Beauty ideals aren’t anything new, they have been around almost as long as humans. But in many cases they affect us in a negative way, so we have decided to make a change and challenge old beauty ideals.

A new survey (conducted in March 2023 in Sweden), showed that three out of four (76%) women aged 16-65 have experience of feeling inadequate due to the beauty ideals that prevail in society. The problem is greatest in the 16-39 age group, where 9 out of 10 women feel or have felt inadequate.

Here we need to take responsibility as a brand, we need to take a stand and change this for all women out there.

It was time for a change, it's time to Reinvent the Model.

At Lindex, we exist to empower and inspire women everywhere – this is our higher purpose. From field to fitting room and at every step in between, we are constantly seeking new ways to support, empower, and inspire the people and communities who are touched by our operations.

We may have started the journey, but there’s more to be done. And we are committed to keep working on changing old beauty ideals and broadening representation within fashion.

To do this we will:

- Work towards a more diverse representation

That means making sure that a broad range of ages, ethnicities, body types, functional variations, gender identities and everything that makes us humans are represented in our world.

- Show people as they are

That means not using any beauty enhancing retouch or filters in any of our communication.

- Continue to listen

We have a lot to learn from you.

Many women and girls are affected negatively by stereotypical and normative ideals. That is the insight from a new survey by Lindex – who continues its work for a more diversified and inclusive representation through the initiative ‘Reinvent the Model’.

A new survey by Lindex shows that three out of four (76%) women aged 16-65 have experience of feeling inadequate due to the beauty-related ideals that prevail in society. The problem is most significant in the age group 16-39, where 9 out of 10 feel or have felt inadequate.

‘The survey clearly shows how girls and women are negatively affected by stereotypical and normative ideals in society. As a major player in the fashion industry, we influence women’s everyday life through our communication and how we act as a company. We have taken many steps in the right direction but it’s time to do more. We work to empower women in different ways and inclusion is important to us. We want to be a positive force and with our long-term initiative “Reinvent the Model” we are working to increase diversity and broaden inclusion, where hopefully over time, we can contribute to changing the image of stereotypical ideals and what a model is’, says Susanne Ehnbåge, CEO at Lindex.

Our higher purpose – to empower and inspire women everywhere – underpins everything we do at Lindex.

That's why we launched the initiative "Reinvent the Model", a long-term initiative that aims to increase diversity and broaden inclusion within the fashion world.

We started by listening and asked a group of women to speak their mind about ideals and inclusion. Real Talks – the documentary is all about what they had to say.

We are determined to continue the work of changing old ideals of beauty and broadening representation in fashion.

To get there, we will continue to work actively for a more diverse representation in our communication, which means ensuring that a wide range of ages, ethnicities, body types, functional variations, gender identities and everything that makes us human are represented in our world.

The project was preceded by extensive insight work with the implementation of consumer studies in SE, NO, FI and CZ with questions within the context of inclusion and beauty-related body ideals. These studies aim to gain a better understanding of women's experiences, feelings and attitudes on the subject, and what is most important for women to prioritize in order to counteract stigma and a negative societal development.

We wanted to start by listening and asked a group of women to honestly tell us about their thoughts and experiences around ideals and inclusion, which we openly communicated through various channels.

The goal of this is to start a dialogue about a more diverse and healthy standard of beauty and encourage the fashion industry to become more inclusive.

The initiative "Reinvent the Model" was launched April 2023 with four documentary episodes online and a webpage "https://www.lindex.com/reinvent" where visitors could delve more deeply into the subject, the survey and come up with their own suggestions as to what we can do better about representation.

Even before the initiative started, we started exchanging a large number of images on our e-com (site and app) where the new models broadened our view of inclusion and diversity.

In a next step, a number of profiles shared their own experiences on Tiktok and in magazines.

And we're proud that starting this year, we're running an annual inclusion report where we reach out to women and ask for their thoughts and experiences when it comes to ideals and inclusion.

- Lindex's brand image profiles strongly in terms of attributes linked to Women Empowerment. We are already number one in our most important markets and also see a continuous positive development with a lift in Q2, 2023 which was right after we launched Reinvent the model.

- Since Q1, we have further strengthened our position by 3% as a brand that is "Inclusive of all women" and that "Communicates positive self-esteem and body positivism".

- Reinvent the Model has been met with many positive and nice comments that confirm that what we do is important.

- Posts on our Linkedin channel have been the most engaging in the company's history and we've passed over 8.7 million views on Tiktok Sweden, https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reinventthemodel

- The documentary is also listed on IMDb and the job of including more diversity on our e-com has only just begun.