Like clockwork, consumers will find many US-based brands and retailers shifting their logos or in-store imagery to feature rainbow-inspired designs in June. Consumers will also find various examples of retailers or brands launching limited-edition Pride collections, from rainbow-coloured apparel to children’s books featuring an inclusive array of familial set-ups, online and in-store. This is in a nod towards Pride Month, a marked time of celebration and recognition of the LGBTQIA+
BTQIA+ community, a month which was first officially recognized by the government in 1999. Since then, the recognition of this community and the release of themed products and marketing materials related to Pride Month has been an increasingly open area of focus in the retail industry.
This a smart move on merchants’ parts considering that LGBTQIA+ adults make up over seven per cent of the US population and nearly 25 per cent of Gen Zers identify as being part of this community.
According to corporate advisory firm LGBT Capital, the LGBTQIA+ community has an estimated purchasing power of $3.9 trillion worldwide, with the US estimated to make up about $1.1 billion of that total.
However, this year, there has been a notable drawback in retailers and brands showing awareness, via avenues like social media platforms or websites, of Pride Month or towards the LGBTQIA+ community in general.
Inside Retail spoke with brand founders Finnegan Shepard of the apparel brand Both& and Kim Chi of KimChi Chic Beauty to gather their thoughts on the state of the retail industry’s support, or lack thereof, for the LGBTQIA+ community and their opinion on what can be done to show authentic support for the LGBTQIA+ community effectively.
Brands backing up on Pride Month Awareness
This summer big-box retailer Target reduced the number of its stores carrying Pride-themed products this year after receiving notable backlash in 2023. Meanwhile, consumer product goods brands like The North Face and Nike have also been pulling back on themed offerings and media materials related to Pride Month.
Inside Retail connected with Shin Sang-Young, the founder and chief executive officer of KimChi Chic Beauty, who isbetter known by their drag persona Kim Chi, to discuss their thoughts on the matter.
Kim Chi commented, “We’ve come a long way when it comes to authentic inclusion and still have a long way to go. Justwhen you think we’ve taken several steps forward with corporations being more mindful when it comes to LGBTQIA+ representation, we take a few steps back.”
“For example,” the beauty brand founder elaborated, “the uproar over a trans influencer doing a sponsored post for a beer – a lot of companies ended up pulling back and scaling down on all LGBTQIA+ content in order to avoid a potential backlash.”
The influencer Kim Chi referenced was Dylan Mulvaney, a popular social media personality on TikTok. Mulvaney had collaborated with the American beer company Bud Light on a social media promotion on April 1, which set off a series of online protests and plummeting sales from consumers unhappy with the brand’s “support” of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The post was immediately taken down by the brand and with it marked a decreased lack of visible “allyship” for this often-maligned community.
Data gathered by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a non-governmental media monitoring organization in the United States, reported in its 2023 Advertising Visibility Index that LGBTQ+ people were featured in only three per cent of the 436 TV ads from the top 10 largest advertisers last year. Whereas, LGBTQ+-targeted ad spending within endemic media made up a scant 1.5 per cent of the total budget.
What can the retail industry do to become a more welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ brand founders?
In comparison to several decades prior, when it was difficult for LGBTQIA+ retail executives to even come out, let alone line up financial or public support for themselves, it could be argued that the retail industry at large has become more progressive.
However, Finnegan Shepard is the founder and chief executive officer Both&, a New York City-based clothing brand that designs and sells apparel, for transmasc, nonbinary, and genderqueer people, would be cautious to announce a noticeable improvement for founders in the industry.
As Shepard told Inside Retail, “I’m reticent to judge it based on binary ‘better’ or ‘worse’ terms, because it’s a multifaceted issue, and things that may appear good or bad on the surface may well in other ways have the opposite impact.”
For example, Both& was officially launched in 2020, a year of marked allyship, that many in the industry have noticed showcased performative activism for both the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities.