The British Fashion Council has confirmed the first round of recipients
of the BFC Foundation Fashion Fund, created to support creative fashion
businesses and individuals to survive the Covid-19 crisis.
Financial grants will be given to 37 British designer businesses from
the 1,000,000 pound emergency fund, with the money allocated to “viable
businesses depending on their urgency and capability to come through and
thrive post crisis,” explained the British Fashion Council in a statement.
This fund will help London Fashion Week favourites across womenswear and
menswear including Bethany Williams, Matty Bovan, Richard Quinn, Roksanda,
Phoebe English, Rejina Pyo, Raeburn, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, and Art
School.
Fund recipients will receive a maximum of 50,000 pounds, however, the
exact amount per brand has not been revealed, and each will be given access
to the British Fashion Council’s business support and mentoring from its
fashion business network including DLA Piper, Eco-Age, Farfetch, FashionEx,
Google, HSBC, Instagram, Lewis Silkin, Lloyds, LVMH, Mishcon De Reya, RSM,
Sheridans, Taylor Wessing, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Value Retail and
YouTube, plus individual expert one-to-one mentors from across the business
value chain.
The other recipients for the fund are: Alighieri, 16Arlington,
Ahluwalia, Aries, Bianca Saunders, Chalayan, Chopova Lowena, Craig Green,
David Koma, E. Tautz, E.L.V. DENIM, Edeline Lee, Eftychia, Halpern, King
and Tuckfield, Kwaidan Editions, Liam Hodges, Metier, Nabil Nayal, Neous,
Nicholas Daley, Palmer//Harding, Paper London, Paria /Farzaneh, Per
Gotesson, Richard Malone, Stefan Cooke, and Toogood.
In addition, a portion of funds has also been allocated to students as
the British Fashion Council looks to underpinning the future generation of
creative talent.
British Fashion Council awards first round of Covid-19 emergency fund
grants
Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council said:
“Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen an astonishing amount of
applications come through from British designer businesses all over the
country, asking for help to survive the crisis.
“The need for support is immense. Our hope is to re-open the fund for
future rounds, to help as many businesses as possible, and ensure the
future growth and success of the British fashion industry.”
The emergency fund has been made possible through the British Fashion
Council pooling together its talent support grants that would have
traditionally been awarded for either early-stage showcasing support or
business growth and promotion, including the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion
Fund, BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund, BFC Fashion Trust and BFC NewGen.
Each of the six shortlisted designers from the BFC/Vogue Designer
Fashion Fund were all named as recipients for the emergency fund as each
brand had already completed the judging process, explained the British
Fashion Council, and the decision was made to split the cash prize and
mentoring award across each of the finalists for the very first time.
The BFC Foundation Fashion Fund for the Covid Crisis has received more
than 220 applications to date, added the British Fashion Council, and all
applicants that did not receive funding through this round, will be
informed on new rounds of funding, government support schemes and webinars
to collectively help businesses in these challenging times.
While one million pounds of funding sounds like a lot, the British
Fashion Council states that the “scale of the need is much greater” and has
called on both the Government to step in to work with them on significant
industry stimulus, and on the industry and individuals to support the BFC
Foundation Fashion Fund through donations so that more businesses can be
supported at this time.
The British Fashion Council estimates that 100 million pounds of support
in different forms will be needed to help protect this decade’s generation
of talent over the next 12 to 18 months and that the fund will re-open for
further rounds of applications so that “more meaningful support can be
given”, every time the 500,000-pound milestone is reached.
Donations towards the next round of funding have already been received
from Alexander McQueen, Browns, Clearpay and Coach Foundation and the
British Fashion Council is calling on others in the industry to do all they
can to support others during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Image: courtesy of Swarovski/Richard Quinn