A Festive Message from Fashion Roundtable

By Tamara Cincik, CEO & Founder of Fashion Roundtable

The Festive adage- whether in a TV commercial or Dicken's A Christmas Carol- dictates this is the season of reflection, but also of goodwill.

Goodwill is synonymous with generosity and goes to the heart of our Christmas swap shop event last Sunday— in partnership with LoanHood at The Curtain. Community is at the heart of Fashion Roundtable and our community were there in force, sharing some fantastic clothes. I spoke to some keen swappers about the backstory of the pieces I had donated: from a leopard print 1960's coat from Brooklyn NY to a black silk puff ball skirt I had made for a music video I styled. The story of each item only added to their value. Attendees gave donations to Centrepoint who last year supported more than 15,000 young homeless people. According to their statistics we’ve seen a sharp 165% rise in rough sleeping in the last 10 years. If you would like to donate, please click on the link here. BBC Business News also attended the event and interviewed many of us—their report will be out over the holidays and we will of course share it with you.

Christmas is also about community, as I look back at the last year, we have hosted an incredible series of events. My personal highlight was the partnership with the V&A Global Britain, Local Stories, where new generation designers showcased their talent and spoke about their work. I have also really enjoyed curating our events: both parliamentary and across some fantastic host venues, such as Bottletops, The Mortimer and The Curtain.

For 2020, our membership will be in its exciting next stage, as we create a roster of events across London, the UK and other markets. Our answer to Valentine's Day next February is going to be so much fun: with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Jamie Windust and the Royal Needlework School, using Ashish's archive, coming together for a talk, workshop and craft extravaganza all based around the theme of Love is Love. This is core to our values of community and inclusion, and of course our work on Representation and Inclusion which will be key to 2020. To sign up to become a founding member and enjoy our Christmas discount, please click on the link here.

For some in the UK, it will be a time to reflect on what is needed to bring communities together. In May, Fashion Roundtable hosted a parliamentary event on retail and the future of our high streets (minutes here). It highlighted a lot of the conversations we need to have to find integrated solutions which generate real change—across cities and towns, Remainers and Leavers, North and South, bricks and mortar and online retailers. Not only in the UK, but also for all nations which are facing similar issues where so many feel, and indeed have been, left behind economically. Lisa Nandy MP is Chair of Centre for Towns (whose team member Professor Will Jennings spoke at our event) is someone we shall be hearing more of in the weeks ahead. In all likelihood Lisa will decide to stand for the Labour leadership, no doubt bringing into sharp focus the need for a strategy which supports small business and a high street revival in small towns as well as large cities.

I am really looking forward to seeing so many of you at our events in 2020 and hope you have a great Christmas break. See you on the other side.