As part of the Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a commitment of $2.1 billion over the next five years to advance women's economic empowerment, strengthen women and girls' health and family planning, and accelerate women's leadership.

The forum takes place in Paris from June 30 to July 2, 2021, bringing together governments, the private sector, and civil society partners to commit to specific actions and announce financial, political, and programmatic commitments that will accelerate gender equality and advance women's rights. Not since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, when 47,000 participants and activists traveled to Beijing, has the world come together to take ambitious action that will have a transformational impact for women and girls.

"The world has been fighting for gender equality for decades, but progress has been slow. Now is the chance to reignite a movement and deliver real change," said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. "The beauty of our fight for gender equality is that every human being will gain from it. We must seize this moment to build a better, more equal future."

The forum takes place at a critical inflection point. While we have seen progress over the past quarter century, nowhere on Earth are women on equal footing with men. Waves of opposition to women's rights have emerged, and structural barriers to gender equality and women's health still exist.

The foundation's $2.1 billion commitment over the next five years will advance activity in three areas: economic empowerment, health and family planning, and accelerating women in leadership. Funding includes:

Economic Empowerment: $650 million over five years: An expansion of the foundation's existing work on women's economic empowerment, this funding will support women's empowerment collectives, strengthen the care economy, improve women's financial inclusion, and reduce barriers to paid work.

Family Planning and Health: $1.4 billion over five years: This reaffirms and expands the foundation's commitment to family planning and women's health, with a focus on increasing options and access to contraceptives and support for a network of family planning partners, including UNFPA Supplies Partnership, Family Planning 2030, the Global Financing Facility, and the new Shaping Equitable Market Access for Reproductive Health initiative.

Accelerating Women in Leadership: $100 million over five years / $230 million over 10 years: This is an all-new funding commitment to accelerate women's inclusion in leadership roles, primarily in health, law, and economics. It includes a contribution to a new fund by Co-Impact that aims to dismantle systemic barriers to gender equality and women and girls' leadership around the world.

"Gender equality must be at the center of the world's efforts to make progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals," said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. "Prioritizing gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to fighting poverty and preventable disease. The Generation Equality Forum is an opportunity to hold leaders accountable so that we can ensure that all people, everywhere, have the opportunity to live healthy, productive lives."

Today, the Gates Foundation also released new data that show pandemic-driven inequality is growing at an alarming pace, driven by disruptions to women's health services, job losses in sectors where women are overrepresented, and a sharp increase in caregiving needs and other unpaid work. "Ripple effects of the pandemic have conspired to rob women and girls of opportunity," said French Gates.

According to the International Labour Organization, unemployment for women rose by 9 million in 2020 compared to 2019 and is projected to increase another 2 million in 2021. This pattern is not true for men, who are projected to see unemployment decrease in 2021. Total global female employment in 2021 is expected to remain 13 million below its 2019 level. By contrast, total male employment is expected to return to close to its 2019 level, exacerbating existing inequalities in the workforce.

"Women and girls already faced unique barriers to their full participation in social and economic life, and the latest data show that the pandemic has only sharpened gender disparities," said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation. "Each data point represents a woman fighting for a better future, and this funding reflects our longstanding commitment to support all women in their fight for a fairer and more equal world."

The foundation has been committed to family planning and women's health since it began more than 20 years ago. For almost a decade, it has been supporting partners around the world to break down structural barriers that women and girls face and to advance women's economic empowerment. Gender equality is core to the foundation's work, and the Gender Equality division is focused on accelerating progress toward a more gender-equal world.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.

Luvme Hair, as the leading company of human hair wigs in the United States, summarized the two major difficulties the wig industry facing today. One is the shortage of lace, the other is the gradual lack of human hair. In recent years, the overall lace wig prices generally have an increase by 15% to 25% on account of the current shortage of lace supply on the wig market.

In terms of laces, the main origin of the Swiss laces used on Luvme Hair's undetectable lace wig is Switzerland. To prevent the spread of the virus, Switzerland reduced the lace export volume. Due to the increase of people's hair problems and the thriving of E-commerce, the overall demand for lace wigs has risen. No lace can be offered is becoming a problem for the entire wig industry at this moment. According to Luvme Hair's product manager Michael Li, " Because of the pandemic, we are also facing a short supply of lace, for which we had to reduce the sale of one of our star products — the undetectable lace wig. Also, we have made lots of attempts to come through the shortage of materials."

Luvme Hair launched the cap wig as their first step. This idea came from a customer's comment about a lace product promotional video. "Lace wig is expensive for me. Because I'm not good at cutting lace, there is another fee for me to find a hairstylist to install it. Do you guys consider launching cap wigs? "said Nancy, the customer of Luvme Hair. When it reached Luvme Hair's product department, the idea caught most of the employees' attention so they decided to implement cap wig. Cap wigs with large elastic bands instead of lace were soon introduced on the wig market. Even if Luvme Hair has increased the marketing promotions for cap wigs, it still can't be recognized by most customers in the meantime.

After doing a large amount of customer research, Luvme Hair found that the cap wig failed to be recognized by the market for its unnatural look and inflexibility for hairstyling. They tried to replace the large area of the elastic band with a headband. Besides, they selected different styles of headbands to decorate the elastic band of the wig. When Luvme Hair launched the headband wig, surprisingly, it achieved much love. Because of its convenience and beginner-friendly, it also attracted some customers who were discouraged from installing lace wigs to headband wigs. "We're so glad to see that headband wigs can hit the current trend. On one side, it has turned the crisis of lace shortage into an opportunity. On the other side, the success has reminded us that the market cannot always be led by a single product. So we will continue to launch our new headband wigs and constantly optimize the restructuring of our products," said Michael Li, Luvme Hair's product manager.

When it comes to raw materials，along with the general improvement of the people's living standard in the areas virgin hair is offered, the supply of raw materials is gradually decreasing. Facing the trend of online wig purchases accelerated by the Covid-19 disease, Luvme Hair shares their concerns: "We are more worried about the long-term sustainability of quality hair collection. In the modern era of constant technological innovation, the market should accelerate the speed of enhancing the chemical synthetic hair materials and trying to introduce simulated real hair. So we are now accelerating our research and development of alternative raw materials for real hair, with the hope to bring revolutionary products to consumers in the near future."

Announcing FashionCommerce 2021: Exclusive Digital Event for Apparel and Accessory Brands and Retailers

ChannelAdvisor Corporation (NYSE: ECOM), a leading provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions that enable brands and retailers to increase global sales, today announced registration is now open for FashionCommerce 2021, an interactive, virtual learning and networking event for fashion brands, distributors, and retailers on June 15, 2021.

ChannelAdvisor's FashionCommerce event aims to provide fashion brands and retailers with expert guidance to help strengthen online performance throughout the year. In 2021, ChannelAdvisor's exclusive e-commerce event will take place as a one-day digital conference, showcasing industry leaders with relevant and actionable insights to help brands and retailers adapt to shifting consumer expectations during the global pandemic. Registrants can access tangible solutions to help increase their online brand presence, optimize product data, explore sustainable fashion practices, including full price vs. off-price strategies, and much more.

"Fashion brands and retailers are constantly looking for effective ways to reach new audiences, meet consumer demands, and efficiently grow their businesses," said Stephanie Strong, Partner Manager and Category Manager, Fashion - Americas, ChannelAdvisor. "FashionCommerce presents a transformative opportunity for brands and retailers to learn new strategies and tactics to stay agile and competitive. We've tapped our extensive network of partners in the fashion industry to create a fantastic lineup of speakers and sessions curated to enable fashion brands and retailers to quickly adapt to the ongoing impact of the pandemic."

FashionCommerce will take place in the US, EMEA, and also Australia. The free virtual event will be broadcasted live and will be available for viewing on-demand.

"We look forward to participating in FashionCommerce, both in the US and EMEA," said Nassima Filali, non-EU senior sales manager from Zalando. "It's an exciting time for fashion brands and retailers and we're looking forward to sharing insights into how they can expand their reach to connect with consumers."

About ChannelAdvisor

ChannelAdvisor (NYSE: ECOM) is a leading e-commerce cloud platform whose mission is to connect and optimize the world's commerce. For two decades, ChannelAdvisor has helped brands and retailers worldwide improve their online performance by expanding sales channels, connecting with consumers, optimizing their operations for peak performance, and providing actionable analytics to improve competitiveness. Thousands of customers depend on ChannelAdvisor to securely power their sales and optimize fulfillment on channels such as Amazon, eBay, Google, Facebook, Walmart, and hundreds more.

Vera Bradley, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRA), the iconic women's fashion and lifestyle brand, and Crocs, Inc. (Nasdaq: CROX), a global leader in innovative casual footwear, announced new limited-edition styles in the collaborative Vera Bradley + Crocs exclusive footwear collection will debut today.

This is the third time the brands have partnered to create a Vera Bradley + Crocs collection, which combines Vera Bradley's signature bright patterned designs with Crocs' world-renowned comfort, style and innovation. The brands' first highly successful collaboration launched in July 2019, followed by the second release of their Crocs at Work™ and children's collections in the fall of 2020.

"Combining Vera Bradley's bright and cheery patterns with Crocs' signature comfort has proven to be a winning combination that appeals to fans of both of our brands. We're thrilled to debut our third Vera Bradley + Crocs collection, which we designed to help our customers walk on the bright side, whether they're strolling along the beach or just taking a trip to their local mall," noted Daren Hull, Vera Bradley Brand President.

The latest Vera Bradley + Crocs collection will feature Crocs' iconic Classic Clog and a new style, the Kadee Sandal. Both styles will be available in Vera Bradley's newest patterns inspired by paradise—Rain Forest Canopy Pink and Rain Forest Leaves. Completing the collection are two new tropics-inspired Vera Bradley + Crocs Jibbitz™ charm 3-packs to add more personality and playfulness to every step.

"Encouraging individuality and self-expression are hallmarks of the Crocs brand and Vera Bradley is the perfect partner to embolden our consumers to feel more comfortable in their own shoes," said Emily Sly, Crocs' Vice President of Global Marketing. "Rooted in the iconic DNA that Crocs and Vera Bradley are recognized for, our bold and bright tropics-inspired styles, paired with Jibbitz™ charms, will add a dash of personality and playfulness to consumers' spring style."

Vera Bradley + Crocs footwear and Jibbitz™ charms are now available online at verabradley.com and at select Crocs retail locations. The collection will also be available on crocs.com beginning in mid-May.

Vera Bradley, Inc. operates two unique lifestyle brands – Vera Bradley and Pura Vida. Vera Bradley and Pura Vida are complementary businesses, both with devoted, emotionally-connected, and multi-generational female customer bases; alignment as causal, comfortable, affordable, and fun brands; positioning as "gifting" and socially-connected brands; strong, entrepreneurial cultures; a keen focus on community, charity, and social consciousness; multi-channel distribution strategies; and talented leadership teams aligned and committed to the long-term success of their brands.

Vera Bradley, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a leading designer of women's handbags, luggage and other travel items, fashion and home accessories, and unique gifts. Founded in 1982 by friends Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia R. Miller, the brand is known for its innovative designs, iconic patterns, and brilliant colors that inspire and connect women unlike any other brand in the global marketplace.

In July 2019, Vera Bradley, Inc. acquired a 75% interest in Creative Genius, Inc., which also operates under the name Pura Vida Bracelets ("Pura Vida"). Pura Vida, based in La Jolla, California, is a rapidly growing, digitally native, and highly engaging lifestyle brand founded in 2010 by friends Paul Goodman and Griffin Thall. Pura Vida has a differentiated and expanding offering of bracelets, jewelry, and other lifestyle accessories.

Crocs, Inc. (Nasdaq: CROX) is a world leader in innovative casual footwear for women, men, and children, combining comfort and style with a value that consumers know and love. The vast majority of shoes within Crocs' collection contain Croslite™ material, a proprietary, molded footwear technology, delivering extraordinary comfort with each step.

In 2021, Crocs declares that expressing yourself and being comfortable are not mutually exclusive. To learn more about Crocs or our global Come As You Are™ campaign, please visit crocs.com or follow @Crocs on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.