Sustainability, Ethics and the UK Fashion Industry with The Westminster Business Forum

On 20th November 2019, the Westminster Business Forum held a conference on sustainability, ethics and the UK fashion industry - next steps for business practice and options for policy.

Tamara Cincik, Founder & CEO, Fashion Roundtable spoke on the subject of ensuring the future growth of UK fashion and increased sustainability. The following is a transcript of her speech.

Thank you Lord McNally, thank you.

Can you all hear me, because I've been progressively losing my voice for the last month. So I'm going to try and stand very close. I've got lots of notes. Thank you all very much for coming, and thank you Lord McNally.

So the reason why I launched Fashion Roundtable, which is two years tomorrow, is because I not only worked in the fashion industry, I also had the opportunity of working in Parliament, and while I was there, it was increasingly obvious that at all the meetings that I had the privilege to be a part of once I had access all areas, particularly around Brexit, and the negotiations that were happening then as they are now, when Parliament isopen, that... my sector wasn't in the room enough, not nearly enough. There were potentially one or twopeople from the cultural or creative industries, there were rarely anybody from the sector.

So I had a kind of epiphany in a meeting that was packed, it was bigger than this and it was Tim Shipman speaking to Hillary Benn that if I didn't put my hand up there was going to be, let alone anybody from the sector, I was going to be the only woman to ask a question.

So afterwards I went up to Hillary Benn and I said, look, if I bring together a room full of people from the industry, do you think you'd listen to them? And he said, yes of course. And I turned it around and we had people from lots of big brands and different parts of the sector, and it became increasingly obvious that I needed to set this up. So I'm sure most of the people here in the room will know the stats, and the stats vary on the jobs. The Government say it's over half a million, the BFC figures, which come from Oxford Economics put it at 880,000. Whatever it is it's a lot of jobs. And it's generating over £32bn for the UK economy with a turnover of £60bn last year.

It is also really important that soft power tourism links in with it. We're in St James, Mayfair, Belgravia as well as other areas. I was in Bath last week and I saw loads of tourists who were obviously on the kind of Oxford Bicester Village Bath M4 trajectory via winter. So it adds value to the UK economy on lots of different levels.

The garment and textiles manufacturing component of manufacturing is growing larger than any other sector, and as we go, whatever happens with Brexit, what's very clear, what we're hearing is that more people want to bring their manufacturing back to the UK. So there's a really exciting opportunity for the economy to support, which is why we've been working with people like Jenny Holloway from Fashion Enter who I can't see here, but she's someone I definitely advise you to look up if you don’t know her. She's only based in ManorHouse, so she's very easy to get to on the Piccadilly line, very close to here.

The issue that I found, and that Fashion Roundtable have found, is that within Government it's very fragmented. We have to meet with, I can see some people here, lovely people but they're in very different departments. So whereas other sectors might just go to one Whitehall department and build those relationships. We've, over two years, had to build those relationships over several Whitehall departments, and obviously teams change, people change jobs, Ministers have changed. For instance, we had a meeting about visas I think in June in Parliament talking about the shortage occupation visa list, which I'll come on-to in a minute, and the Minister that we met, by the time they came back after the summer holiday was no longer in the Government, and was standing as an independent and was no longer the Minister. So you're having conversations and then you're kind of on a stop/start. It's a bit like Waiting for Godot.

So, sustainability. Now I think some... honestly there's going to be some experts in the room who are going to know far more than me. But I think what's positive about where the UK’s at is that we are leading insustainability. We were the first to commit to implement Net Zero targets in legislation, and within the EU we have been leading on sustainability initiatives. But, the fashion industry needs to be recognised and appreciated across all sectors so that this value can be supported as both economic and cultural.

So what are the challenges? We see several challenges. There's a talent supply and an education share. We have a skills shortage which is why we've been lobbying for manufacturing workers to be on the shortage occupation visa list which is called SOL. And if... for that to go through, we have to change the thinking inWhitehall. We have to change the thinking where it's income-based, because although these are highly skilled workers they're not necessarily paid in terms of say a lawyer or a banker. But they do add a value, and currently, because of STEM education in the UK education system, we are not creating enough domicile talent going into manufacturing jobs.

So we have an issue.

So yes, we need to address the education agenda and we need to bring back... we need the EBacc which is the system that when you go into secondary school you have your education under. We need to add... make itSTEAM, which adds arts and design back into the core curriculum. At the moment it's STEM. So if you go to a private school you have a STEM education, and if you go to a state school, which let's face it 92% of us go to,you have a STEM education. So that’s something we've been lobbying on.

There's also a lack of union support for the industry. So what we've heard when we've met and we've been part of the EAC Committee hearings is the lack of unions in manufacturing, but also what we've been doing on our side because it's actually easier with my contacts to tackle that as well because it didn't exist, is that we've been speaking to Bectu, which is the film and television union, and they are about to take on union support for fashion assistants, because it's kind of like for like with what happens in the film industry having worked as a stylist quite frankly working in film is very similar, it's just a bit of a longer job than say working on a commercial or an editorial.

And this would allow those people who take on that union support to have insurance, to be protected, loss of earnings, late payments etc. Things that, they're very isolated, and wages have stagnated, I hear of people not being paid all the time and I don't think it's fair. I think we are approaching 2020 and we're going to end up with a Downton Abbey version of fashion if we're not careful, where only the privileged can be part of the sector.

It's also very London-centric, which is why we would like to see rolled out a kind of like for like system. I again mentioned Jenny Holloway, I know she's been speaking to people in Leicester about rolling out the mapping of the East London fashion cluster so that there's local and national as well as therefore the potential to export, internationally support, and this would be independent of Brexit, but it would support domicile talent, and domicile networks.

So what's great about the East London fashion cluster. It's really within a range of North to East London you can go from design to delivery, and that is a fantastic opportunity and it's something that if we brought that back it also obviously bringing it back to sustainability creates less air-miles, it's more ethical, and with transparency it also means that we know the wages are safeguarded.

Business. Increasing business rates is pushing businesses out of the high streets, I mean you go to any city ortown and you see empty streets... empty shops. This is an additional barrier to business.

Brexit. With the supply chains, the movement of data, IP, I mean all of this, trade permits. We need to ensurethat the costs of Brexit do not fall on us, and so far everybody’s been waiting, we've been in a waiting game,but whatever happens we've been lobbying that we can get as much freedom of movement for everybody in the sector as well as a reduction on cost, because already we're trademarking what is likely to happen is that we will have to, and there again are experts over here who I'm sure we can speak to after, from Whitehall who, you know, the fact of trademarking if you're a very small business is a real worry for somebody who’s gotto trademark here and then trademark in Europe if they're going to sell in Europe, which in all likelihood theywill be because that’s our biggest trading partner, however much we're talking about other tradingopportunities. Those will take time to develop and also obviously have longer airmiles, which if we're going to go back to sustainability, factors in that.

Fashion does feel under-represented. I've been very aware that we don’t have political education in our education system from the conversations that we've had. People have assumed that being the secretariat for the APPG means that I've got the hotline to number 10, or that we're paid. We're not. It's voluntary what we do, and we do it from a passion and from a realisation that our sector needs to be heard, because it wasn't heard and it's not good enough for a sector with this much value and with this much importance to the UK economy.

Before we launched, Game of Thrones was mentioned seven times in the House of Commons, in the three years up to the Brexit vote, and fashion hadn't been mentioned once, although Game of Thrones is quite I'd say gory, it's also not real life.

So, here's some examples of some brands that are doing well, and I again think that there's going to be people from these brands. Phoebe English, who isn't here but I know spoke for the EAC events and FashionRevolution’s event at the V&A. She's done incredible things around sustainability. She's trying to limit thegarment radius to a maximum of 24 kilometres, which is what, 17 miles? That's about here to Watford. That’s incredible. She... even the hangers are recycled. So everything she’s working on solutions.

Patrick McDowell who’s another ally of ours has recently been nominated for the Stella McCartney Today for Tomorrow award by Anna Wintour. He works with waste fabric, he even went back to Burberry who he did an internship with. So he's using his contacts to really build a relationship and remodel the business, and he's a very new designer, but I think he's one to watch.

And then obviously you've got people who are more iconic such as Stella McCartney who have led the way in the sustainability conversation. But for us to get these changes it needs to not be down to the designer or the consumer. We believe it has to be about legislation.

I mean we can talk about women’s rights, however reading the facts on the gender pay gap increasing in thelast year it's very disheartening, and it shows that without legislation it's very difficult to push change. If it's put on us and you've got tight margins, or as a consumer without transparency it's very difficult to know, it's too much pressure.

We also are very aware at Fashion Roundtable about the importance of diversity. We're working on our representation and inclusion work because diversity is proven to add value to every business, but also it's culturally important. We cannot as a country go forward, whatever happens with Brexit, without understanding the vital importance of diversity.

Worth, who first launched in Mayfair just over the road became one of the very first couturiers in Paris. Fashion as we see it, Fashion Roundtable is a global conversation, and we have the opportunity to change that narrative and make it a positive story against a backlash which has quite frankly been rather negative in recent years.

The UK and especially London has become a hub for sustainable fashion brands and initiatives. And what's really exciting is we've seen people such as LoanHood is the London Borough of Hackney, they did a clothes swap last Saturday, it was packed, or we've had links in with Nu Wardrobe who are doing a sharing economy.So there's lots of all these grassroots initiatives, whether the consumers’ there yet I don't know. I think my feeling is it's more of a millennial market currently, but that will grow. And I think it's a really exciting opportunity.

And what also has been interesting is you guys in the room amplifying what the Environment Audit Committee did with their Fixing Fashion Report. Of course it was discouraging that the Government rejected all 18 asks. I think the ones around, particularly for me the ones around modern day slavery which picked up on the work of Baroness Lola Young would have given the Government’s declaration that they want to eradicate modern dayslavery, these would have been interesting but I think we have to see that through the lens of Brexit.

Brexit has put a fog on everything going on, and I'm sure Lord McNally knows this over the road in Westminster. So until we get one way or the other on this, and actually understand that these negotiations will take years, it will have to see everything that it's a bit slower than it might have been in another era. And that is unfortunate but if we raise our voices if we get behind campaigns and if we work with our elected representatives highlighting the key issues that we want from them, we have a power because our votes are important to them.

So, what are some positive measures that we would like to see? We are today launched our general election manifesto. We would like to see incentives for businesses implementing sustainability measures. We would like to see a greater role from local government in supporting the industry across the UK such as fashion hubs, using empty shops, I am coming back to what I said earlier. We would like to see modern day slavery BAME reporting, as well as abuses in the supply chain and workplace that are linked to changing the business model.

We would like to see ease of movement. We are part of the campaign FreeMoveCreate, for all people whether they're students or freelance professionals to ensure that the UK can attract and retain talent. We have been lobbying that the student visa extension post-graduation extends to two years so that people can build their businesses. It seems really counter-intuitive to have people paying money, studying here, and not being able to build their business and most importantly pay their taxation here.

We would like to have fashion included in the creative industries’ tax relief. We would like to, as I said before, bring creative education back into the EBacc, actually into the EBacc because I think it was in there when they were piloting it and then they took it out for whatever reasons.

We would like to see the implementation, I'm going to have to read this one out, implementation ofbusiness/ethics/environmental awareness and tools in fashion education curriculum. That’s what we'verealised. It's really important that designers understand business. I have some really basic questions coming from people who are award-winning about accounts, and I'm no accountant. So this kind of work I believe would help them to actually sustain their businesses because talent alone, as we all know, doesn't get you everything.

So the industry’s in a really exciting moment. It is a disrupter. We've seen from Katharine Hamnett and all her campaigning. We've seen all our friends going out and marching. We had so many people supporting our work and what we doing, and it's really exciting. And I think that this gives a renewed interest to our opportunities of what we could do and how we could shape the change.

But we have to understand that things are changing. I am personally not sure that catwalk shows will be the model for the next generation. And the consumer is asking for greater accountability from the campaigners against fur a few seasons ago, or Extinction Rebellion and their Cancel Fashion Week campaign. You know, they want, they're demanding more accountability from fashion and it is important that we shape up, but for that to happen it cannot be on you, it has to be in conversation and to create legislation and policy change.

Thank you.