Journal
An Evening with Rise
During the week of International Women's Day, we hosted a special dinner in partnership with RISE (Reimagining Industry to Support Equality). The evening brought together sustainability leaders, sourcing practitioners, nonprofit partners, and peers across the industry—many of whom have helped shape the way we think about responsible sourcing over the years. These are the kinds of conversations that usually happen in factory meeting rooms, on long sourcing trips, or across industry conferences. Bringing that community together around a dinner table felt both rare and meaningful.
Our hope for the evening was simple: to deepen understanding of the work RISE is doing, to connect the people in the room with one another, and—especially in a moment when the world can feel increasingly heavy—to create space for celebration.
Because in many ways, the work our industry does is more important than ever.
Kristine Kim and Christine Svarer, Executive Director of RISE
At DÔEN, we often talk about our supply chain as more than a system for producing goods. We see it as an opportunity—one that carries real responsibility. Factories are often discussed mainly as sites of production, but we increasingly view them as something else entirely: a vehicle for sustainable development.
When the conditions inside a workplace improve—when women gain access to leadership training, financial literacy, health education, and peer networks—the effects rarely stop at the factory gates. They ripple outward into families, communities, and the broader social fabric.
This is the premise behind our partnership with RISE.
RISE works to accelerate equality for workers across global garment supply chains, most of whom are women, by bringing together brands, suppliers, worker representatives, and civil society partners to implement worker-centered programs grounded in the lived realities of factory workers. Their work focuses not only on improving workplace dynamics but on strengthening women’s agency, leadership, and well-being—outcomes that ultimately benefit both workers and the businesses that depend on them.
In 2025, we began implementing the RISE Foundations program with one of our long-standing manufacturing partners in India. The initiative focuses on life-skills development—from communication and decision-making to stress management and workplace rights—delivered through a peer education model that allows knowledge to spread organically throughout a factory workforce.
The result is something much larger than a training program. When workers build confidence and leadership skills, those capabilities travel home with them—to their families, their communities, and the next generation.
Clockwise from top left: Christine Svarer; Dan Fibiger, Vice President of Global Sustainability for Gap, Inc.; Katharina Doets, Partnerships Associate at RISE and Christine Svarer
During the evening, Christine Svarer, Executive Director of RISE, spoke about the philosophy that underpins this work.
“Supply chains can—and they must—provide opportunities not just to produce goods and move them around the world, but to create real improvements in people’s lives. When workers gain confidence and leadership through these programs, we see them step forward not only in factories, but in their homes and communities. That ripple effect is at the heart of what we do.”
Her words echoed something many of us in the room have witnessed firsthand. Anyone who has spent time on factory floors—speaking with workers, hearing their aspirations for their families and their futures—understands that the garment industry holds enormous potential for positive change.
That potential, however, can only be realized through collaboration.
"No single brand can shift systems on its own. No supplier can carry the responsibility alone. And organizations like RISE exist precisely because collective action is the only way to scale meaningful impact."
- Kristine Kim
Our collaboration with RISE represents one step in that broader effort: a commitment to building a supply chain that reflects our values and recognizes the women who power this industry not only as workers, but as leaders and agents of change. And when that change begins inside a factory, it rarely stays there.
Written by Kristine Kim, our Senior Director of Impact & Responsible Sourcing
Kristine traveled to India last year to launch RISE at one of our factory partners; she is pictured here with some of the female artisans who participate in the program.
