As China retaliates against transatlantic sanctions over the Xinjiang region, Western fashion brands are torn between Chinese boycott threats and the human rights concerns raised by governments and investors.

The PM announced last night that the next step of the reopening roadmap, step 2, can take place as planned on 12 April.

With non-essential retail set to re-open next month, Meg Pirie takes a look at the plethora of issues facing the charity shop sector. From the waning quality of donations and influx of loungewear, to an anticipated £10bn funding shortfall, shop closures and 60,0000 job losses due to Covid.

As Fashion Roundtable seeks evidence for their policy paper on 'Cleaning Up Fashion’, this latest session focused specifically on the Uighur Crisis and the broader issues of labour exploitation, modern slavery, opaque global value chains and the legislative action that the Government and Firms in the UK can take to mitigate suffering in Xinjiang.

"London has always been a torchbearer and champion of the brightest young talent, acting as a springboard for a huge portion of the world’s most talented designers to grow and become international names. But now as we look to the future and a return to a new normal, we must safeguard and support our young talent..."

Amy Nguyen, Founder and Editor of Sustainable & Social, explores the current fashion gaming landscape and weighs in on its power to encourage sustainable practices. Through recent brand case studies and a discussion with fashion innovation specialist Marta Waydel, she examines the nexus between gamification and sustainability commitments.

Loungewear experienced a 322% increase in sales, after the first lockdown. But it’s occasionwear that is forecasted to rise exponentially. In fact, the State of Fashion 2021 Report suggests that categorically speaking, occasionwear will see the swiftest post-pandemic recovery.

Ultimately, the pandemic has gendered consequences, and industries must work harder to remove new and pre-existing barriers women face in the workplace. A damaging #shecession is avoidable if women are represented and invested in.

Rishi Sunak’s second budget seeks to lay the pathway for the UK economy’s exit from the stupor that the twin pressures the pandemic and Brexit have posed. In this briefing we highlight the main provisions relevant to the UK’s Fashion Industry and the businesses and workers that constitute it.

Nicola Simmons highlights some of the issues facing fashion retailers exporting and importing goods between the UK and EU and offers some practical points for affected businesses to consider.

Fashion Roundtable is holding a unity meeting on 1st March, at 11am-12pm GMT. This follows on from our meeting in January which led to our open letter to the Government, their reply, our follow up engagement. We will discuss the issues and the next steps.

On the 23rd of February 2021, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) added three documents to their website on the Agreement reached between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Union. Here, we summarise and analyse the content of these documents and highlight some resources pertaining to future trade with the European Union.

Alice Temperley, Designer: “For the government to come back with this, they are hiding, they are cowards. The government likes to entertain us during fashion week when we are all invited to 10 Downing Street to meet the prime minister. But now the government isn’t here to help, there is no voice, there is no guidance and there is no clarity on the situation. No one is talking about the fashion industry.”