Famous jeans maker, Levi Strauss, made news last week by jumping into the gun control fray calling for stricter gun laws in the US and pledging $1 million in grants to be distributed over the next four years to non-profit and activist groups fighting to stop gun violence. The company “simply cannot stand by silently when it comes to issues that threaten the very fabric of the communities where we live and work,” wrote the firm’s president and chief executive, Chip Bergh, in a piece for Fortune magazine.

Levi’s action followed hard on the heels of Nike who, on September 3rd, unveiled a giant billboard featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, over San Francisco’s Union Square. Similar billboards followed in other cities. Kaepernick has been a controversial figure since he took a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice, a gesture that spread to players on other NFL teams and sparked a nation-wide debate. Nike followed up by releasing an ad featuring Kaepernick which aired during the NFL season opener on September 6th. In spite of the fact that many customers blasted the company on social media and some filmed themselves destroying Nike products and claiming that they will boycott the company, Nike reported a 31% increase in sales over the Labour Day holiday this year compared with the same time period last year.

Levi Strauss and Nike are far from the first members of the fashion industry to involve themselves in social issues. Women’s apparel brand, Eileen Fisher, proudly supports a long list of environmental and human rights groups.  Through its Heart of Cabi Foundation, Cabi, one of the largest direct sale women’s apparel businesses in the US, supports several initiatives to encourage and empower women in need around the world. Even fast fashion giant, H&M, has collection boxes in their stores worldwide aimed at recycling clothing items (any brand) and reducing the tonnes of textiles that end up in landfills. These are just a few examples.

Should companies like Levi and Nike stick to producing products and making money and leave issues like gun control and racial inequality to politicians and lobby groups or should they put consumers in the position of deciding whether or not to support these issues with our clothing dollars? When you shop for clothes do you want to have to think about whether or not you agree with the manufacturer’s ethics? After all, when you give money to a company, you implicitly support the values that that company stands for.

I’d love to hear your opinion!