Balenciaga said it will partner with the National Children’s Alliance after the fashion brand was accused of sexualising children in advertising last year.
The Kering SA label said the three-year program with the Washington DC-based not-for-profit organisation will help train almost 2,000 professionals specialized in dealing with child abuse. It will also help an estimated 55,000 children receive mental health attention over the course of the program, according to a statement on Balenciaga’s Instagram account Wednesday.
The announcement comes more than two months after the fashion label was berated for having sexualised children in an ad campaign, which prompted the brand to issue apologies.
Read more: Balenciaga apologises after accusations it sexualised children
The scandal likely hurt sales at Balenciaga in the last quarter of 2022. The brand’s “hyper-growth mode will undoubtedly have been curbed by the recent PR blow-up around child abuse imagery in its ads and this will have hit sales, notably in the US,” HSBC analysts including Aurelie Husson-Dumoutier wrote in a note on Jan. 5.
Balenciaga is scheduled to hold its women’s ready-to-wear show on March 5 during Paris Fashion Week. Artistic director Demna also issued an apology in December over the scandal.
Kering doesn’t break down Balenciaga’s contribution to sales, but HSBC estimated that the brand probably generated around 1.76 billion euros ($1.89 billion) in 2021. Kering reports annual earnings on Feb. 15.
Balenciaga didn’t feature in Lyst’s top 10 most-sought-after fashion labels in a ranking for the fourth quarter. It’s the first time Balenciaga didn’t make it since Lyst started publishing the ranking in 2017, a representative for the shopping app said.
By Angelina Rascouet
Learn more:
Balenciaga’s Breakdown: What Went Wrong and What Comes Next
Late Friday, the brand issued further apologies and abandoned its plan to sue a production company amid continued outrage in response to its recent holiday campaign.
