We are in the middle of two crises. One is a health crisis. The other is a human rights crisis. Both are destructive and deadly.

At AYM, we are deeply committed to ethical causes. We stand for equality and ethical treatment of all. As a company, we have built ourselves through the ethical production of products and the fair treatment of people throughout our supply chain. We have started internally with our commitment and these intentions stem from the very heart of our business. Our purpose of uplifting one another extends beyond the confides of our company.

We are making a life-long commitment to be proactively anti-racist. To stand up for equality for Black people. Black Lives Matter, forever.

We recognise that this human rights issue is a deeply embedded into our society and we must make substantial and sustained change in our societies to eradicate the systemic racism that has existed for far too long.

What is done now must be sustained through purposeful dedication. We want to clearly lay out our commitment to continuously being better allies.

We openly welcome feedback and comments on other things we could add or anything we might need to explore further. Please email: info@aym-studio.com or comment on our Instagram. *we will be updating this page based on further insights and learnings. 

Donations

We have donated and will continue to donate to a variety of charities including:

• Black Lives Matter - a global organisation in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.
• The Bail Project - an organisation that provides free bail for those who cannot afford to pay it.
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund - is America’s premier legal organisation fighting for racial justice
• Minnesota Freedom Fund - supporting bail and immigration bonds.
• The Love Land Foundation - connecting Black women and girls with therapy.

We will continue to proactively find opportunities to support these movements into the future. Join us in donating by clicking the links above.

We've paused our advertising spend in line with Black Out Tuesday to amplify the voices of Black people. We will be donating the money we would’ve spent in promoting our messaging, towards the aforementioned charities so that their messages can stand out the loudest. We want to amplify Black voices. We are listening and we are learning.

Education

We will be educating ourselves further to be a better ally. There is always more to learn. There is a wealth of information and resources that has been put together online and offline. Black people have worked for years to build awareness and understanding of the suffering, oppression and human rights injustices they have experienced. They have carried the burden of education around these issues. Now we must step up, listen, learn and educate ourselves.

We have compiled a list of resources on our blog. We decided that our blog is the best place for these as blog posts allow comments to be placed directly onto the post [ Blog ].

There are so many incredible resources online that have helped to inform our research (listed in the blog).

This is a great resource list of books, compiled by Ibram X. Kendi.

A simple Google search will reveal tonnes of information - be mindful of the biases that may exist in the text you're reading and ensure they come from reputable sources who are anti-racist. Please comment below with any additional resources that you think would be important for us to share.

Internal Equality

We will be implementing further actions into the core of our company that will have long term foundational impacts; including within the internal structure of our team, within our supply chain and with our external platforms. We will be committed to our company being proactively anti-racist.

We will be led by our commitment to being ethical as our core company values. We will challenge anything that stands in the way of equality. We will question things that don’t appear morally right and work to ensure we eradicate flaws in our internal processes.

We are also supporting any employee who wants to take time off to participate in protests or to volunteer at charities.

Employment Equality

As our company grows and we employ more people again, we will ensure anti-bias hiring through the use of data to remove any potential human bias. [ HBR: Eliminate Bias From Hiring ]

We will ensure that there are equal opportunities - including support to achieve those opportunities - within our company for progression and promotion. We are investing in compulsory anti-racism training and diversity coaching to ensure we have a culture of equality.

Though we are based in a small rural town in Sussex - we will extend our future job opportunities to ensure a wide scope of candidates are able to apply for employment within our company.

External Representation

We are excited about better representing the diversity of our current and future customers through proactively collaborating with a wider range of models and influencers. We will be diversity-committed in the external representation of our clothing.

Proactively Anti-Racist

We will be remain open to listening so that we can continually learn. We will always value feedback so that we can continue to improve and evolve.

We’ve paused our ad spend in line with #BlackOutTuesday to amplify the voices of Black people. We have donated the money we would’ve spent in promoting our messaging to Black Lives Matter so that their messages can stand out the loudest. We want to amplify Black voices. We are listening and we are learning.

We will continue to expand this list of actions based on our learnings.

Additionally:

• If you are a Black-owned business supplying sustainable and ethical fabrics, trims, packaging, please reach out to us: info@aym-studio.com we’d love to work with you.
• If you are an influencer or model who would enjoy working with us, please reach out: info@aym-studio.com. We have limited capacity currently, as we are experiencing huge delays on getting out orders due to Covid; we will collaborate with as many of you as possible. We are also adding to our press list for future events.
• If you are a Black creative (make-up artists / photographers / graphic designers / illustrators etc) who is interested in collaborating with us; please reach out to us: info@aym-studio.com. We are adding to our database of creative contacts and though we are a small business, we want to help visibility for Black creatives in the fashion industry.

This is a life-long commitment.