ICYMI: Ironically Named "Coalition for Fairness in Fashion" Lobbies Against Fashion Workers Act

NEW YORK, NY (05/25/2023) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, fashion and culture journalist Amy Odell exposed the model management agencies lobbying against the Fashion Workers Act. The bill is a piece of pro-labor legislation that would regulate predatory management agencies in New York that currently operate without oversight in the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. It passed the Senate Labor Committee for the second year in a row last week.

The opposition is a group of agencies which include Next, Elite, True, Wilhelmina, One, and Ford under the ironically-named umbrella "Coalition for Fairness in Fashion." Fashion writer Amy Odell, spoke to a coalition representative on the record for the first time in the story linked here and below:

Joey Hunter, former co-president of Ford who became director of the men's division in 1969, is serving as a consultant for the Coalition and, after I reached out to all six agencies in the group, was dispatched to talk to me. He said the group has hired a lobbyist and organized last year in response to the Fashion Workers Act, which Ziff promoted at a rally in front of Next's Soho office. "Don't get us wrong, we like the bill and we think there should be a bill, but nobody's ever consulted us about the bill," he said. Asked if the group prevented the bill from passing last year, he replied, "I don't believe so."

The Coalition has issues with language throughout the bill, which it casts as overreaching or unclear, ranging from the requirement that agencies have a fiduciary duty to models it represents to the name of the Act itself (because "fashion workers" aren't only models, and models don't only work in fashion). The Coalition also fears being unable to recoup expenses from models for things like travel if the bill were to pass.

Hunter said, "Do you pass a bill for the whole car industry, or do you talk to each individual corporation and get their feedback on what's going on, what are your likes and dislikes?" Regarding power of attorney, he said, "Did you ever wait for model to come into your office? Who's busy, busy, busy, to sign a release or sign a deal, memo or sign anything?"

However, today, models don't need to go to an office or physical mailbox to deal with paperwork - they can simply sign contracts on their phones.

Sara Ziff, founder and executive director of the Model Alliance, responded:

"It's odd that management agencies want to compare themselves to the automobile industry, which resisted safety regulations at every turn that have saved thousands of lives over the last several decades. If they cannot function without exploiting their talent, they do not have a working business model – period. If they really want to support the Fashion Workers Act as they claim, they'll drop the predatory auto renewal contracts, allow models to actually see the agreements they sign onto and do basic health and safety checks before sending talent to jobs."

About the Fashion Workers Act

Unlike talent agencies, modeling and creative agencies are considered to be management companies under New York State General Business Law §171(8), known as the "incidental booking exception," allowing them to escape licensing and regulation. In almost every case, agencies are granted blanket "power of attorney" as part of their agreement to represent talent, giving agencies power to accept payments on behalf of the model, deposit checks and deduct expenses, as well as book jobs, negotiate the model's rate of pay, and give third parties permission to use the model's image, while having no obligation to act in their talents' best interests.

This leaves models unprotected outside the terms of their individual contracts – which tend to be exploitative and one-sided in favor of the management company – and creates a lack of transparency and accountability when it comes to basic issues like health and safety and having insight into one's own finances. For example, models often don't know whether and how much they'll be paid for jobs booked through management companies, which deduct various unexplained fees from their earnings, in addition to a 20 percent commission both on the model's fee and the client's payment. Model management companies crowd young models in model apartments, where they warehouse anywhere from six to 10 young women in one apartment and charge them each upwards of $2,000 a month for an apartment worth far less. Models are held to multi-year, auto-renewing contracts without any guarantee of actually being booked paid work, which ensnares them in cycles of debt and makes models highly vulnerable to other forms of abuse, including human trafficking. When models experience abuse, they do not have a safe channel to file work-related grievances without a risk of retaliation.

The Fashion Workers Act would address these issues by closing the legal loophole by which management companies escape accountability and create basic protections for the models and content creators who are the faces of New York's fashion industry.

The Fashion Workers Act would require management agencies to:

• Establish a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of their talent
• Provide models with copies of contracts and agreements
• Notify formerly represented models if they collect royalties on their behalf
• Register and deposit a surety bond of $50,000 with the NYS Department of State
• Protect the health and safety of models, including by establishing a zero-tolerance policy for abuse

And discontinue bad practices such as:

• Presenting power of attorney as a necessary condition for entering into a contract with the management company
• Collecting signing fees or deposits from models
• Charging models interest on payment of their earnings
• Charging more than the daily fair market rate for accommodation
• Deducting any other fee or expense than the agreed upon commission
• Renewing the contract without the model's affirmative consent
• Imposing a commission fee greater than twenty percent of the model's compensation
• Taking retaliatory action against a model for filing a complaint
• Engaging in discrimination or harassment of any kind against a model on the basis of race, ethnicity, and other legally permissible categories under Section 296(a) of the Executive Law.

About the Model Alliance

Founded in 2012, the Model Alliance has been at the forefront of advancing labor rights in the fashion industry for the last decade. Through strategic research, policy initiatives, and campaigns, the Model Alliance aims to promote fair treatment, equal opportunity, and more sustainable practices in the fashion industry, from the runway to the factory floor. The Model Alliance has championed multiple pieces of legislation, including the Child Model Act in New York and the Talent Protections Act in California. The organization also runs the world's only industry-specific support line, MA Support. In 2021, the organization received the first Positive Social Influence Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America at the CFDA Awards.