Fashion Roundtable Advises MPs On The Importance Of High-Street Regeneration

By Meg Pirie 

Source: Office of John McNally MP. Attendees at meeting.

Last week, in our capacity as Secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, Fashion Roundtable hosted a jam-packed meeting on regenerating the high street, sponsored by academics from Manchester Metropolitan University and Metropolis. 

Prior to this meeting, we had briefed the Chair of the APPG for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, John McNally MP, which prompted a question to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister’s Questions. The question centred around the “eat out to help out” scheme which was introduced in August 2020, which in turn increased the demand for eating in restaurants by 216% compared to 2019, and tasked the Prime Minister to consider a similar scheme for ‘bricks and mortar’ retail as part of the wider plan to regenerate local high streets –– ‘bricks vs clicks’, if you will. 

The meeting entitled, ‘Building Community Agency Through The Purposeful Use Of Unused Retail Spaces,’ was in direct response to the state of our high streets at a national level. Research conducted by Fashion Roundtable, provided evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, shifts to digital rather than ‘bricks and mortar’ shopping, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have changed consumer behaviour, alongside record retail closures. 

To offer a little more context, in 2021, PWC reported over 17,500 chain stores closed in 2020 alone. More recently, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) recorded that retail closures affected 34,907 employees in 2022. A consumer survey by PWC suggested that the onus to repair the high street should not fall solely on retail solutions, while CRR suggested that remodelling large obsolete stores to add services such as clothing repair, cafes and concessions could provide a solution. 

Finally, the PWC survey showed that 44% of participants would prefer a focus on experiencing and exploring [a brand] rather than the only option being to purchase. Seemingly, this opens a discussion on the importance of experience, connection and community to rehabilitate the high street and locality, whilst stimulating local business. Also showcasing a clear opportunity to align investment to deliver town centres that reclaim maximum impact  with hyper-locality as a key focus. 

Source: Office of John McNally MP. Julia Roebuck speaking.

The event attracted speakers from across the country to share in detail about the opportunities and barriers to utilising vacant spaces in this way. Liz Twist MP (Labour Party), shared her concerns on the loss of the physical presence of retail on the high street and its impact on jobs in her constituency of Blaydon. Liz Twist called for a reform of business rates to take businesses out of their current ‘survival mode’.

While Maria Chenoweth, CEO of Traid and co-founder of Charity Super.Mkt weighed in on the benefits of utilising the vacant Topshop building in Brent Cross, where in just 6 weeks they sold 40,000 items and raised over £370,000. As a retailer with purpose in 12 weeks they have raised just under £600,000 and diverted 17 tonnes of clothes from landfill, while enabling many charities such as Havens Hospices to offer patients 1,000 hours of specialist end of life care, within their own homes, amongst helping many others in the process. 

Source: Office of John McNally MP. Left: Kemi Gbadebo, Right: Alison Carlin.

Alison Carlin, founder of Manchester Fashion Movement was also among speakers who had started the community interest company to empower, connect and engage people in a movement that sees communities around Greater Manchester better understand the benefits of approaching fashion with a more sustainable outlook whilst helping them recognise the real impact of the fashion industry and the important role we play as individuals.

One of the brands utilising the space was luxury, sustainable, streetwear brand, Gbadebo –– who specialise in reworking donated, damaged or unwanted textiles and transforming them into new, 90's-inspired streetwear pieces. Founder, Kemi Gbadebo said:

“Having worked with all levels of companies from grassroots like Manchester Fashion Movement to The North Face, Adidas and luxury retail like Flannels in the next couple months, it’s clear that on all levels companies are seeing the benefits of bringing in creatives and small businesses to bridge the gap and reimagine retail spaces on the high-street to provide engaging point of sale experiences for consumers.”

Source: Office of John McNally MP. Fashion Roundtable CEO Tamara Cincik.

To end the session, Julia Roebuck from Thread Republic, a Mend Assembly affiliate based in Huddersfield said: 

"It has been so inspiring to learn more about the innovative projects being developed and delivered by third-sector fashion and textile organisations around the UK. These organisations, and many more like them, are perfectly placed to explore new models of fashion and textile experiences on the high street that have sustainability at their core, providing many answers to the question of ‘what next’ for our town centres. 

“Whether it's providing new and exciting opportunities for citizens to source pre-loved clothing and textiles, supporting talented makers and independent clothing brands, learning new skills or enabling circularity, all of the innovations we heard about today lead to empowered communities, improved social cohesion and increased footfall on the high street"

Of the event, Manchester Met academic Professor Fiona Hackney commented:

"Shared concerns about the urgent need to change unsustainable fashion behaviours combined with the fear that we are fast losing our high streets ensured that this was a well-attended and stimulating event. MPs, fashion activists, brands, and agencies – many from Fashion Roundtable’s influential network – reviewed problems and responses, much of it based on hard-won, first-hand experience. The event enabled those working on the ground to re-imagine our fashion and retail system to talk to policy makers and meet other like-minded organisations from across the country.”

As a next step, Fashion Roundtable will be taking this work forward with a full report. You can click through to read the full briefing, as well as a look at John McNally’s question on high-street regeneration at PMQs below.

Click through to read the Briefing in full.

Click through to watch John McNally MP deliver his question at PMQs.

Press Release: The Fashion Industry calls on the Government to meet urgently and discuss solutions to help save our industry.

Monday 1st February 2021

Fashion industry fears for future over consequences of Brexit trade deal

The Fashion Industry calls on the Government to meet urgently and discuss solutions to help save our industry.

The fashion industry contributes £35bn to UK GDP and employs almost 1 million people, but is at real risk of decimation by the Brexit trade deal and current Government policy. 

The UK fashion industry is facing several critical issues, which without urgent attention these issues will jeopardise the immediate and long term future of the sector.

Ours is a thriving industry, based on global leadership, complex supply chains and above all a deeply interconnected relationship with our overseas colleagues. To survive post-Brexit and safeguard our future, we need to ensure we can trade with overseas businesses and are also supported to grow the internal market. 

Following an industry-wide meeting held on Wednesday 20th January 2021, brought together by Fashion Roundtable, the industry has highlighted the key issues, impacts and unforeseen consequences of Brexit in an Open Letter to the Government, with a call to action. 

We are asking the Government to meet so we can create solutions which will help save our industry.

This letter, signed by 451 signatories, will be presented to the Government tomorrow morning, asking that we can sit at an urgent roundtable meeting with the relevant Ministers for the fashion industry in the coming weeks, to work together and create solutions which will help save our industry.

The Open Letter has received cross-party parliamentary support, with signatories including Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, John McNally MP, Martyn Docherty-Hughes MP, Lord Cashman CBE, Lord Foster of Bath, Earl of Clancarty, Baroness Bonham-Carter and Lord Taylor of Warwick.

The letter has also gained the support of industry leaders across manufacturing, retail, modelling, creative business, education, brands and journalism. Signatories include Jenny Holloway (Fashion Enter), Paul Barnes (Association of International Retail), Kate Hills (Make It British), Jane Shepherdson CBE (MyWardrobe HQ), Caroline Issa (Tank), John Horner (Models 1), Carole White (Premier), Nick Knight OBE (SHOWstudio), Zowie Broach (RCA), Camilla Lowther OBE (CLM), Bethany Williams, Phoebe English,

Professor Dilys Williams (Centre of Sustainable Fashion UAL), Helen Brocklebank (Walpole), Fashion Revolution, Laura Bailey (Model and British Vogue), Dame Twiggy Lawson DBE, Katharine Hamnett CBE, Sarah Mower MBE (Vogue Runway and British Fashion Council), Ruth Chapman OBE (Matchesfashion), Isabel Ettedgui (Connolly), Yasmin Le Bon (Model), Roksanda Ilincic (Roksanda), Juergen Teller (Photographer), Jess Mcguire-Dudley (John Smedley), Sarah Coonan (Liberty), Justin Thornton (Preen), Andrea Thompson (Marie Claire), Jane Bruton (Telegraph) and Jefferson Hack (Dazed Media Group).

Jefferson Hack, Dazed Media Group: “Everyone who cares about the future of Britain economically or the future wellbeing of our youth needs to understand what's at stake if our fashion and textiles industry is trashed because politicians won't look at the paperwork and get ink on their fingers. How can they stand by and watch something built over generations collapse when they have the power to make a difference? Now is the time to act to save British Fashion, culture and livelihoods." 

Isabel Ettedgui, Connolly: “Connolly’s home is off Savile Row, but our horizon has always been international, and especially European. Our leather was on the first Rolls Royce and is now on the latest Ferrari. We sell Scottish cashmere but we manufacture our leather goods in a small town in Spain where all the top luxury brands manufacture - because we cannot find the skills to make the goods anymore in the United Kingdom, although the leather is sourced, where possible in this country. It is this dialogue between our island and our neighbours abroad that has shaped who we are. The sadness, the lack of goodwill and the red tape we are now experiencing as a Brexit trading outpost, the financial ramifications of creating barriers with our major trading partner and also the loss of their skills; will be devastating and the result could be the possible closure of a 185-year-old company that holds the Royal Warrant.”

Katharine Hamnett CBE: “We need a radical overhaul of customs arrangements including VAT on all goods shipped into the EU by the end of February, or British brands will die.”

Michelle Noel, MNN Agency: "The fashion industry is having its creative bones fractured by the implementation of Brexit. The emotional and financial impact has been immediate & damaging, to my consultancy practice and to my network of UK & EU clients. Brexit has eroded any slither of confidence in UK governance and highlighted the disdain & insufficient support for thousands of fashion businesses”.

Helen 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. 

Before the pandemic, the UK/EU deal would have created exceptional difficulties for Walpole members. On top of the pandemic, its impact puts an unconscionable pressure on businesses who should be given every priority to be a calling card for Global Britain. Our luxury brands sell Britain to the world, exemplifying British craftsmanship, innovation and heritage, and their continued success is imperative if Britain is to maintain its reputation in the global marketplace. This is really not the time to inflict additional damage on British luxury. Our businesses are resilient, and they will work to navigate the challenges, however, now is the time for the Government to step up to the mark and support the sector with a set of very tailored measures if we are to bounce back swiftly.”

Yasmin Le Bon, Model: "It is crucial not only for people in our business but crucial for the welfare of the UK economy that all people in the creative and fashion industries can travel freely within the EU. I have been working continually in this industry for the past 37 years, it works in a very particular way, with jobs being confirmed literally at the last minute. I may get a call, make a decision and be at the airport within 2 hours ready to fly to Madrid, Milan or Miami! The wealth of these creative industries is in our ability to move and change quickly. This is our future, we can not be stuck back in the dark ages or we will be left behind. Up until now, we have been at the forefront. These are crucial negotiations, the fashion business is huge, and every piece of the jigsaw supports each other, we rarely speak up for ourselves for fear of seeming uncool, but this is about more, it’s about hundreds of thousands of jobs that may potentially be lost. You may think that fashion is all about frou-frou skirts and polka dot ties, but it is about so much more. From the designers not just of fashion and accessories, but all the machining for all the hardware, the craftsmanship of the manufacturers, the creativity and artistry of the marketing and advertising tribes, all the wily, resilient retailers, who have been hit so hard by this pandemic. For once we need to be listened to and for the Government to work with us before it is too late."

Tamara Cincik, CEO Fashion Roundtable: “In the fashion industry, everyone wants to "make fashion history": it is a deeply competitive, hardworking and successful sector, generating over £35bn and almost 1m jobs in the UK. Pre-pandemic it was growing 11% year on year. But there is a real risk of it being utterly decimated from the gaps in the Brexit trade deal and UK Government policy, which across each area of the sector: manufacturing, retail, creative, education, is severely impacting on all levels of the business from SMEs to multinationals and in the coming months will destroy the fashion industry in the UK, removing any hope for us to build back better. From the decision to end the VAT Retail Export Scheme, to the decision to not add garment workers to the Shortage Occupation List for visas, while not lining up the necessary T-Levels to train UK domicile garment workers until September 2023, or the extra costs and delays of Brexit red tape to our largest market, the EU and the very real risk of a brain drain, as the UK becomes increasingly unsustainable for our world-leading fashion talent to stay here. 

Everywhere I look across our complex, innovative and highly successful UK fashion industry, I see perfect storms and tsunamis unless we act. Fashion Roundtable are about solutions: we have them and urge the Government to engage, listen and act upon them now. 

You cannot attract the brightest and the best from overseas, if the talent we already have in the UK cannot stay here for the good of their livelihoods and careers, or you do not shore up the workforce to support a more sustainable, transparent manufacturing sector. 

We urge the Government to meet with us, listen to our concerns and policy solutions, so we can ensure the long term viability of the UK fashion industry, which we have all worked so hard to make the success story it is. We want the fashion industry to continue to thrive as a key contributor to GDP and the jobs market in years to come. 

We urge the Government to hear us and act: don't make fashion history.”

Note to Editors

Background
The deal done with the EU has a gaping hole where promised free movement for goods and services for all creatives, including the fashion and textiles sector, should be. The fashion and textiles industry is the largest component of the previously thriving UK creative industries, growing 11% annually, bringing vital jobs and innovation to the UK. We contribute more to UK GDP than fishing, music, film, pharma and motor industries combined. Yet we have been disregarded in this deal and our concerns overlooked in current policy decisions. This has significantly impacted our opportunity to build back better and grow our onshoring manufacturing, digital innovation and sustainable design and technology in the UK, where we now, more than ever, have the real chance to show global leadership.

The full letter can be found here https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk/openletter

About Fashion Roundtable

Fashion Roundtable is the only fashion think tank that sits between the fashion industry and policy leaders; Front Row to Front Bench

We are secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Textiles and Fashion chaired by Dr Lisa Cameron MP, with members including Dame Eleanor Laing, Lord Taylor of Warwick, John McNally MP and Baron Vaizey of Didcot.

Fashion Roundtable are also the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, co-chaired by Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey and Catherine West MP. 

Tamara Cincik, Founder & CEO Fashion Roundtable has over 20 years’ experience in the fashion industry and has also worked in parliament for Sharon Hodgson MP. Since launching Fashion Roundtable, Tamara has spoken publicly on fashion and politics with a range of high-profile business press including SKY TV, BBC, Telegraph, Vogue Business and Business of Fashion. 

For more information please contact: 

admin@fashionroundtable.co.uk 

www.fashionroundtable.co.uk