European fashion and lifestyle platform Zalando has published its first-ever annual diversity and inclusion report, do.BETTER. The report documents the company's progress made in areas of diversity and inclusion. It also details future initiatives for its employees, customers and partners. 

The do.BETTER report shows that Zalando has already achieved its 2019 target of a balanced representation of both men and women, indicated by a share 40-60 per cent for both genders on the top six leadership levels by the end of 2023. Zalando has achieved this goal in its Supervisory Board, which is now comprised of 56 per cent women. In its Senior Vice President level, the representation of women has almost doubled in one year to 30 per cent women. The Vice President cohort now consists of 22 per cent women. 

To tackle gender imbalance in its tech teams, the company has committed to extend its goal to achieve a balanced gender share of 40-60 per cent by 2023 to these teams. In addition, Zalando has pledged to invest five million euros in dedicated initiatives to attract, develop and retain more women in tech roles. 

do.BETTER also details how its platform has and will become more inclusive for both its customers and partners. The company is already working with a diverse group of models who represent all of its customers. Products for all skin tones have been added to its beauty category, fashion is presented with size inclusivity in mind, and Zalando has partnered with more brands that are owned by members of minority groups. Zalando aims to onboard at least 70 Black-owned brands by 2022. In addition, customers can register an account without putting in binary gender information and the accessibility of all websites and apps has been improved to enable customers with disabilities to navigate them more easily. 

Zalando's co-CEO Rubin Ritter commented: "It is our vision to become the Starting Point for Fashion in Europe, and we want to include everyone on that journey. Transformation takes time. We are still at the beginning but our progress indicates that we are moving in the right direction."

You can access Zalandao's full do.BETTER report here.