VF Supports Reskilling Unemployed Women Garment Workers
VF Corp, owner of garment brands like Vans, The North Face, Timberland, etc has extended its support for a programme that helps women garment workers re-enter employment who have lost their jobs as a result of increased automation.
VF has confirmed it will offer a further grant to Shimmy Technologies, a women-owned social enterprise which, founded in 2016, helps prepare women working in the apparel supply chain for the future of work through upskilling and reskilling via digital, mobile and tablet-based trainings.
Shimmy’s mobile-first training approach is more flexible than traditional, paper-based training curriculum, the latter which inadequately addresses the rapid changes in the market.
In 2022, the VF Foundation supported Shimmy’s pilot program across Bangladesh to reach unemployed women and assess the effectiveness of new training solutions to upskill and reskill women to provide them with the opportunity to reenter the garment industry.
The program identified technical training centers in different cities across Bangladesh, including Dhaka, and located near garment factories in the area.
In addition, Shimmy carried out its research project called the Apparel Automation Pulse to identify current and future machines used in factories.
This information helped Shimmy create a demand curve for machine-based skills, which in turn, informed the content of the training programs to align with the specific needs of employers.
Shimmy’s focus on this technical training component acts as a key unlock to assist workers in developing skills and gradually increasing their income. The majority female-led Shimmy team serves as role models to empower female workers to enter advanced operator roles.
Of the 500 people who went through the training, 452 were women, and over 55 percent were employed in the apparel supply chain within six months. Of those without jobs in the industry, only 23.19 percent were looking for work after six months.
The remaining trainees opted to stay home as homemakers, continue with other studies, or enter another industry.
As a result of the success of the pilot, VF Foundation recently announced Shimmy as a 2024 grantee to expand the upskilling of 500 more workers through mobile phone-based training and an additional 800 within physical training centers.
“This growing partnership with Shimmy exemplifies the power of collaboration, that complements VF’s work to empower women in its supply chain, and drives forward a shared vision to ensure a more sustainable and equitable future for women in the apparel industry,” VF Corp said.
