(BPRW) Black Woman Takes on Male-Dominated Women’s Online Fashion Industry

Shop Style Shark, a fast-growing, woman-owned, Black-owned online retailer is taking on the largely male-dominated online fashion industry.

(Black PR Wire) The fashion industry – and particularly online fashion – continues to be male-dominated even though women spend over 200% more money on fashion than men. What’s more, even though 85% of people who graduate from fashion school are female, only 14% of the top 50 fashion houses are run by women. And, only 40% of women’s fashion brands are designed by women.

London-based journalist and fashion consultant, Melissa Wheeler, tells Forbes,

“Men’s social role has dominated the fashion culture. They capitalize on this creative industry and monetize it ruthlessly, often at the expense of the creativity which gave birth to it in the first place and which appeals to the target audience.”

The fashion industry continues to fall behind many other industries, and society at large, in terms of diversity.

One Woman Takes the Industry By Storm

There are women in the fashion industry who are stepping up and fighting back against what can only be labeled as gender bias. One of those women is Dionne Middlebrooks, founder of online fashion retailer, Shop Style Shark. For Dionne, fashion is more than just a career, it is a passion she has held since childhood. Dionne says,

“Fаѕhiоn аnd style empowers me daily. Whеn I chооѕе itеmѕ to wеаr оr tо hаvе in my ѕtоrе, оnlу оnе thought goes thrоugh mу hеаd “How will this item make someone feel?”

You can certainly feel the love and passion that Middlebrooks pours into her business. Since Shop Style Shark began in 2017, it has grown exponentially. From a small online business with a single founder, to now – an ever-growing online fashion powerhouse – Shop Style Shark is definitely a brand to watch in the fashion industry.

And what makes Shop Style Shark even better is that it is breaking down those barriers in diversity and equality that are ripe throughout the fashion industry. Founded by women, focused on women, and supporting women is what has propelled Shop Style Shark to the present, and no doubt, into the future.