Retailers Take Pride in LGBTQIA+ Community
- By [ Caroline Niery ]
- 06/17/2024
Retailers directly serve communities made up of individuals of many different backgrounds, and work to ensure their workforce reflects the diverse nature of these communities. This includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus customers and employees.
Explore how RILA members are celebrating Pride 2024 below:
Bath & Body Works Celebrates LGBTQ+ Community During Pride
This June, Bath & Body Works welcomes Pride Month – a time of celebration and self-acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, and a time for reflection on the progress made and the work still needed to achieve equality for all.
Bath & Body Works is committed to honoring the culture and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month and throughout the year. Below are just a few ways we’re celebrating this important month.
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
We are proud to continue our support of It Gets Better and their mission to uplift, empower and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe. Bath & Body Works is donating $100,000 to It Gets Better as part of our commitment to improving people’s lives in underserved and underrepresented communities across the country. We’re also supporting It Gets Better Canada with a $30,000 CAD donation.
As a central Ohio company, Bath & Body Works is sponsoring the Stonewall Columbus Pride March. This celebration brings more than 700,000 visitors to central Ohio to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, and hundreds of Bath & Body Works associates and their families join the march in support.
Supporting Bath & Body Works Associates
PRISM, our Inclusion Resource Group for LGBTQ+ associates and allies, welcomes all Bath & Body Works associates to participate in a full month of virtual and in-person programming to learn, reflect, celebrate and connect. Activities include the opportunity to contribute to a quilt inspired by the historic AIDS memorial quilt, a special Pride movie night and an associate celebration featuring special guest speakers, panels and a resource fair with LGBTQ+ vendors.
Celebrating Pride with Love Always Wins
Perfumers Victor Bartash and Chiaki Nomura along with Bath & Body Works designer Julianne Fletcher collaborated on this year’s Love Always Wins collection which is available in stores and online.
Love Always Wins includes an array of products across personal care and home fragrance in a new vibrant fragrance featuring notes of rainbow citrus, water lotus and wood sage.
When designing the collection, Julianne Fletcher drew inspiration from the history and power of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and brought in a colorful, hexagonal pattern to the product packaging.
“My strongest connection to the LGBTQ+ community is being a proud mom, supporter and an ally to my youngest son Sam,” says Fletcher. “To have my designs representing Pride Month gives me hope and makes me proud.”
Continuing Our Support of Future Perfumers
The American Chemical Society (ACS) Scholars Program awards undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups, majoring in chemistry-related disciplines and careers. As part of a three-year partnership which began in 2023, the Bath & Body Works Foundation has donated a total of $200,000 to support both the ACS Scholars Program and the ACS Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Respect’s mission. This donation will help open doors for the next generation of leaders in chemistry-related fields, like perfumers and more.
To learn more about Bath & Body Works’ commitment to inclusion, visit bbwinc.com.
Dollar Tree & Family Dollar
Dollar Tree | Family Dollar is excited to celebrate PRIDE month this year with our associates and in the communities that we serve. Our exciting lineup of events planned to celebrate PRIDE underscores our value of Inspiring Belonging. Our company fully supports the mission of our PRIDE Associate Resource Group, dedicated to championing the growth and development of LGBTQ+ associates, allies, and the communities we serve. Our commitment to advocacy, education, and celebration reflects our unwavering dedication to the diverse LGBTQ+ community.This June, we are celebrating PRIDE at the below events with our associates across the United States and Canada to show our support of the LGBTQ+ community:
- Store Support Center Pride Kick-Off – This event was broadcast enterprise wide to highlight the significance of PRIDE month. We lit up the outside our Store Support Center building with the colors of the PRIDE flag as part of this celebration.
- Pride in the ‘Peake Festival – Dollar Tree | Family Dollar was the presenting sponsor of this family-oriented event in Chesapeake, Virginia, where we had the opportunity to close the streets adjacent to our Store Support Center to invite local vendors as well as non-profit organizations to celebrate Pride with us. Attendees supported The Trevor Project by shopping our Family Dollar PRIDE assortment, raising over $3,000 for LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention. The Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia also received nearly 1600 meal donations.
- Capital Pride Parade – Dollar Tree | Family Dollar associates from our Store Support Center, stores and distribution centers participated in the Capital Pride parade in Washington DC.
- Hampton Roads Pridefest – Dollar Tree | Family Dollar is the premier sponsor of this festival in Norfolk, Virginia, dedicated to promoting LGBTQ+ visibility and acceptance. This celebration includes the country’s only PRIDE Boat Parade!
- Colors of inclusion Photo & Video Event –Our Store Support Center associates in Chesapeake, Virginia, had the opportunity to wear their favorite color of the PRIDE flag, for a photo and video creating a human Pride flag.
- Field Cultural Celebration – We are hosting a PRIDE celebration in Chicago, Illinois, with our local stores and distribution center associates. This will include an educational session and panel discussion. As part of this celebration, Dollar Tree | Family Dollar will make a donation to Howard Brown Health, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ organizations providing accessible, high-quality, and culturally sensitive healthcare to all.
- PRIDE Toronto Parade – Dollar Tree Canada associates will participate in the PRIDE Toronto Parade as part of the PRIDE Toronto 2024 Festival. This is the largest PRIDE parade in Canada!
Ikea Celebrates Pride Month
The IKEA vision is to make life better for the many people. We proudly support the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month and every day. We believe that together with our social justice partners, co-workers, customers and communities, we can work to make meaningful and measurable change.
To that end, IKEA is donating $1.00 from each sale of our rainbow cake (up to $100,00) to support True Colors United, a nonprofit organization working to find solutions for homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth. IKEA is also donating 100 percent of the retail price from each sale of the iconic STORSTOMMA rainbow shopping bags (up to $50,000) to support Rainbow Railroad, a nonprofit organization that helps LGBTQI+ people facing persecution based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in their native nations.
Kohl’s Celebrates Pride Month
Kohl’s has a long history of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, as one more way we strive to create an inclusive and welcoming culture where all of our associates and guests feel valued and respected, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Kohl’s is celebrating Pride Month with our Pride capsule collection—a mix of products with bright colors, patterns and categories meant to encourage authenticity, love and acceptance. The collection is designed by and for the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies.
In addition, Kohl’s is donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project to support its free, confidential crisis counseling services, a critical resource for LGBTQIA+ youth.
Levi Strauss & Co. Celebrating Pride
Levi Strauss & Co. has a proven track record of championing equality and advocating for our people and our communities around the world. As part of our continued support for LGBTQIA+ communities, Levi’s® and Dockers® have once again released Pride collections for 2024, coupled with exciting activations and donations to organizations committed to advancing equality for the long term.
Through grantmaking to organizations like GiveOUT and advocacy in support of pro-equality legislation, LS&Co. continues to support efforts to advance LGBTQIA+ rights globally. And from Mexico City to Berlin and countless cities in between, teams around the world are hosting events and activations and participating in Pride parades to celebrate with fellow employees and fans.
All this work proudly showcases LS&Co.’s continued support for the LGBTQIA+ community. LGBTQIA+ equality is central to our past, present and our future, because it’s the right thing to do for our people and our communities. We’re committed to cultivating and sustaining a culture of inclusion and belonging, working to ensure that our company is a place where each person’s unique identity is celebrated and valued.
Read more on how Levi Strauss & Co. is celebrating Pride this year here.
How Pandora Celebrates Pride Month
At Pandora Jewelry, love is more than an occasion. It’s something you do, something you live. We believe in supporting everyone's right to be themselves and love who they choose, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We celebrate all year round, with Pride Month as an opportunity for us to learn and recognize acceptance, equality and the importance of celebrating love and friendship.Together we can join our hearts to build a workplace where we can each come as we are.The call to action to all employees: “It starts with us - a willingness to learn, listen and promote allyship. Let’s link together this June. Hold a hand. Take a stand. With your eyes closed. And your heart open. CELEBRATE LOVE.”
This June, Pandora’s Pride theme links directly to our brand’s consumer messaging of BE LOVE with the simple phrase, “CELEBRATE LOVE”. We’d like to shine a spotlight on the internal company initiatives that we have in store for our Teams. In North America, our Pandora PRIDE Coalition Employee Resource Group is hosting a series of virtual events and internal social channel communications to celebrate, educate and show support.
For all employees, we’re also thrilled to partner this year with vendor Unexpected Virtual Tours for a Pride Virtual Tour. This 60 minute interactive, educational experience follows the story of Pride, from the founding of America to after the Stonewall riots. Our teams will get a live look in the Castro neighborhood from our on-location guide in San Francisco and a live look in the Greenwich Village neighborhood from our live guide in New York City. Finally, for our New York and Baltimore/DC Hub employees, our North American PRIDE Coalition Employee Resource Group is helping celebrate June PRIDE Month while enjoying America’s favorite pastime, a summer baseball game with The Baltimore Orioles or The New York Mets for their respective Pride Night Games.
At Pandora Jewelry, we are beyond proud of our LGBTQIA+ employees and this month, we raise them up and CELEBRATE LOVE.
PetSmart’s 2024 Pride Month Celebrations
PetSmart’s 2024 Pride Month celebrations include providing educational resources and support for associates, participating in local Pride parades, offering its You are Loved Collection product line, and more. PetSmart has helped sponsor 40 local pride celebrations across the U.S. and Canada in 2024.
Primark Celebrates The Power of Being You This Pride
As Pride celebrations kick off across the US, Primark is celebrating the joy of dressing, accessorising and living in an authentic way, with a new campaign. Centring on the message - Be Authentic, Be Proud, Be You – the campaign showcases the power of self-expression and represents the diversity of the brand’s colleagues and customers.
Primark will also donate a further $120,000(£100,000) to its international long-term charity partner, ILGA World, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, as they press forward to advance equity and equality for those in the community. This is the sixth year of Primark’s partnership with ILGA World and takes the retailer’s contribution to LGBTQI+ charities to over $1.2 million since 2018.
This year Primark colleagues are participating in Pride events in Boston, New York, and Florida. Learn more about Primark’s efforts here.
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