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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

A Greying Workforce Puts Fashion’s Youth Obsession to the Test

Companies must go beyond stereotypes about Gen-Z and Baby Boomers when hiring, and think strategically about how to get the most from workers of any age, experts say.
Fashion has a reputation for equating youth with beauty, and for having a laser focus on how to sell to Gen-Z.
Fashion has a reputation for equating youth with beauty, and for having a laser focus on how to sell to Gen-Z. (Getty Images)

Fashion recruiter Karen Harvey has built a decades-long career out of placing talent across some of the industry’s most recognisable brands — and there’s one area in particular where she sees firms dropping the ball: age.

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Further Reading

How Fashion Can Close Its Skills Gap

Companies are increasingly finding that the best way to sidestep deficits in knowledge and experience among recent college graduates and veteran employees is to play a more active role in the education process.

About the author
Sheena Butler-Young
Sheena Butler-Young

Sheena Butler-Young is Senior Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in New York and covers workplace, talent and issues surrounding diversity and inclusion.

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