Last week, Fashion Roundtable attended the Trade Unlocked conference. This was a brand new national conference that took place on the 20th June 2023, bridging the gap between the worlds of business and politics. Trade Unlocked created a high-profile platform for businesses of all sizes and from all sectors to give views on what they need from the UK government to get their business and the economy growing. Click through to read more and watch the full panel talk featuring our CEO Tamara Cincik.
The government should focus on increasing productivity and investment in skills. The UK has a lower productivity level and growth than other countries such as Germany, France, and the US. A longer-term plan focused on investment in skills and innovation will amount to a more sustainable economic growth compared to short-term policy options such as the tax cuts proposed.
Read MoreAlice 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.”
Read MoreHelen Brocklebank, CEO, Walpole: “Prior to the pandemic, the British luxury sector was in rude health with a value of £48bn to the UK economy and strong annual growth of nearly 10%. Very much a British success story, the sector supported more than 160,000 jobs throughout the UK. However, international visitors to the UK are a crucial revenue driver, and the last 11 months has put severe pressure on their businesses. On top of the pandemic, the eleventh hour Brexit deal has compounded the sector's problems, making chances of swift recovery for British luxury recede compared to their European counterparts. With 42% of all British luxury export sales coming from the EU, the costs and administrative burdens of trading in continental Europe mean many of our members, not least the SME's, have concluded they simply can’t afford to continue selling to those countries.
Read MoreAhead of the General Election, Fashion Roundtable published a Manifesto to highlight our sector’s top priorities. In the New Year, we will collectively work across industry, government, and parliament to ensure that the UK fashion industry continues to thrive. I would like to draw your attention in particular to… (You can choose a key element of our Manifesto or if you have a specific concern that’s unique to your work, include a brief outline here.)
Read MoreAll the key topics of conversation at our recent meeting with Extinction Rebellion's Boycott Fashion Team
Read MoreAs well as submitting evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Sustainability of the Fashion Industry Inquiry, Fashion Roundtable attended all of the fashion related committee meetings that the EAC hosted across Parliament and at the V&A. Image via Tolly Dolly Posh.
Read MoreTrue to Fashion Roundtable’s style, their first workshop on Fashion Politics and Empowerment was presented on the 7th floor of London’s fashionable Ace Hotel surrounded by spectacular vistas of the city. With a better understanding of what is going on in the political landscape and how that impacts our personal and professional lives, we left with tools to increase our agency and feel more empowered, via policy and via fashion. #FrontRowtoFrontBench is Fashion Roundtable’s rallying cry for the fashion industry to be heard seen and properly represented. So get involved through following on social media, attending events and signing up for their regular newsletters.
Read More"When we launched Fashion Roundtable the majority of politicians I spoke to thought the industry was just Kate Moss & catwalk shows and were more concerned about fisheries than fashion” Cincik says.“However after contacting each of the 650 MPs highlighting the reality of the UK Fashion Industry’s valuable contribution - generating over 890,000 jobs, nationwide and thousands of jobs and revenue to each of their constituencies - we're now seeing politicians from across the parties, uniting to ensure that our industry maintains its status as a global soft power leader for the economy.”
Read MoreThe EAC report is also wrong on the point that "Short lead times means that wash tests and wearer trials are often not feasible, with implications for garment quality". This is nonsense. Every single fabric has to be tested and approved. We make up to 10,000 garments a week and we have had to test every single fabric and if it fails the tests then quite simply we can’t use them.
Read MoreFind me a fashion designer who hasn’t looked to Nature for inspiration, whether literally referencing flowers, trees, the oceans, the rainforests, animals, feathers or only the colours and moods of the wild or the weather. Bet you can’t, because our natural world is the source of the greatest, most diverse, most magical, spine-tingling beauty. It’s not just our home, but the source of all life. Including ours. We’d do well to remember this with every breath we take, because seriously, we’re trashing the joint.
Read MoreFashion has a front row; politics has a front bench.
Both operate on a clearly hierarchical system: one where there are constant threats of being dethroned from the back benches/row, as politics, fashion change.
As a stylist, I have long known that the power of clothes: to enhance sales for a brand, to make a designer relevant in a jaded (and saturated) market, and as a communication tool. Strangers assess all of us before we speak: in a matter of seconds what we wear communicates who we are. Not only is fashion a clearly valuable asset to the global market place, if it was a nation state, it would rank 7th in the world economies, understanding it as a means to decode who we are to target audiences is I believe vital to any seeking either a position in public life, or being considered for promotion. Knowing what you are saying with how you present yourself isn't simply an irrelevance, it is in fact vital.
Read MoreThe Department for Works and Pensions has announced that it will be recruiting a fashion industry disability champion to address the challenges disabled people encounter as consumers. Coinciding with International Day of Persons with Disabilities last Monday, the Government revealed that there will be six new disability champions across fashion, technology, countryside and heritage, website accessibility, food and drink and product design. These new recruits are set join the existing 14 champions who are currently driving improvements to the accessibility of services in a range of sectors, including banking, music, tourism, leisure and media.
Read MoreSo what should the British fashion business be doing to ensure that the industry retains both its economic clout and "soft power" in the wake of Brexit? Firstly, if you haven't started preparing for Brexit, this issue needs to move to the top of your agenda right now.
Read More96% of you voted Remain and with that in mind, we wanted to bring your concerns to the centre of this anniversary event. Especially as by then we might finally have some clarity on the deal or whether we are looking at No Deal and therefore be able to decode what this means for you, your business, our fashion futures.
Read MoreBrexit is the defining issue for this generation within the UK. Whether you voted Remain or Leave in the EU Referendum in 2016, for the fashion industry (which voted 96% Remain; is worth more than £29.7 billion to the UK economy; and depends upon a globally-interconnected international supply chain), it raises significant questions - from deregulation of labour markets, to trading and employment rights. Tamara Cincik, CEO and Founder of Fashion Roundtable, which launched last November to create a much-needed conversation between fashion, business, consumers and policy leaders, points out the main risk factors to consider - Deal or No Deal.
Read MoreFashion Roundtable submitted a response to the Parliamentary Inquiry on the Sustainability of the fashion industry, for the Environmental Audit Committee chaired by Mary Creagh MP. This “investigates the social and environmental impact of disposable ‘fast fashion’ and the wider clothing industry. The inquiry examines the carbon, resource use and water footprint of clothing throughout its lifecycle. It will look at how clothes can be recycled, and waste and pollution reduced.”
Read MoreThe US President is the news we wake up to most days and the Tweets we read on the way to work. Donald Trump’s use of social media and choice of team and family members to lead his Republican Presidency have been as unusual as the US choosing a multiple bankrupt TV star facing multiple sexual abuse allegations, with no political experience, to enter the White House. What are the President’s powers and why does who control the vote in the Senate matter? Why does who he chooses for the Supreme Court and what does this mean to important legislature such as Roe Versus Wade, US Trade Deals or global relationships?
Read MoreWith the UK due to officially leave the EU on March 29th 2019, we now have less than 6 months to not only fully understand how the EU works, but what it does for those on the inside and what effects not being at the decision making tables at the European Parliament in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg will mean for the UK. Did you even know that the EU meets in not one, not two but three cities across Western Europe, with meetings for the whole Parliament taking place in Brussels and Strasbourg and admin being done primarily in Luxembourg? Second only to India for the size of the electorate, the power and impact of the EU cannot be underestimated. Educational programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus and key to its value, with the former acting as the largest EU Research and Innovation (R&I) programme with over €80bn of funding over 7 years between 2014 – 2020. The sheer power of this as an economic driver for advances in science, medicine, tech and the creative industries cannot be underestimated, creating a genuine single market for knowledge, business opportunity as well as R & I.
28 countries across Europe, soon to be 27, with a shared agenda across finances, IP and sustainable initiatives, creates a powerful trading bloc which represents over 500m people.
Read MoreAt first glance, politics and fashion are polar opposites, and political affairs may seem irrelevant to someone in the fashion industry, especially in the creative aspect of the sector. A designer or stylist might think they are removed from politics: except as Brexit shows, our previous freedom of movement for goods (textiles) and services (work in Europe) is a part of the on-going Brexit negotiations. Game of Thrones has been discussed in the Chamber (what you see on TV for PM’s Question Time where MPs vote) multiple times more than fashion.
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