How Beauty and Fashion Brands Are Shining a Spotlight on Mental Health

In 2018, Jen Gotch, the founder and chief creative officer of Ban.do, launched three nameplate necklaces. One said “anxiety.” The others said “bipolar” and “depression.” Then, Twitter found out. “I didn’t actually consider that there would be any sort of backlash or negativity,” said Gotch, who publicly talks about her mental health struggles through her Instagram account and said the idea for the necklaces came to her while she was sitting at her dining room table. “I had been talking about it a little bit on my personal [account] and nothing came up as a red flag, and I just saw the positive in it,” Gotch said.  But some on social media accused Ban.do of romanticizing mental illness. Instead, what the company was trying to do was raise awareness, Gotch noted. “We don’t profit on them — all of the proceeds go to Bring Change to Mind [a charity that aims to end stigma around mental illness]. To me, it wasn’t commerce, it was using an engaged audience to spread the word,” she said. That commerce-cause balance is something more beauty, fashion and retail companies are striving to get right, especially as charitable initiatives surrounding mental health ramp up. May is mental health month, and

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