Models Take Center Stage in Albany, Urging Lawmakers to Pass Fashion Workers Act

ALBANY, NY (04/15/2024) (readMedia)-- On Monday, dozens of current and former models will join the Model Alliance and lawmakers at the State Capitol to rally for basic labor protections for models working in New York. Models, often perceived as symbols of glamor and prestige, find themselves in a starkly different reality behind the scenes, subjected to a multitude of exploitative practices in the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. Management companies too often subject their talent to unfair contracts, wage theft, sexual abuse, and discrimination. Models are rallying for the Fashion Workers Act, advocating for essential labor protections and striving to bring the fashion industry in line with the standards of other industries.

The Fashion Workers Act, the Model Alliance's signature bill, is a pro-labor bill that would regulate predatory management companies in New York that currently operate without oversight in the fashion industry – ensuring models and fashion workers have basic protections in the workplace. Sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Karines Reyes, the legislation passed in the State Senate last spring. New amendments were incorporated into the Fashion Workers Act as a necessary first step in establishing baseline protections for models around transparency and consent for the use of generative AI.

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.