She walked away from the abuse. He didn’t stop. Walk in her shoes.
As Canada marks Violence Against Women Prevention Week (April 20–26), Fashion Revolution Week (April 22–27), and Mother Earth Day (April 22), BWSS launches Wear Justice, Build Safety—a campaign that exposes the deep ties between gender-based violence, the fashion industry, and environmental destruction.
In partnership with our social enterprise, My Sister’s Closet, this campaign uses fashion to make visible what’s often hidden: post-separation abuse. It’s happening in plain sight. It’s happening to someone in your neighbourhood.
The shoes featured in these posters belong to women who made the hardest decision of their lives—to leave an abusive partner. But leaving didn’t end the violence. It only changed its form.
He didn’t stop.
The harassment continued. The control deepened. The abuse followed her through courtrooms, parenting schedules, social media, and city streets.
This is post-separation abuse—one of the most dangerous and least recognized forms of gender-based violence. It is systemic. It is relentless. And it is far too common.
Just as the Earth is treated as expendable, so too are women’s lives treated as negotiable within legal and social systems that fail to protect them. On Mother Earth Day, we are reminded that the fight for women’s safety and environmental justice is one and the same. Both require us to value life, restore balance, and refuse violence in all its forms.
Every pair of shoes in this campaign tells a story. Every pair demands change.
She walked away. He didn’t stop.
Walk in her shoes. Wear justice. Build safety.
