our fulfilment centre.
- We heard from DIB Champions on men’s well-being and the power of role models.
In 2024, we will create clear action plans and set measurable goals, which we know are essential for long-term progress and change. At THE ICONIC, we all have a role to play in gender equity.
ICONIC Pride
LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex + inclusion) initiatives at THE ICONIC foster a culture of inclusion and respect, empowering our people to bring their authentic selves to work each day, inclusive of all orientations, gender identities and gender expression.
- We celebrated World Pride with our “Louder Now” Campaign for our customers.
- We held a special World Pride event for our people.
- We heard from DIB champions and provided tangible tools and resources on inclusive language, the importance of pronouns and how to be an Ally for our Trans and Non-Binary communities.
- We shared bespoke LGBTQI+ inclusion leader briefings for Global Fashion Group (GFG) Executives.
- We provided LGBTQI+ inclusion webinars across THE ICONIC, Zalora, Dafiti and GFG.
Our commitment to Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at THE ICONIC is unwavering. Through 2024 and beyond, we will continue to:
- Elevate our people’s voices and celebrate our DIB ambassadors, who share stories of courage, hope and pride for the future.
- Curate and share a diverse range of resources, run awareness campaigns and provide conversational opportunities for our people to raise awareness and come together for moments that matter.
- Undertake regular policy reviews and develop our practices to be more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
- Develop more DIB learning opportunities for our people and leaders, available across every touch point of the employee life-cycle, and all areas of the business.
- Report to Workplace Gender Equality Agency and Reconciliation Australia annually, and use these findings to inform our DIB action plans and strategies.
- Grow our INNOVATE RAP Working Group, and develop Employee Resource Groups across the business.
- Honour, mark and celebrate key dates of significance in ways that are meaningful.
This includes; Indigenous Engagement, All Gender Equity, THE ICONIC Pride, Cultural and Multi-faith Inclusion, Working Families, Access & Inclusion.
Our Commitment to Inclusivity
THE ICONIC’s commitment to true self expression is reflected across our app, our site, our social channels, campaigns and events. Our team’s daily commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging is also reflected in our model casting, which sees our talent come from a pool that encompasses people of all genders, generations, sizes, body shapes, faiths, cultural backgrounds, and differently-abled bodies.
Our Assortments
In 2023, THE ICONIC launched THE ICONIC X FNFD Incubator Program – an industry first, co-designed program with First Nations Fashion and Design, to unlock industry opportunities, connect cultural mentors, and elevate First Nations brands. In 2024, our dedicated First Nations Edit was launched – celebrating the debut capsule collections of the incredible designers who successfully completed the program, and their First Nations labels. These exquisite collections are exclusive to THE ICONIC customers across Australia and New Zealand.
In June 2022, we launched a dedicated Modest Edit. Modest refers to a style of dressing that covers most of the body, and producing an edit aligns with our strategy of inclusivity and representation.
In approaching the Modest Edit, we engaged an external consultant to ensure our execution was culturally appropriate. Modesty appeals to women of all faiths and cultural backgrounds, and is simply a style of dressing that is more conservative. We have used a diverse mix of brands to create an edit for this customer, across a wide range of ages.
Modest dressing often includes layering, loose silhouettes, higher necklines, long sleeves and no-cleavage garments – outfits that don’t accentuate the shape of the body. As with our Adaptive Edit, our Modest Edit is about ensuring we’re meeting our customers’ expectations. If our consumers are diverse, then our fashion must be inclusive.
We remain focussed on diversifying our assortment of brands and sizes. We’ve introduced size extensions in both our Own Brands and branded assortment.
Within our Own Brand assortment, we have a total of 10 apparel brands, 8 extend to size 16 or larger, with 3 running up to a size 20. One brand, Dazie, has successfully launched size 4s.
Within our branded assortment, we continue to offer size extensions in 23 out of our top 25 brands by sales volume. We have used technology to integrate our vendors' stock and our own on site in sport and denim brands to offer all sizes in global brands like adidas and Levi’s. This technology will be rolled out more widely in the coming year. In our men’s business, 47 brands now run up to a XXXL; 19 of those have a dedicated Big & Tall offering.
An area of continued attention is to diversify our brands and assortment to be more representative and reflective of our customers and communities. Alongside our Adaptive and Modest Edits, a particular focus for us is bringing onboard more First Nations-identifying brands, with four already within our assortment. This is also an important element of our partnership with FNFD, where we are collaborating on supporting more designers to scale. Following our RAP commitments, our ongoing diversification of our assortment is a major focus that will continue into the future.
In 2021 THE ICONIC launched a dedicated Adaptive Edit, a tailored edit dedicated to serving customers living with disabilities and other access needs, with a focus on functional style that prioritises ease of dressing through features such as thoughtful closures, fits for prosthetics and seated-wear solutions across women’s, men’s and kidswear. We worked with leading accessibility consultancy, All Is For All, whose team of consultants helped ensure this new offering was brought to life with a considered approach, informed by lived experiences.
Thread Together
THE ICONIC is proud to have had a formal partnership with Thread Together since 2019. Thread Together redistributes surplus clothing to people in situations of crisis including people experiencing homelessness, victims of domestic violence, asylum seekers, Indigenous communities, ex-inmates, and other vulnerable groups in the community.
Since the commencement of our partnership, our Community team have been working with Thread Together to understand how we can help to address their core business needs across their four pillars of Time, Treasure, Ties and Talent. We provide volunteering opportunities to our internal teams which support Thread Together at their Banksmeadow warehouse to sort, pack and distribute new clothing to their charity partners or individual recipients. We’ve also provided support to Thread Together in areas where THE ICONIC employees can provide expertise such as warehouse design and optimisation.
In 2023, THE ICONIC partnered with the McGrath Foundation to launch a bespoke McGrath Pink Edit for the duration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month of October, encouraging Australians to get behind the transformative power of pink. Exclusively featuring hues of pink from THE ICONIC’s Own Brands AERE, Atmos&Here and Dazie, the capsule collection was curated by fashion stylist Donny Galella featuring a vibrant mix of women’s pieces in sizes 8-20. The campaign featured real women who have experienced a breast cancer diagnosis and had their life change course overnight. With more than 20,0001 people expected to face a breast cancer diagnosis this year, 10% of all profits from the collection were donated directly to funding McGrath Breast Care Nurses who provide physical, emotional and psychological support from diagnosis and throughout treatment for people experiencing breast cancer. We are currently in discussions with the McGrath Foundation as to how we can build on this partnership in the future.
THE ICONIC also contributes to charitable organisations in response to crises, which impact our community, like a natural disaster, flood or drought. In 2020, we created our Bushfire Relief Plan to support those impacted by the devastating bushfires that rocked our country.
