Tomorrow marks the announcement of the Spring Budget and what many anticipate to be the last fiscal event before the general election, which we’re pegging for Autumn. As such, this might be the final opportunity for the Conservatives to set policies prior to an election.

After collating both qualitative and quantitative data over recent months, in time to share our Sector Vision in Parliament, we have been advocating for a number of sector recommendations which we have presented cross-party.

Our recommendations encompass many facets of the sector from farming through to academia and are focused on the long-term, however there are two recommendations that we’d like to see taken up immediately in tomorrow’s budget.

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Photo: Photo by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash. Image of Westminster buildings.

Designer Harriet Fletcher-Gilhuys attended last week’s Conduit event: ‘Is Regenerative Fashion Possible?’ supported by the Farmer’s Footprint. Here she delves into the complexities and explores the panellists discussion exploring the transition to a fashion system that ultimately sets out to benefit nature and society.

Photo by Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash. Image shows farmer at work.

On the 22nd February 2024, Fashion Roundtable as Secretariat of the Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion All-Party Parliamentary Group delivered their sector vision for the fashion, textiles, manufacturing and retail industries to leading figures in the sector. Click through for more.

Amanda Slattery has been in the fashion business for 18 years, yet this year will mark her last year in bricks and mortar retail. During this time as a small business owner, Amanda has manoeuvred and endured her way through recessions, the rise of fast fashion, the ‘near’ death of the high street, a pandemic and Brexit.

What follows is a candid conversation about why Amanda is leaving the industry on her terms and what lies ahead.

After holding two key roundtables last week, we discuss one of the key findings being the effect of the end to the UK’s VAT Retail Export Scheme.

The unilateral decisions by the UK Government to end the lucrative VAT Retail Export Scheme, which Sylvie Freund-Pickavance cited as having the potential to generate £10bn in terms of sales, hospitality and tourism, was cited as a missed opportunity. This is something that Fashion Roundtable have been consistently lobbying on.

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Disability advocate Victoria Jenkins, the creative force behind adaptive fashion brand Unhidden and Fashion Roundtable’s Representation and Inclusion Committee Co-Chair, has announced a transformative collaboration with icandance, a London-based charity that empowers disabled children and young people through dance and performance. 

Victoria has over 14 years of experience in the fashion industry and starred on Channel 4’s Unique Boutique – a must-watch where inclusive fashion lovers and designers created bespoke outfits for every-body. Now, the visionary designer has created a bespoke ballet costume for 18-year-old wheelchair-using dancer, Denecia Allen. Denecia will wear the dress to perform with English National Ballet’s Alice Bellini at the Empower In Motion Gala at Sadler’s Wells in February.

Some of you may know Clare Press as the bestselling author of the Wardrobe Crisis, or the presenter of the much-loved podcast of the same name. Others remember her as the first ever VOGUE Sustainability Editor for Vogue Australia back in 2018. To us, Clare is best-known as our vibrant and seriously knowledgeable Global Sustainability Expert.

Clare introduces us to fascinating innovators around the globe who are redesigning fashion from the ground up, and changing it in the most fundamental ways.

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Thriving in a sustainable future means that brands must navigate this changing terrain and take into account these legislations in forecasting and future business strategies. Perhaps poignantly, scrutiny will not only come from governments and regulators, but also stakeholders, consumers and competitor brands, as we collectively move from climate targets to climate transitional plans.

In her book, Reimagining Luxury, author Diana Verde Nieto offers practical frameworks and concrete examples for brands, through a holistic approach – covering topics such as sustainable investments; regenerative practices; legislation; environmental and social implications; as well as positive storytelling.

The start of a new year and already there are the familiar rumbles of a General Election. The feelings of general unrest seem to be growing, amidst a time of climate anxiety, global boiling, economic upheaval, and broken or overburdened support systems. Resulting in an increase in the polarity between surviving and thriving, with a lack of long-term strategy around our collective wellbeing.

Last year, we released our Creative Wellbeing Economy paper, where we made a case for a deeper, more long term reconnection with core values across the whole of our lives, with a particular focus being wellbeing for people and planet.

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Photo by Florian GIORGIO on Unsplash. Photo shows the Houses of Parliament.

On Friday our CEO Tamara Cincik was invited to the King's Foundation Celebrating Craft at Highgrove House in Tetbury, for a Christmas event in the presence of His Majesty the King. The King's Foundation is a charity launched by the King as a vehicle to train the next generation of skilled craftspeople – including in fashion and textiles – in heritage techniques valuable to many traditional UK industries.

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Last night J W Anderson took home ‘Designer of the Year’ award at the British Fashion Council ‘Fashion Awards 2023.’

Of course Anderson wasn’t the only one to take home an award last night, Sarah Burton who took on the mantle after Alexander McQueen passed, was honoured with a special achievement award for her 13 years as Creative Director. She has left a very large gap in the role of women as Creative Directors in the fashion sector.

Sarah Mower was also awarded a special recognition award for championing young designer talent. Her dedication to New Gen talent in all forms has been game-changing for so many and something which Anderson acknowledged in his speech.

Finally, Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful OBE, received the Trailblazer Award for his contribution to the fashion industry.

Alice V Robinson is a designer based in London and is the co-founder of British Pasture Leather. Her journey began through the process of making a handbag, whilst studying her MA in Accessory Design at the Royal College of Art. 

On realising the lack of connection between agriculture and fashion and the convoluted supply chain she was faced with, Alice embarked on a journey of extraordinary lengths to make a connection and discover the provenance story of British leather. 

Provenance is often ubiquitous with food, but doesn’t always connect with fibre in the same way. In writing her book ‘Field Fork Fashion’ Alice purposefully makes this connection, whilst working at a smaller scale with regenerative farming practices.  

Through this interview, Meg Pirie and Alice discovered many thematic similarities between Fashion Roundtable’s work on regenerating British wool and Alice’s discoveries while working with leather as a medium.