Fashion’s freelancers are under pressure. What’s the solution?

The Now Work operates across the UK, Europe, US and Asia, offering services such as matching brands with top talent, helping companies build teams for specific sustainability projects, offering sustainability training, and consulting on work culture within sustainability teams with an aim of reducing burnout in those roles. With a team of three — the two co-founders and an account manager — the self-funded company has annual revenues of over £500,000.

It is more hands-on than some tech-driven talent startups. “We very deliberately decided not to be a faceless platform as there’s so much nuance involved in sustainability work that it does require a human touch to make the right matches,” says Phang. Sustainability freelancers can register via The Now Work’s website and go through a vetting-and-matching process, where The Now Work handpicks talent or teams best placed to tackle the issues a client has set out in their brief. The talent pool is currently made up of just under 1,000 independent sustainability experts.

The co-founders have seen a shift toward freelance work in sustainability. Sustainability experts are more likely to become burnt out in companies that set unrealistic expectations without providing sufficient support for their work, they say. Sustainability work can be mentally and emotionally taxing, so the idea of having more agency over the projects you work on can be attractive to those in the space. Of the freelancers that took part in Vogue Business’s survey, 65 per cent felt their work aligns with their values, compared to 50 per cent of people in full-time employment.

The premise behind The Now Work is that we need new ways of working to deliver new ways of operating as an industry. “To be able to pull in specific expertise at the right point in time and make the work a lot more innovative means we can be so much more impactful in our results with clients,” says Phang. “The market is changing so rapidly, so being able to be more agile and flexible feels important.”

Growing its client base is The Now Work’s key priority when it comes to scaling, rather than seeking investment. The US is a key area of focus; Phang says she’s seen an increase in clients from American companies.

One of the biggest challenges to scaling is encouraging a change in how sustainability professionals work. “In sustainability, there can sometimes be a sense of self-sacrifice — that because we are working to address the suffering and destruction of the world around us, we must push ourselves beyond our limits for the greater good,” says Phang. “A mindset shift is needed; creating healthy work habits is actually for the greater good, and not being rested and resourced isn’t something to feel guilty about.”

There is recognition, however, that talent platforms cannot fix the wider, systemic issues facing freelancers in fashion. “The gig economy is growing — which I don’t think is necessarily bad — but it has to be regulated,” says Scagnolari.

Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.