Cover art for By diversifying the design industry how might this impact the look and feel we see for fashion brands today? | William Hardaway (3 of 5)
Season 2, Episode 10··14:38

By diversifying the design industry how might this impact the look and feel we see for fashion brands today? | William Hardaway (3 of 5)

William Hardaway reveals why representation alone won't fix racist fashion campaigns — you need voice, not just seats at the table. He breaks apart creative frameworks like design thinking and agile to show how "objectivity" and "standards" can mask systemic bias.

diversityfashiondesignrepresentation
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Show Notes

In This Episode

William Hardaway examines how diversifying the design industry could transform the look and feel of fashion brands. Using a real example of a prominent magazine dressing a model as a geisha despite publishing articles about inclusion, Will explains why representation without voice leads to the same problematic outcomes. He argues that creative frameworks themselves — design thinking, agile, lean — need to be dismantled and rebuilt with anti-racism work integrated from the start.

Key Takeaways

  • Representation alone won't change fashion — without voice and power, diverse hires can still be silenced in corporate settings where speaking up carries professional risk
  • Creative frameworks like design thinking rely on "objectivity" and "standards" that default to the majority perspective and often exclude the experiences of oppressed communities
  • Brands must be intentionally direct when testing creative work — asking "how might this be considered racist?" is not leading the witness, it's correcting for existing bias
  • The fashion industry has many layers of design (fashion design, retail architecture, service design, graphic design) and problematic decisions can slip through at any point in that creative ecosystem

About William Hardaway

William Hardaway works at the intersection of social justice and design thinking. After over a decade in each field separately, he combines them to break apart creative frameworks and integrate anti-racism work into the design process. His approach focuses on dismantling existing processes to uncover where bias enters creative decision-making.

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