CENTRIC BRANDS HONORS NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS MONTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS AWARENESS WEEK

October 31, 2021

This October, Centric Brands honored National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Mental Illness Awareness Week through programs and initiatives that educated, empowered and supported non-profit organizations in their missions to do good.

Earlier this month, the Centric Brands Diversity and Inclusion Committee hosted a Fireside Chat with Steve Pinkow, Group President, Kids, and his son, Griffin Pinkow, a visually impaired athlete and founder of The Foreseeable Future Foundation. The inspiring discussion focused on Griffin’s experience as a visually impaired individual and his journey to create The Foreseeable Future Foundation, an organization that works with groups and individuals, specifically kids, to support the visually impaired through sports and recreation. 

To cap off the month, the D&I Committee hosted a conversation with Mindy Scheier, the founder of the Runway of Dreams Foundation, to discuss the importance of adaptive clothing accessibility. An important partner to the Centric Brands Tommy Hilfiger Sportswear team, the Runway of Dreams Foundation is a non-profit organization that works toward a future of inclusion, acceptance and opportunity in the fashion industry for people with disabilities.

This month’s edition of the Centric Brands’ Be Inclusive digital magazine focused on associate authored personal stories and curated content to recognize National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Mental Illness Awareness Week. Discussions on the use of ableist language, understanding self-care for caregivers, living with invisible disabilities, how to approach disability hiring, and inclusion in the workplace and the greater fashion community are topics that were explored in this month’s issue. 

Centric Brands was privileged to donate to The Foreseeable Future Foundation, in honor of Griffin and Steve, the Runway of Dreams Foundation, and The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.