This week has been a whirlwind, and has seen our CEO, Tamara Cincik travel across the country – quite literally – from Manchester for a DCMS event with Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – Lucy Frazer, and then on to Scotland and London.

In Scotland, Tamara attended Dumfries House and spoke at the King’s Foundation (formerly Prince’s Foundation) x the Fashion Council Germany conference entitled ‘Disruption’ which was this year supported by TENCEL™, eBay and The PVH Foundation. The King’s Foundation's Future Textiles initiative is designed to breathe new life into a renowned British textiles industry. Back to London, we then hosted one of our largest events on localism in Parliament, in our capacity as Secretariat of the Ethics and Sustainability All-Party Parliamentary Group. Click through for more.

Image shows our CEO Tamara Cincik in a red dress in a panel discussion at Dumfries House. Image credits Eleanor Kelly @mastrelli.media

The news of Pharrell William’s Louis Vuitton $1 million bag dubbed ‘Millionaire Speedy’ has gone viral.

Sold via a made-to-order basis, the newly released bag, replaces the generally used cotton canvas for crocodile leather, embellished with gold hardware and diamonds.

Pharrell was spotted at Paris Fashion Week recently donning a yellow version of the bag. Pharrell was appointed Creative Director in February 2023, and this direction nods to a louder trajectory than even the late Creative Director Virgil Abloh’s street influences for Louis Vuitton.

The press has been split since news of the bag surfaced, from excitement to criticism and offers an antithesis to ‘quiet luxury’, something which in fact might be labelled as ‘loud luxury’. Click through for more.

Photo by Julie Ricard on Unsplash. Image shows a brick wall with the message, ‘Until Debt, Tear Us Apart, graffiti on.

Last night an exposé by BBC Panorama aired probing the practices of fast-fashion giant Boohoo, who last year made a reported £1.7bn worth of sales. The majority of the filming occurred in their Manchester headquarters, where journalist Emma Lowther spent 10 weeks.

The evidence garnered showed increasing pressure to cut prices in order to save money and the unscrupulous practice of amending prices after the stock had already been made. Lowther exposed a number of occasions where suppliers were left out of pocket due to discounts being applied which were not initially agreed.

We unpick the evidence.

Zebedee is an inclusive talent agency, championing disabled, visibly different, non-binary, and trans UK models. Global names already signed by Zebedee include Ellie Goldstein, who recently made the cover of British Vogue and Jasroop Kaur Singh who appeared in the Australia Vogue ‘Vogue Vanguard’ issue. 

Zebedee was established by co-founders Laura and Zoe in 2017 as a direct response to the lack of representation and inclusivity in the media. Now Channel 4 has created an insightful documentary series with the working title, ‘New Model Agency’ which follows Zebedee HQ and many of their diverse and dynamic cast of models. The documentary will air in February 2024 around London Fashion Week – so watch this space! 

Meg Pirie speaks with co-founder Laura Winson who also sits on our Representation and Inclusion Committee. They talk about the progress Laura feels has been made in the fashion sector; what still needs to happen; and the spending power of disabled people – which is thought to be around £280 billion pounds every year in the UK alone and £1.3 trillion worldwide; and the fact that if brands don’t get on board, they’ll soon be left behind.

Nicholas Diamond-Krendel, co-founder of Luxury Leather Goods Brand Paradise Row reviews Fashion City - the latest exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands, which is about how Jewish Londoners shaped global style. In the process, Nick connects to the precious oral testimony of what will be the last generation to have known these brands first hand. Unlike so many of their family members left behind, the likes of Sophie Rabin, Netty Spiegel, Peggy Lewis, Otto Lucas and so many more will now be given their rightful place alongside more familiar names in the annals of British fashion.

Meg Pirie in conversation with Victoria Jenkins.

Victoria Jenkins co-chairs our Representation and Inclusion Committee and is a garment technologist with 14 years of experience in the fashion industry who became Disabled in her 20s. She is behind the sustainable adaptive fashion brand Unhidden. The idea was born after a chance encounter with a woman with cancer that changed the course of her life. As she watched the woman during her own hospital stay, she realised that there were no adaptive clothes on the market and this is how Unhidden was born. 

Now Victoria is listed as one of Vogue’s Top 25 Powerhouse Women, redefining Britain and co-presents and designs on Channel 4’s Unique Boutique. A must-watch where inclusive fashion lovers and designers create bespoke outfits for every-body in a custom-built shop. 

We speak about future plans for a not-for-profit arm of Unhidden, training people with disabilities and chronic health conditions how to sew adaptive alterations so they can then work as and when they choose making adaptive alterations for any one who doesn't sew. There are also plans for workshops that will cover how to adapt clothing you already own yourself so there is no barrier to accessing adaptive clothing and re-loving your existing wardrobes.

Finally, Victoria shares her key policy asks to ultimately make fashion more inclusive.

[This is an image of Victoria Jenkins, wearing a royal blue power suit, standing in the street, with a sparkly mobility aid. Credit: Deb Burrows]

According to figures by Fashion United, the fashion industry is worth around £1.65tn globally. Creativity is often upheld as a niche human quality, however, the rise in the use of artificial intelligence (AI), risks eliminating a number of creative and fashion jobs. A paper prepared by PwC for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, predicts that technology threatens devastating job losses over the next 20 years in wholesale and retail; transport and logistics; and manufacturing. The report suggests that as many as 30% of UK jobs could disappear within this period. A high-level exploration of how AI is and could affect the fashion sector moving forward.

Stephen Jones is perhaps one of the most influential milliners of our century, bursting onto the London fashion scene during the explosion of street style in the late seventies. Yet even today, Jones’s designs have retained their modern and compelling edge. At the forefront of fashion, Jones’ hats are exquisitely crafted and quixotic – all whilst encapsulating the mood of the moment. Jones’ latest collection could not have come at a better time, where young people are reportedly leaving Wales, particularly in Welsh speaking heartlands, this collection offers hope. Entitled ‘Cymru’ and cited as a ‘love letter to Wales’ I delve further into the haunting magic of this collection – from the reimagined Welsh ‘Het’ to the use of Dylan Thomas poetry – ensuing a sense of strength and pride in Jones’ Welsh heritage.

Gerwig is by definition a feminist filmmaker and her characters are often transgressive and curious, rebelling against their suppressive environments (think Jo March!). Barbie is no exception. While it’s important to recognise that Mattel’s 60-year-old flagship doll has had a long and controversial history and in the past has been blamed for its unrealistic beauty standards, the propensity of the film exists to raise women, well, up. In this Op-Ed Meg Pirie explores the issue of fast-fashion brands capitalising on a feminist film and how this pummels the film’s entire meaning.

Last week, womenswear brand Mother of Pearl announced it would be joining forces with door-to-door repair and tailoring app SOJO, as part of the brands ongoing commitment to circularity. We hear from both women CEO’s on the collaboration and share a special offer for our newsletter subscribers.

A new Playbook by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) talks directly with fashion’s communicators. Written for marketers, brand managers, imagemakers, storytellers, media, influencers and beyond, ‘The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook’ from UNEP and UN Climate Change, provides a much needed framework when policies around how to communicate environmental claims increasingly come into force. We speak with Rachel Arthur, the UN Environment Programme’s Sustainable Fashion Advocacy Lead and author of the Playbook, who delves into the aim of the Playbook and the untapped power communicators hold in setting new cultural trends and value shifts for a more equitable and just fashion future.

In her book, ‘To Dye For’, award-winning journalist and sustainability expert, Alden Wicker, decided to break the story of unregulated toxic chemicals in fashion and their impacts on health and wellbeing. What follows is a candid conversation, with clear advice on what we can do now. 

Our researcher, Meg Pirie, has always loved to read and will often read a book to understand something better, before searching online. For this week’s informer she shares her top 5 books on sustainability and fashion. Click through to read more.

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 Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced the Government's plan to grow the creative industries by £50bn and support a million more jobs by 2030, with £77m of new funding for the sector announced. 

Meg Pirie is in conversation with co-founder of Sole Responsibility, Simon Payne. Founded in 2014, Sole Responsibility is a business which buys, repairs and sells seconds and stock with minor damage from some of the UK’s most-known high-street stores, which would otherwise have been destined for landfill or incineration. Now the brand acts as Sustainable Partner to JD Sports, amongst others. They talk how the idea transpired and what Payne would like to see from a policy point of view for end-of-life.

In this Op-Ed by Meg Pirie, she delves into what the fashion sector can learn from Westwood’s fearless activism. Can the business of fashion ever truly measure up? With comments by Kate Fletcher, Professor at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen.

Last week, we launched our Impact Report for 2022.  Fashion Roundtable have consistently been the first to address the challenges of Brexit; Covid-19; climate change; exploitative working practices; Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR); VAT reduction for sustainable businesses; issues around fibre and localism; and inclusion in fashion. We use our platform to highlight inequalities across the fashion industry and to effect long-lasting social, business and environmental change. 

“There's no doubt that the British High Street has taken a battering over the last few years. Not only have retailers had to contend with Covid, but Brexit and now the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have decimated the high street as we know it. In 2021, PWC reported that 17,500 chain stores closed in 2020 alone. Now with many high streets focused on recovery, consumers want something new. “

Ahead of Their Majesties' Coronation on Saturday the 6th May, new details have been released to provide a glimpse of the Coronation Robes to be worn by the King and The Queen Consort. The new images show the Royal School of Needlework’s embroidery team conserving The King’s Robe of State, which will be worn by His Majesty on arrival at Westminster Abbey, and The Queen Consort’s Robe of Estate, which will be worn after Her Majesty is crowned, on departure from Westminster Abbey.