Fashion Roundtable's CEO Tamara Cincik on the evolving coronavirus pandemic and how we can help

The phrase "a week is a long time in politics" has frequently been to discuss the Brexit negotiations that have taken up our political airwaves for the past four years. Largely it has been true, with its divisive push-me pull-me identity crisis rollercoaster. However, the past few weeks have highlighted that just when you think it could not get any more unsettling, something so unprecedented, devastating and game-changing happens. It is really hard to keep up and take on board the consequences of COVID-19. In terms of our health, that of everyone we love and the future existence of our business, the Coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to self-isolate, take stock and try to juggle the cold light of a new dawn, all under lockdown within our own homes. 

This is an international health catastrophe, an economic implosion and an existential crisis all in one. While most of Europe has been on an enforceable lockdown for days, in the UK we can't go out for exercise more than once a day, shop for anything other than food, or meet up with friends. Mothers Day went virtual and as Friday was the last day of school, I am juggling homeschooling with running Fashion Roundtable. I have spent a lot of time trying to ensure that safeguards are implemented to support our sector. For many, work has been cancelled, without any lined up for the coming months, meaning no income for the foreseeable future. I have been back and forth with the Government, asking for the same level of support paid to PAYE workers for the many in the industry who are freelance or self-employed yet are expected to survive with the same amount of out-goings as before, with just under £5,000 a year to live on via Universal Credit -  if you are eligible, which many of us aren't - on reading the Ts&Cs. This is not acceptable and I have been highlighting why: joining forces with other creative industry organisations and been communicating the points to Whitehall, City Hall and anyone who will listen in Government. Two MPs have worked with me and tabled urgent parliamentary questions on this, and of course we will update you as soon as we hear more. I have pointed out that entrepreneurs: which all of you who have set up a brand, or become a fashion creative should be valued as, are the backbone of the UK. We pay taxes and we need economic support throughout this sudden shock to the status quo, exactly the same as everyone else. I have been assured there will be an update on this soon. In the meantime to add your voice, please use our cut and paste email to your MP explaining why you need financial help, now.

Last Friday I hosted a webinar for business, with speakers from across policy and business participating. We will host these each week during the COVID-19 crisis and to register for the upcoming one this Friday at 2pm, please email sarah.squires@fashionroundtable.co.uk. Here is our useful checklist of support for businesses and employees, which I hope helps you navigate the information more easily. Our snap surveys have helped us to inform policy leaders on the key concerns of the sector and thank you to everyone who has participated and shared them. In light of so many people losing all their bookings, without any safeguard protections or future work in place, we have launched Fashion Roundtable Community on LinkedIn, to share and seek paid jobs, empowerment tips and business tools. Please use it.

I have also been working on a manufacturing network to create protective clothing for the NHS. We are awaiting the green light from the Cabinet to implement this strategy. If you are a brand and able to support this, please email info@britishfashioncouncil.com to add your name to the list of producers. Kate Hills at Make It British, Phoebe English, myself and many others, have lots of contacts eager to support in this. I have asked the Government what the enforced closure of many workplaces last night will mean on the making of protective clothing once we have clearance and lobbied for a quick response. I want to ensure that any protective clothing made meets NHS needs; so while I have been sent many ideas of mask designs, I also want to highlight that it is imperative that anything made needs to meet medical needs. As soon as I hear back from the Government on this, Fashion Roundtable will of course update you.

My article for Eco-Age lays out why I feel the fashion industry has to transform post COVID-19: "For this industry to prosper in a more sustainable way in the future, we need to nurture new UK-based talent, train them in business, as well as design, and work out new systems which generate longer term business for brands which will be sustainable in every sense of the word: from the fabrics used, to the wages paid and the distance from designer to customer. Now might be the right moment to open up the conversation around some of the changes, but we must come together and support each other to stay afloat." This is a time for deep analysis, introspection and change. At Fashion Roundtable we have asked people to support Fare Share, The Trussell Trust and The Felix Project, charities which all tackle food waste and poverty. Millions of children living in the UK in poverty (something as I write it I find deeply upsetting to type), are suddenly now off school and many won't be receiving the only hot, nutritious meal they eat each day. If you are able to donate to any of these charities, as food bank donations downturn in a period of panic supermarket shopping, please do. I keep thinking of all those children and women in vulnerable relationships, now in more danger due to an enforced lockdown. Refuge say on their website: "In the current climate, it is certainly more challenging for women suffering abuse. Lines of communication could be severely limited if women are unable to leave the home." If this is you, please call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.

There are so many moral questions implicit in the pandemic as it develops.

What is the State? What is Welfare? How do we contend with shared global challenges in a country which is attempting a divorce from its neighbours? What power does the individual have in a crisis which is democratic in its impacts? What’s next for the capitalist growth model in a system which is so clearly flawed? What is a Benevolent State? I do hope that this period of enforced introspection forces us all to recognise who we are, what we value and make those necessary changes. There is literally no time like the present. As our lives become redacted to online and confined in our homes, I hope we each of us, uses this time wisely to seek transformative solutions. And please do stay safe.