Sovereignty Company Is Launching SO.TY With Funding For BIPOC Sustainable Fashion Brands

Many companies and organizations build up communities of color through charitable associations. We have witnessed a push to deliver more effective and stimulating charitable efforts from non-profits. The focus is on providing more resources than ever, directly impacting the innovators of these communities in ways that uplift their immediate environment. Less about giving back, non-profits all over are giving forward to those with social influence and audiences that believe in them.

Sovereignty Company is a non-profit and circular social enterprise empowering fashion entrepreneurs of color. They have a targeted goal of collectively solving climate change and inclusion issues around the industry and global fashion community. Ideally, a circular fashion society among the BIPOC community by 2050 is the goal while aligning with numerous Global Goals [4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13] for 2030 presented by the United Nations, the Paris Agreement, and the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, sponsored by the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Refining neo-luxury fashion, Sovereignty Company is disrupting the industry with equitable wealth creation and a creative workforce economy through the non-profit, its Fashion CEO accelerator program, an impact fund for creators to apply to their production, and sustainable fashion brand SO.TY. Sovereignty Company will also bridge the gap between creators of color, leadership, and innovators at companies and policy. Sovereignty Company wants to create climate-neutral solutions for the entire fashion industry.

Founded by Dr. Corneil [Neil] Montgomery, Sovereignty Company’s non-profit model builds on the accumulated experience of Dr. Montgomery, a creative social impact executive for Fortune 50 companies, global not-for-profits, and consulting. Montgomery has secured partnerships with the financial institution Wells Fargo and Japanese car manufacturer Lexus.

Montgomery and Sovereignty Company are also gaining support from influencers, including sustainable fashion blogger Aditi Mayer, James Higa CEO of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, Edwina Kulego vice president of international and business development at Informa Markets Fashion, and founder of Essentials By Edwina, and other fashion influencers and thought leaders.

The program from Sovereignty Company will ultimately remain diverse, inclusive, equitable, and circular within the fashion community. The CEO Accelerator is a non-diluted accelerator that will fund budding fashion designers and business entrepreneurs of color with design consulting and launch sustainable fashion business models and brands.

The Vision 33 Impact Fund has a 10-year plan for almost $30 million in funding for strategic development. The resources for Vision33 include non-diluted and diluted funding with a focused progressive plan that is an incubator for fashion and tech to conjure sustainable fashion brands and ideas in support of the fair labor involved and ultimately, digital content creation.

Neil Montgomery states that “designers of color helped shape fashion history and evolution but are still underrepresented and lack the resources and connections to build and grow their careers.” The founder and chief executive officer of Sovereignty Fashion CEOs Accelerator, Montgomery adds, “Our goal is to advance fashion entrepreneurs’ careers by giving them the tools to build sustainability into their brands and define their reputations as change-makers, leaders, and influencers in high-end fashion, which they so deserve.”

SO.TY is a brand specializing in reusable materials to create avant-garde masculine looks and staple wardrobe pieces with distinct silhouettes and proportions. Charles Harbison, a sought-after creative director for the global modern luxury lifestyle and consumer product market, is partnering with Sovereignty Company to serve as the chief fashion director for SO.TY, the sustainable fashion arm of the enterprise.

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Harbison has dressed notable celebrities like Beyonce, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ava Duvernay and designed and directed sustainable lines for Emanuel Ungaro in London, Cult Gaia, the Nicholas label, and Banana Republic. Four percent of the profits from SO.TY will direct to Sovereignty’s Fashion CEOs Accelerator.

“Fashion makes up a huge part of the waste in our landfills, which impacts the environment in detrimental ways,” said Charles Harbison, chief fashion director for SO.TY. Sovereignty Company’s 360-degree approach to developing equitable fashion careers for creators and business people alike is robust and reflects what leaders from all over the fashion industry intend to foster.

Harbison concludes, “We have tools to create sustainable models through slow and neo luxe fashion movements that uphold high-end fashion aesthetics. Sovereignty, and SO.TY is working to be at the forefront of democratizing access to the next wave in sustainable design.” Sovereignty Company launches with a strong core of team members to effectively impact the fashion community and the BIPOC community.