In June 2021, Reimagine Gender's partner Afterpay launched their Genderfree Shop, which provides customers with a new way to experience shopping, free of traditional gender constraints. We sat down with Mike Earl, Afterpay’s Brand Campaign Marketing Director, to hear more about the inspiration behind the partnership and what else brands can be doing to reimagine how they think about and operationalize gender.
What inspired the creation of Genderfree shop and why create it now?
Inclusivity and self-expression are at the core of Afterpay's DNA. Leading up to Pride month, we recognized there was a natural opportunity to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community in a way that aligned with our values, while leaning into retail and fashion in a meaningful way. We wanted to create a dynamic space for all people to find the products they love, free from the constraints of the gender binary, which led us to the Genderfree shop. This was our first step to creating a more inclusive shopping space for customers to discover gender-inclusive brands and products without having to use filters.
Who are some of the brands you see doing a great job of creating products and clothing that are genderless and/or are welcoming to gender diverse people?
Afterpay partnered with Levi’s to curate The Genderfree shop, along with other participating brands such as Birkenstock, Jeffrey Campbell, Smith + Cut, Milk Makeup, and more. We admire all of the brands we worked with, as they helped us encourage consumers to select styles based on their self expression, and break the gender binary mold.
Many companies have Pride initiatives but the work ends in June. Genderfree not only doesn’t end in June, Afterpay is planning to expand the initiative throughout the year. Can you share a bit more about how you hope Afterpay’s Genderfree shop will evolve over time to be even more gender inclusive?
Afterpay is committed to self-expression and inclusivity across everything we do. We have continued to evolve our new shopping experience for customers and are purposeful about how we show up in the world digitally and IRL.
Beyond the Genderfree shop, Afterpay will develop a series of year-round diverse and inclusive programming in partnership with internationally acclaimed gender diverse writer, Alok Vaid-Menon, who will serve as brand collaborator and help curate inspirational content for the Afterpay platform. Alok's collaboration will also include programming during New York Fashion Week in September.
We are also continuously making efforts to iterate on how we present content and shopping experiences to our customers that live and breathe our values - which are inclusive of all.
While Genderfree launched during Pride month, you’ve created Genderfree for everyone, as a place where we can find the items that express our authentic selves. For some, it might mean something wildly different from what they've worn before; for others, it might simply be buying an article of clothing in a color that felt off-limits before. What is your hope in creating a shopping experience where colors are just colors and clothing, accessories and skin care items are for anyone who wants it? During the process of creating the Genderfree site, is there something you realized has been off-limits for you that you might like to try?
Together, our goal is to educate and encourage everyone to move beyond a narrow understanding of gender — and shape a future where people of all genders can thrive as their authentic self. For me, personally, it helped to open my eyes to what I truly ‘like’ in terms of style and fashion and not what I’m ‘supposed’ to like.
