Business Finance - Management APA assignment

Lindsey Gallo Marisa Weidner Jane Xie

Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

Published by WDI Publishing, a division of the William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan.

© 2021 Lindsey Gallo, Jane Xie and Marisa Weidner. This case was written by Jane Xie and Marisa Weidner, both 2021 MBA graduates of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, under the supervision of Lindsey Gallo, Coopers and Lybrand, Norman E. Auerbach Assistant Professor of Accounting at Michigan Ross. The case was prepared as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a situation. The case should not be considered criticism or endorsement and should not be used as a source of primary data. The opening situation in the case is fictional in order to provide a more robust student learning experience.

As manager of public affairs for Oiselle, Emily Jenkinsi sat in her makeshift office in December 2020 as she reflected on the initiatives she and her team had launched in the past year. Oiselle, a women’s running apparel brand, was founded with a mission centered on women’s empowerment. In the past months, Oiselle had joined a runners diversity coalition started by endurance athlete and activist Alison Désir. Oiselle also had partnered with Désir’s organization Run 4 All Women on the “Womxn Run the Vote Relay” to raise money for Black Voters Matter, a group dedicated to registering Black voters and elevating awareness regarding racially motivated voter suppression.

It was not the first time Oiselle had called attention to social issues. For example, Oiselle’s athlete sponsorship model directly challenged the status quo set by brands like Nike that reduced or eliminated pay for pregnant athletes. As a purpose-driven brand, Oiselle usually moved quickly to support issues that mattered to its employees. Jenkins was proud that the company and the leadership team prioritized its values over profits.

Following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, companies across the country were supporting the Black Lives Matter movement with corporate statements and donations. Some of these were clearly marketing gimmicks to capitalize on consumer sentiments, but others appeared as authentic commitments to change. According to a PwC study, companies that “do little/say little” and those that “say a lot/but reality falls short” were at higher risk of reputational damage as it pertained to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).1 Especially in the social media era, companies who had jumped on a bandwagon for DEI, but had not internalized the principles within their own business, were at risk for more backlash. They had used DEI as a marketing tactic rather than to address a pressing societal problem.

As consumers increasingly held companies accountable for aligning their actions to values, Jenkins realized Oiselle needed to assess how it contributed to furthering diverse representation, equitable treatment of athletes, and inclusivity in the industry. As a brand founded on principles of women’s empowerment, i Emily Jenkins is a fictional character.

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

Oiselle was well-positioned to fight for gender equity. Understanding the intersectionality between gender and racial justice, Jenkins was impassioned as well for Oiselle to stand up for causes such as Black Lives Matter. However, she realized Oiselle could be at risk because of its “optics”—a company predominantly made up of white women fighting for racial justice. She did not want Oiselle to echo the hollow commitments of other companies or face the same criticism endured by Nike, Adidas, and others. She grappled with how to authentically promote DEI values while growing the Oiselle brand and driving wide-scale change to address social justice in the athletics industry and in society more broadly.

Oiselle’s Conception and Launch

Oiselle was founded in 2007 by Sally Bergesen, a long-time runner who was frustrated by the lack of stylish, comfortable women’s running shorts on the market. She launched her company with its first product, the Roga short, which was marketed to fellow female runners who were unsatisfied with the colors, fabrics, and cuts of existing options. The company, headquartered in Seattle, soon grew from a five-person startup to a company with over $10 million in annual revenue and revenue growth exceeding 100% annually since 2011.2

Oiselle’s early success stemmed from two main factors. The first was capitalizing on an unmet need in the female running apparel market. Oiselle focused on making “premium apparel for women that prefer quality,” quickly expanding product offerings from shorts to track pants, running shirts, jackets, and sports bras in bright colors and patterns. Products were built on making simple tweaks to existing designs (for example, in the case of shorts, adding zippers or pockets in convenient areas where none had previously existed). With premium materials, price points were on par with more expensive apparel brands, with tights running from $76 to $100, shorts from $34 to $56, and jackets from $98 to $208.3

The second factor in its success was the company’s positioning: Oiselle was marketed as the running brand for “female athletes of all ages, paces, and places” and was dedicated to a three-fold mission: “make great products, improve the sport, and build the sisterhood.”4 Customers were attracted to the values the organization espoused and viewed Oiselle as one of the few brands authentically dedicated to supporting female athletes at all levels of ability. Bergesen was adamant about building an organization that “stood for body autonomy, equal pay, diversity, and inclusivity” and was not afraid to publicize her opinions.5

She took calling out systemic imbalances as her “personal responsibility” and realized quickly that while some customers were alienated by a brand with strong opinions, others became even more loyal.6 The brand grew as it built a devoted fan base of female athletes, many of whom extolled the virtues of the products on their websites and social media accounts, in turn attracting more customers. Bergesen and other Oiselle employees would frequently interact with customers via social media and at races and other events, which further deepened customers’ connections to the brand.

As Oiselle grew, it launched a brand ambassadorship program called the Volée to capitalize on brand awareness, build community, and boost sales. It was a fee-based “run community” that allowed fans of the brand access to an exclusive app, apparel, and invitations to team-only events. Members also received discounts on orders and a Oiselle race kit to promote the company while racing. Each Volée region had a leader who would organize events for local members. Oiselle used a portion of the $100 Volée membership fee to launch and fund the Haute Volée, a program for emerging elite runners who were looking to continue to train professionally and received coaching via Oiselle. Members of the Volée were excited that they were helping to support emerging female athletes. Over the years, applications to the Volée grew so popular that Oiselle was unable to keep up with demand.

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Oiselle’s Organization and Operations

To carve out its niche in the athletic apparel space, Oiselle turned to its values to create a vision for what the brand would represent. The company’s leadership was united regarding social and political issues and built a team that shared that mindset.

Company Values

When Oiselle started in 2007, the team was small, composed of people like Bergesen who had a shared vision. As the company grew, a Team Manifesto was developed in 2013 (see Exhibit 1), which aimed to transparently represent the vision for building the company, serving a list of seven principles for potential investors, employees, athletes, and customers. The manifesto centered on a vision for the community and competitive athletes, and the last part of the manifesto stated “Oiselle won’t be for everyone, and that’s okay.”7

Around the same time in 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement emerged. Oiselle had no hesitancy about committing to social justice and began sponsoring events to support the movement. Bergesen felt the company should always be transparent about what it supported, whether by calling itself a feminist brand or sponsoring social justice movements. Ultimately, some athletes who felt uncomfortable calling themselves feminists or identifying with these causes left for other brand sponsors. In other instances, stakeholders were concerned about taking on a controversial partner; for example, Oiselle supported Planned Parenthood through its Women Up Fund. At the risk of alienating some athletes, as well as potential shareholders, customers, and employees, Oiselle still firmly stood up for its beliefs.

In 2020, as Oiselle formalized the athlete-advisor model and deepened its commitment to social justice and diversity in the athletics space, it also framed a new mantra: “Invite, Include, Represent.” Company leaders aimed to thread that into their cohesive vision for Oiselle moving forward.

Organization Structure and Decision-Making

One of the reasons Oiselle was able to lean in heavily to social activism early on is because it was a small company with a like-minded leadership team. When Oiselle was initially deciding what the company would stand for, the team was only five to six people. Potentially controversial conversations within other companies, like deciding to change athlete sponsorships or supporting Planned Parenthood, were not contentious at Oiselle, but rather just things they felt were right. The decision-making process at Oiselle required all leadership to agree before moving forward. This helped ensure that everyone in the company fully bought in to its products and initiatives. That may be inefficient in some other organizations, but for Oiselle, where the team shared the same values, it was not an issue.

By 2021, the Oiselle team was still relatively small, with about 40 corporate employees. Bergesen, as founder and CEO, set the culture of a non-hierarchical company. Other leadership included Atsuko Tamura as president, Sarah Lesko as director of corporate development, and Rachel Gardner as director of technology. Notably, the Oiselle team was all women, most of them white, who were drawn to the company because of its commitment to women’s empowerment and DEI (see Exhibit 2).

Oiselle’s Brand Activism

Bergesen and Lesko wanted to use Oiselle as a driving force to present an alternate model that addressed gender and racial disparities in sports. As a result, Oiselle evolved into an “activist brand” through various initiatives, from changing its athlete sponsorship model to partnering with organizations such as Planned

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

Parenthood and Black Voters Matter, to elevate causes aligned with its passion for social justice, even at the risk of alienating some consumers.

Athlete Sponsorship

One major inequity Bergesen and Lesko saw in the industry was professional sponsorship of female athletes. In 2012, Oiselle leaders began to think about sponsoring Olympic athletes to grow the brand but wanted to make sure they were able to do so in a way that aligned with their ethos and values of supporting women.

Bergesen had also long disagreed with the insistence on performance that traditional contracts emphasized and the restrictions that came along with them, saying: “We shouldn’t have these situations where if you get injured, you are retroactively reduced, or your sponsor asks for money back. I just think there are some elements at play that especially affect women athletes that need to change and it’s time for them to change, so we’d love to be a part of that.”8 As a smaller player in the industry, Bergesen and Lesko knew they wanted to do things differently but also needed to compete as a sponsor with industry behemoths like Nike and New Balance.

Oiselle signed championship distance runner Lauren Fleshman at the end of 2012 (see Exhibit 3). Fleshman had previously been under contract with Nike. She was considering starting a family, but Nike had told her that she would receive no pay while pregnant and recovering from childbirth. She was attracted to Oiselle’s “spicy brand” and “commitment to women runners unlike anything [she’d] seen in the industry.”9 Fleshman signed her deal with Oiselle while pregnant with her first child, a unique circumstance for the industry at the time. Her contract was also structured differently than that of the typical athlete/sponsor model. Fleshman was free to continue to pursue other interests, like her writing career, and was brought on as a stakeholder for product development and brand marketing strategy. “It almost seems too obvious to say this, but we understand that an athlete is a whole person...they have their running but all the other things they do are almost as valuable if not more. So we’ve never had any reductions or suspension clauses,” said Bergesen.10 Contracts also included a complete non-censorship policy, and athletes were encouraged to speak out about issues they cared about, such as promoting clean sport and positive body image.

Other key signings, like Kara Goucher, a two-time Olympian who formerly ran for Nike, soon followed. In each case, athletes cited Oiselle’s values and commitment to both the full picture of an athlete and changing the standards of the running industry as motivating factors for choosing a smaller, less lucrative offer over other options.

In 2019, several prominent professional track and field athletes, including Goucher and six-time Olympic gold medal winner Allyson Felix, spoke out about unfair athletic contracts at Nike (one of the leading sponsors of elite track and field athletes), specifically citing the lack of maternity protections. Nike consequently faced public outcry and a congressional inquiry, and that pressure led the company to amend its sponsorship contracts to include maternity protections. Jenkins saw this as just one example where Oiselle’s focus on values and decisions against the status quo helped preempt it from the kind of reputational damage that Nike faced. Other companies then had to catch up with Oiselle’s model.

Oiselle also turned its focus to representing a diverse suite of athletes across ability levels, races, and ages. The company was eager to seek out individuals who were changing the sport of running even if they were not performing at an “elite”level. In 2020, the brand signed Alison Désir, an activist and founder of multiple organizations for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) runners.

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

To further elevate the diverse voices of its athletes, Oiselle built upon its unique approach to sponsorships with an athlete-advisor model. Fleshman, Goucher, and Désir were named to the Oiselle Advisory Group, where they were paid to help shape the strategic direction of the company and advise on company strategy, brand, and culture decisions. Each woman received equity ownership shares in the company and a portion of royalties from personally designed apparel collections. This model helped the small company attract big- name track and field athletes without paying the same level of stipend as traditional apparel contracts. Jenkins was proud that this model was built on enabling Oiselle athletes to feel empowered to speak their mind on topics of their choosing, an atypical choice for an athletic sponsor.

Planned Parenthood Collection and Political Stances

In 2019, Oiselle launched its “Woman Up” collection, with various types of clothing that featured the female gender symbol. All proceeds from August sales were donated to Planned Parenthood, which was a controversial move in the eyes of some of the brand’s consumers, but a stance Oiselle leaders felt they needed to take. It was not the first time Oiselle had taken sides on a political issue. During the 2016 presidential election, the company posted an Instagram photo of an employee wearing a “Nasty Gal” T-shirt. Some followers were frustrated and voiced such feelings as “I used to love your brand and now I don’t,” “Why don’t you stay out of politics and stick to running clothes?” and “I’m never buying Oiselle again.”11 According to Bergesen, “we got a lot of hate, but we decided that we’re a feminist brand, and as such, we stand for certain things.”12

GOT Bras

One of the charitable initiatives supported by the Women Up Fund was Girls On Track (GOT) Bras, a sports bra donation and education program aimed at middle school girls in need. Launched in 2017, Oiselle shared a goal to donate 2,000 sports bras. Oiselle’s Lesko, with her physician background, led this program, as she saw a need to demystify and de-stigmatize girls’ breast development.13 A 2016 study found that girls age 11 through 18 began dropping out of sports at the onset of puberty, with 46% reporting that breast development affected their participation in athletics, 75% reporting breast-related concerns while playing sports, and only 10% who routinely wore their own sports bra.14 The program was founded to address this societal need; the additional benefit for Oiselle could be to capture more of the women’s athletic consumer base starting at a younger age.

Womxn Run the Vote Relay

In another instance of brand activism, Oiselle and its partners launched the Womxn Run the Vote relay, which garnered national attention (see Exhibit 4). In 2019, Lesko had proposed Oiselle sponsor a Volée relay event. Then, as the events of 2020 unfolded, Désir and Fleshman conceived the idea to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote, support the Black Lives Matter movement, and generate voter participation in the presidential election.15 When registration opened on August 12, 2020, over 10,000 people signed up. Participants logged miles on Racery, a virtual race platform, and in teams of 15-20 they progressed along a 680-mile route from the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park in Atlanta to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The virtual route included highlights of landmarks and leaders of the civil rights movement. The race raised more than $270,000, with a portion supporting the Black Voters Matter Fund. According to Keshia Roberson, a Run 4 All Women ambassador who helped plan the relay, “I think the correlation with running and activism is that this stuff is uncomfortable—you’re going to be ostracized, there are going to be people who resist your resisting the status quo.”16

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

The Athletic Apparel Industry and Scrutiny over DEI Initiatives

Oiselle was a small brand aiming to drive change in an immense industry. By 2020 the global athletic apparel market was valued at nearly $172 billion and expected to grow at about 5.5% over each of the next five years.17 While the regular apparel industry had been relatively stable in the United States, athletic gear grew about seven times faster than the overall apparel industry during 2011-2016.18 The industry was highly fragmented, with over 2,000 brands in the market. With this much competition, brands relied on differentiation techniques, such as serving niche markets or innovating with fabric technology.19 Size inclusivity also took hold in the activewear industry, with 16% of target consumers indicating its importance to them. Sustainable fashion was another trend in activewear, with Patagonia, REI, and The North Face leading the charge. Sixty percent of apparel was made with synthetic fibers, and activewear used them because of durability, odor control, and moisture-wicking qualities.20 Major brands such as Adidas, Lululemon, and Nike, as well as smaller players, incorporated these trends to carve out market shares.

Adidas’ “Culture of Hypocrisy”

In the 2010s, Adidas launched the She Breaks Barriers initiative to highlight unequal representation in sports; for example, only 4% of sports media coverage was dedicated to women.21 However, at Adidas itself only one woman was among the six top executives and the board had more than twice as many men as women.22 This was a common theme across all the leading athletic apparel companies (see Exhibit 5).

Critics also accused Adidas of not addressing racial issues in the workplace. The company highlighted staff diversity, with 55% identifying as people of color, including hourly employees in stores. However, only about 1% of Adidas’ worldwide vice presidents were Black. Employees also spoke out about discriminatory experiences. Even as the company highlighted Black athletes and culture—for example, its collaboration with Kanye West on the Yeezy brand was expected to earn over $1.3 billion in 2019—some employees shared that few Black people were in the important meetings and said their input was not valued for decisions. Negative stereotypes also creeped into discussions about marketing pitches involving Black athletes, resulting in external backlash.23 In June 2020, Adidas’ head of global human resources resigned following criticism from employees that the company had failed to diversify its workforce and address these issues.24

Lululemon’s Call to Decolonize Gender

Lululemon was another brand accused of hypocrisy in marketing. For example, on social media Lululemon highlighted an event called “Decolonizing Gender” that urged attendees to “resist capitalism,” but responses included “corporate brands are bending backward to virtue-signal how ‘woke’ they are to the plight of the so-called oppressed, but their efforts may backfire”25 and “Lululemon IS capitalism. It is literally a privately owned corporation that raked in half a billion dollars in pure profits last year, merely by selling overpriced yoga pants to women willing and able to pay for this luxury.”26

Nike Advocates for Racial Justice

In 2018, Nike launched a “Just Do It” campaign with Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers known for starting the “take a knee” movement during the national anthem at NFL games to protest police brutality. Although this was a controversial move, with some consumers burning Nike clothing in response, Time reported Nike’s online sales increased 31% after the ad.27

In the summer of 2020, Nike made a powerful brand statement in support of Black Lives Matter and highlighted racial injustice in a moving ad campaign with a call to “all be part of the change.” Soon after the release, however, critics within and outside the company called out Nike for hypocrisy, citing a disparity

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

between the ad’s statement and Nike’s treatment of women and employees of color. Some pointed out that Nike’s brand is marketed through successful Black athletes such as Michael Jordan and Serena Williams, yet only 4.9% of the directors identified as Black.28 In response, the company released a list of actions meant to drive change and accountability, including a $140-million investment in Black communities and recognizing Juneteenth as a company holiday.29 Nike also announced a five-year plan to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce, including goals of 50% female representation in the global corporate workforce and 45% women in VP and above positions (see Exhibit 6).

The Business Case for DEI

While diversity training has been present in corporations in some form since the late 1980s, the emphasis on DEI (defined in Exhibit 7) began to pick up steam during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Women’s participation in the workplace had reached 60%, and employers began to focus on improving not only gender diversity but also the cultural and ethnic makeup of their employees across all levels, including top leadership.30

Organizations may have been motivated to diversify their workforce for moral reasons, but there was also a strong business case to be made for investing in diversity. A McKinsey study found that gender-and- ethnically-diverse companies outperformed their industry peers financially by 15% and 35%, respectively (see Exhibit 8).31 Companies were eager to maintain an edge over their competitors, so they wanted to be able to attract and retain diverse talent while maintaining employee engagement.

Beyond financial benefits, improving diversity also helped organizations with hiring and retention (see Exhibit 9). According to Glassdoor, 67% of job seekers preferred a diverse workforce when evaluating companies and job offers.32 The importance of diversity among recent college graduates had only increased in importance. When recent college graduates were asked to rank the importance of a diverse workforce, they put it 12th out of 15 priorities in 2008, but 7th out of 19 in the spring of 2020.33 How companies defined diversity and inclusion had also begun to evolve, as job seekers started to look beyond diversity from a demographic perspective and to take a holistic perspective on inclusion. To them, it was important that companies not only had diverse representation but also promoted and championed an inclusive culture and policies across all functional areas.

As interest in DEI grew among employers and employees, brands were expected to take and maintain stances on social issues. Simultaneously, organizations faced an increasingly competitive landscape to foster a culture grounded in anti-bias and inclusivity if they wished to grow, attract and retain top talent.

DEI: From Marketing Campaign to Internal Campaign

As brands recognized the business case for DEI and faced reputational damage from consumers calling out their hypocrisy, some companies went beyond marketing tactics to try to create authentic change. This ranged from philanthropic support for Black communities to building DEI plans and tying executive compensation and other organizational incentives to meeting those goals. However, “evidence suggests that executives have most successfully delivered the ‘D’ in D&I, that is ‘hitting the numbers.’ The quantitative progress on diversity, in other words, has overshadowed the qualitative progress on inclusion. Leaders can get an A for the measures of diversity yet still get a C for an inclusive culture.”34 Ella Washington, the CEO of Ellavate Solutions, a DEI strategy firm, highlighted the importance of forming long-term plans rather than lists of actions to support DEI. “If you do not really understand what you are doing and why you’re doing it, then when times get tough, of course those are going to be the first initiatives that go out the window,

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

even if you believe in it. Companies have to be as committed to their values as they are to their bottom line, and that is where we often see a mismatch between what people say and what they do.”35

According to Michelle Ngome, a marketing strategist at Line 25 Consulting, brands should be changing from the inside out. A marketing campaign is external, but companies should start with internal first and change their leadership structure. “Once you have leadership and representation internally, you’re able to create and execute plans that are going to benefit your consumers of all backgrounds.”36

The Future of Oiselle

With mission-driven leaders and purpose, Oiselle was poised to take on challenging conversations and issues in the athletics industry. As Oiselle spoke out as a brand on issues like Black Lives Matter and sponsored political causes, Jenkins wanted to make sure that the brand did not run into the reputational issues that industry peers had faced. D’Wayne Edwards, who designed Nike’s Air Jordan shoes, said: “Companies spend billions of dollars on marketing and advertising to attract African American kids to their products, but they don’t do much to support the African-Americans on the inside...Some companies have said for years that they want to create a diverse workplace, but if anything, the numbers are getting worse. And they do not care. It’s a lot of lip service.”37

Jenkins wondered if diversifying Oiselle’s own workforce was a prerequisite for the brand to engage in conversations and activities related to DEI, but she also did not want to wait to take action externally. With consumers increasingly aware of DEI issues, Jenkins grappled with how Oiselle could stand up for good causes as she set out to create a framework to implement DEI initiatives both externally, as a brand, and internally within the Oiselle organization.

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Oiselle: How Does an Activist Brand Authentically Commit to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

Exhibits

Exhibit 1 Oiselle Manifesto

Source: Bergesen, Sally. “Oiselle Team Manifesto.” Oiselle blog. https://oiselle.com/blogs/oiselle-blog/oiselle-team-manifesto.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 2 The Essence of Oiselle

Source: Bergesen, Sally. “Our Story.” Oiselle. https://www.oiselle.com/pages/our-story.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 3 Excerpt from Oiselle Press Release: Lauren Fleshman Joins Oiselle

January 1, 2013 – Seattle, Washington –  Oiselle, a rapidly growing women’s running apparel company has officially signed professional runner Lauren Fleshman as a sponsored athlete and business partner. The announcement comes shortly after Fleshman requested a release from her contract with Nike, a 9.5 year term during which she achieved two US Championship titles (5000m; 2006, 2010), became 7th in the world (5000m, 2011), and ran a NYC Marathon debut of 2:37 (2011).

As Oiselle starts its seventh year in the market, it has established a strong customer base and market presence, including 300+ retailers that carry the expanding brand. The 90% year-over- year annual growth over the past four years establishes the brand’s increased presence. Oiselle’s mission is to design apparel for the “whole woman athlete,” with styles that work in every aspect of her life. Luxurious fabrics, flattering silhouettes and modern graphics that are more gritty than girly are all part of what sets the brand apart.

Source: Bergesen, Sally. “Press Release: Lauren Fleshman Joins Oiselle.” Oiselle blog. https://www.oiselle.com/blogs/oiselle-blog/press-release-lauren-fleshman-joins-oiselle.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 4 Excerpt from an Oiselle Blog

Source: WRTV Team. “Womxn Run the Vote — More Than a Relay.” Oiselle blog, 28 Sept. 2020. https://www.oiselle.com/blogs/oiselle-blog/womxn-run-the-vote-more-than-a- relay.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 5 Gender Representation at Top Athletic Apparel Brands

Source: Salpini, Cara. “Benchwarmers: What a decade of data says about gender equality at sportswear brands.” RetailDive, 3 Sept. 2019. https://www.retaildive.com/news/ benchwarmers-what-a-decade-of-data-says-about-gender-equality-at-sportswea/561887/.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 6 Nike 2025 Impact Targets

Source: “FY20 Nike Inc. Impact Report Executive Summary.”Nike, Inc. https://purpose-cms-preprod01.s3.amazonaws.com/wp- content/uploads/2021/03/30191535/FY20-NIKE-Inc.-Impact-Report_Executive-Summary1.pdf.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 7 Defining DEI

Source: Graham, Niamh. “The Why Behind DEI: How Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives Benefit Business.” Workhuman. https://www.workhuman.com/resources/ globoforce-blog/the-why-behind-d-i-how-diversity-and-inclusion-initiatives-benefit-business.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 8 Financial Performance Benefits of DEI

Source: Dixon-Fyle, Sundiatu, Kevin Dolan, Vivian Hunt, and Sara Prince. “Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters.” McKinsey & Company, 19 May 2020. https://www.mckinsey. com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters.

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Exhibits (cont.)

Exhibit 9 Organizational Benefits of DEI

Source: Hunt, Vivian, Dennis Layton, and Sara Prince. “Why Diversity Matters.” McKinsey and Company, 1 Jan. 2015. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/ our-insights/why-diversity-matters.

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Endnotes

1 “Magnet for talent: Managing diversity as a reputational risk and business opportunity.” PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 2017. https://www.pwc.co.uk/human-resource-services/assets/documents/diversity-and-inclusion-reputation-2017.pdf. Accessed 15 Feb. 2021.

2 2 Margo. “Beating Nike to Become Nike? Check Out Oiselle.” Harvard Business School Digital Initiative, 9 Dec. 2015. https://digital. hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/beating-nike-to-become-nike-check-out-oiselle/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2021.

3 3 Miller, Jen A. “Paying to run with — and for — Oiselle.” Racked, 12 Apr. 2017. https://www.racked.com/2017/4/12/15250894/ oiselle-running-marketing. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

4 4 “Our Story.” Oiselle. https://www.oiselle.com/pages/our-story. Accessed 19 Feb. 2021.

5 5 Mills, Heidi. “Oiselle Hits its Stride.” Seattle Business Magazine. https://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/retail/oiselle-hits-its- stride. Accessed 26 May 2021.

6 6 Mills, Heidi. “Oiselle Hits its Stride.” Seattle Business Magazine. https://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/retail/oiselle-hits-its- stride. Accessed 26 May 2021.

7 7 Bergesen, Sally. “Oiselle Team Manifesto.” Oiselle, 10 July 2013. https://www.oiselle.com/blogs/oiselle-blog/oiselle-team- manifesto. Accessed 19 Feb. 2021.

8 “Oiselle versus the establishment.” Cloud 259 Podcast, 16 May 2013. https://cloud259.com/interview-transcripts/oiselle-sally- bergeson-lauren-fleshman-kate-grace/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2021.

9 9 Bergesen, Sally. “Press Release: Lauren Fleshman Joins Oiselle.” Oiselle, 1 Jan. 2013. https://www.oiselle.com/blogs/ oiselle-blog/press-release-lauren-fleshman-joins-oiselle#:~:text=January%201%2C%202013%20%E2%80%93%20 Seattle%2C,sponsored%20athlete%20and%20business%20partner. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.

10 10 Butler, Sarah. “A Pro Runner Is Pregnant. Will She Still Be Paid?” Runner’s World, 6 June 2019. https://www.runnersworld.com/ news/a27750194/pregnancy-pro-runners-contracts/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2021.

11 11 Mills, Heidi. “Oiselle Hits its Stride.” Seattle Business Magazine. https://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/retail/oiselle-hits-its- stride. Accessed 26 May 2021.

12 12 Mills, Heidi. “Oiselle Hits its Stride.” Seattle Business Magazine. https://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/retail/oiselle-hits-its- stride. Accessed 26 May 2021.

13 13 “Oiselle Launches Program to Get Sports Bras to Young Girls.” Women’s Running. https://www.womensrunning.com/culture/ oiselle-got-sports-bras/. Accessed 26 May 2021.

14 14 Arnold, Katie. “Oiselle Thinks Sports Bras Can Keep Girls in the Outdoors.” Outside Magazine, 23 May 2017. https://www. outsideonline.com/2184996/how-oiselle-keeping-girls-game#close. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.

15 15 Yu, Christine. “Behind the Scenes of a New Kind of Feminist Relay Race.” Outside Magazine, 22 Sept. 2020. https://www. outsideonline.com/2416968/oiselle-womxn-run-the-vote-relay. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

16 16 McShane, Julianne. “‘Running is political’: Meet the women running 680 miles to get Black voters to the polls.” NBC News, 21 Sept. 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/running-political-meet-women-running-680-miles-get-black- voters-n1240654. Accessed 15 Feb. 2021.

17 17 “Global Athletic Apparel Market 2020-2024.” Technavio, 2019. https://drive.google.com/file/d/138k7JFijYItN4ZFGO5Q789REXQ5M HWsw/view. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

18 18 Smith, Diana. “Activewear - US - October 2018.” Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/860797/.

19 19 Smith, Diana. “Activewear - US - October 2018.” Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/860797/.

20 20 Smith, Diana. “Activewear - US - October 2018.” Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/860797/.

21 21 “Adidas continues push for equality in sports, increasing visibility for female athletes.” Adidas, 7 Mar. 2019. https://news.adidas. com/swimming/adidas-continues-push-for-equality-in-sports--increasing-visibility-for-female-athletes/s/2a1bbd18-8a81-4e19- 811d-81905304f564. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.

22 22 Salpini, Cara. “Benchwarmers: What a decade of data says about gender equality at sportswear brands.” RetailDive, 3 Sept. 2019. https://www.retaildive.com/news/benchwarmers-what-a-decade-of-data-says-about-gender-equality-at-sportswea/561887/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

23 23 Creswell, Julie, and Kevin Draper. “Black Superstars Pitch Adidas Shoes. Its Black Workers Say They’re Sidelined.” New York Times, 19 June 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/business/adidas-diversity-employees.html. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

24 24 D’Innocenzio, Anne. “Adidas HR head resigns as company addresses diversity issues.” The Detroit News, 30 June 2020. https:// www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2020/06/30/adidas-hr-head-resigns-company-addresses-diversity-issues/112048274/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

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25 25 Onwuka, Patrice. “Hypocrisy Alert: Lululemon Calls for Us to Resist Capitalism.” Independent Women’s Forum, 15 Sept. 2020. https://www.iwf.org/2020/09/15/hypocrisy-alert-lululemon-calls-for-us-to-resist-capitalism/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2021.

26 26 “Lululemon lampooned for ‘resist capitalism’ post.” BBC, 11 Sept. 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54121641. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

27 27 Smith, Diana. “Activewear - US - October 2018.” Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/860797/.

28 28 Thomas, Lauren. “Read Nike CEO John Donahoe’s note to employees on racism: We must ‘get our own house in order.’” CNBC, 5 June 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/05/nike-ceo-note-to-workers-on-racism-must-get-our-own-house-in-order.html. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

29 29 Thomas, Lauren. “Read Nike CEO John Donahoe’s note to employees on racism: We must ‘get our own house in order.’” CNBC, 5 June 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/05/nike-ceo-note-to-workers-on-racism-must-get-our-own-house-in-order.html. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

30 30 “The Evolution of Diversity in the Workplace — 2000 to 2020”. V Source, 3 Aug. 2020. https://www.vsource.io/blog/evolution- of-diversity-in-the-workplace. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

31 31 Hunt, Vivian, Dennis Layton, and Sara Prince. “Why Diversity Matters.” McKinsey and Company, 1 Jan. 2015. https://www. mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters. Accessed 24 Mar. 2021.

32 32 “What Job Seekers Really Think About Your Diversity & Inclusion Stats.” Glassdoor, 17 Nov. 2014. https://www.glassdoor.com/ employers/blog/diversity/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

33 33 Miller, Jennifer. “For younger job seekers, diversity and inclusion in the workplace aren’t a preference. They’re a requirement.” Washington Post, 18 Feb. 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/18/millennial-genz-workplace-diversity- equity-inclusion/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

34 34 Jones, Blair, and Matt Westlund. “Look Beyond Incentive Pay to Spur Inclusion.” Semler Brossy Consulting Group, Mar./Apr. 2021. https://www.semlerbrossy.com/wp-content/uploads/Directorship_DA_Semler-Brossy.pdf. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.

35 35 Salpini, Cara. “Athletics retailers advertise diversity, but does their leadership reflect it?” RetailDive, 12 Oct. 2020. https://www. retaildive.com/news/athletics-retailers-advertise-diversity-but-does-their-leadership-reflect/586359/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.

36 36 Salpini, Cara. “Athletics retailers advertise diversity, but does their leadership reflect it?” RetailDive, 12 Oct. 2020. https://www. retaildive.com/news/athletics-retailers-advertise-diversity-but-does-their-leadership-reflect/586359/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.

37 37 Salpini, Cara. “Athletics retailers advertise diversity, but does their leadership reflect it?” RetailDive, 12 Oct. 2020. https://www. retaildive.com/news/athletics-retailers-advertise-diversity-but-does-their-leadership-reflect/586359/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.

Endnotes (cont.)

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Established at the University of Michigan in 1992, the William Davidson Institute (WDI) is an independent, non-profit research and educational organization focused on

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markets. WDI also provides a forum for academics, policy makers, business leaders, and

development experts to enhance their understanding of these economies. WDI is one

of the few institutions of higher learning in the United States that is fully dedicated to

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This document is authorized for use only by Marneze Antoine Davis in Contemp Challenges in Business-Winter 2025 at Walden University (Canvas), 2026.