Press Release for The Power of Influence Fashion Roundtable Event at The Shop At Bluebird Covent Garden

Date: 11/07/2018
Arrival: 5pm
Discussion: 5.30 - 7.30pm

Location: The Shop at Bluebird
Carriage Hall
29 Floral Street
London
WC2E 9DP

Tickets: please click on the link here.
 
Why The Power of Influence?
 
Fashion Roundtable promote an inclusive, positive fashion industry: open and accessible to all. For this event, we discuss how is it one thing to get to the Front Row at fashion shows, or indeed the Front Bench in politics. However, what do you want to do with that position of power and privilege once you get there? Our event next week will chart not only the reasons why using one’s influence as a force for positive actions, but also an opportunity to share ideas and actions.
 
Speakers for The Power of Influence event are: -

Katharine Hamnett CBE, world renowned fashion designer, activist and the original Mrs. Tee, who invented the slogan t’shirt: “I’ve always believed in using media coverage to try to effect change. The reason I was able to do that and say whatever I wanted was because I was always my own boss. We launched my company in 1979 with 500 quid and stayed completely independent. If I wanted to do something, no one could stop me.”

Lisa Cameron MP, Former NHS clinical psychologist turned SNP MP, the SNP Westminster Mental Health Spokesperson and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Textiles and Fashion (Fashion Roundtableare the secretariat for the APPG, connecting fashion and politics).

Christine Megson, Integrated public services consultant, former Education adviser to the Labour Government. Co-ordinates the @FabianWomen mentoring programme.
 
Karen Binns,  Fashion Roundtable's Fashion Expert, a creative and fashion director, with over 25 years' experience in the global luxury fashion industry. An experienced public speaker, advocating inclusion and diversity.

Carson McColl,"Chief Whip" at iconic UK brand Gareth Pugh and co-founder of RawPowerMovement, a grass-roots activists' network, bringing power to a new generation of campaigners.
 
Anna Murray, Co Founder and Creative Director of Patternity, a ‘conscious creative organisation’ underpinned by their core philosophyand multidisciplinary research. All their projects, products and educational events work with pattern to inspire more curious, collaborative and connected ways of living. 

Jessie Brinton, Former Features Director of the Sunday Times Style, writer, editor and sustainable living and environmental advocate.

Tamara Cincik, CEO and Founder of Fashion Roundtable said: “I am thrilled to be bringing a Fashion Roundtable event to the magical new The Shop at Bluebird in Floral Street. It’s a beautiful store, celebrating great fashion and style with a witty approach. Like many fashionistas, I worked hard to get a seat on the Front Row at catwalk shows; but what is also relevant is what we can do with that voice once we have achieved that influence. It’s one thing getting there, it’s another using it. That’s why I am so pleased to have these incredible speakers on board, all of whom have used their platforms to promote positive change. Am excited to share this event with you!”

For tickets please click on the link here.
For more information please email: admin@fashionroundtable.co.uk
 
Fashion Roundtable are the essential experts for fashion creatives, politicos, economists, educationalists, executives, and entrepreneurs.
Via Public Affairs, Political Intelligence, Advocacy across all platforms on and offline.
We engage across fashion and politics to raise awareness, create potential and generate policy platforms to support better understanding and business opportunities.
https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk

Press Release for the APPG for Textiles and Fashion Meeting on Commonwealth Fashion 16/05 at the Houses of Parliament.

Fashion Roundtable as secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Textiles and Fashion have curated the agenda for the upcoming meeting at the Houses of Parliament with the Commonwealth Fashion Council on 16/05, chaired by Dr Lisa Cameron MP.  

Speakers include Daniel Hatton, Founder of the Commonwealth Fashion Council with an overview of the fashion trade in the Commonwealth and opportunities for growth for a more sustainable and ethics based system which is inclusive and democratic ) across the 53 Commonwealth nations/1bn consumers. As well as Ozwald Boateng OBE, http://ozwaldboateng.co.uk on his career as a leading menswear designer: the first to take tailoring the Paris shows, plus and overview of how his Ghanaian heritage has been intrinsic to his work, as well as his advocacy work, such as Made In Africa to expose African enterprises to international investments and capital markets.  

Other speakers include Lakshmi Kaul, UK Representative of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on the work the CII are doing to support and generate fashion trade between India and the UK and India and the rest of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth Peyton-Jones Founder of the  http://www.modelstrust.org/ on how the 53 Commonwealth nations can bring model agencies and those employed within modelling 'closer' to tackle global issues such as modern slavery, human trafficking within the Commonwealth and with educating future roles models within modelling. As well as Tamsin Lejeune Managing Director and Founder of the  Ethical Fashion Forum and CEO of the Common Objective will discuss sustainability, supply chains and brand image.  How Common Objective has assisted brands with this and this contributes to higher income for brands. 

Tamara Cincik CEO and Founder of Fashion Roundtable said: "The work we do as the secretariat of the APPG for Textiles and Fashion goes to the heart of the work that Fashion Roundtable set out to achieve when we launched last November. It brings the worlds of fashion and politics into the Houses of Parliament, to better understand and work together. The meeting on the 16th May will be a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight the opportunities for the UK to trade across the Commonwealth, where growth and consumer demand for Made in Britain fashion has never been greater." 

Press Release ON The Text Of The Interim Brexit Agreement.

Today the EU's Michel Barnier and UK's David Davies have shared the interim text of the withdrawal agreement, which we at Fashion Roundtable see as a welcome step.

Trade agreement texts, generally do not get published during the negotiations to protect the commercial interests of the parties. In this case however the opposite is true since it is an agreement to untie commercial relations it is very important for citizens and companies to see where discussions are standing.

Eszter Kantor, Fashion Roundtable's EU Politics Expert said: "For me, one of the interesting things is that there are no texts in brackets; meaning that there are no counter proposals for certain paragraphs. They are either accepted, not accepted or being clarified on a technical level. Normally parties bring their own solutions and suggestions and I am missing the suggestions from the UK`s side. I can see that citizens` rights has been agreed upon; so everyone can come and go and take residence until the end of 2020. Goods traded without tariffs, IP rights already earned stay as now, access to public procurement except for the non-discrimination part is agreed, UK payment to the EU is agreed."

Clarification is still needed on VAT collection, information security, public procurement review procedure, agreement`s entry into force, Northern Ireland protocol, including the rights of the individuals, State Aid, single electricity market in Northern Ireland (grid access), safeguard clauses and the protection of financial interests.

The paper has been colour-coded: green means approved. Areas which have not yet reached an agreement include no agreement yet on the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and its judicial procedures. They also include several which are key to the fashion industry: IP registration, conformity assessment bodies, geographical indicators, data protection (important for Tech and FashTech), administrative cooperation on customs, including recovery claims, and perhaps most importantly for fashion whose largest EU trading partner is Ireland, free movement of goods to and from Northern Ireland. They also include Euratom ownership of fissile materials, dispute settlement and non-compliance, cooperation on criminal matters and enforcement of judicial decisions.

With no alternative text on Northern Ireland, it is likely that the UK will accept the proposal for a common EU trade area encompassing NI. As mentioned by Mr. Barnier at the press conference, the EU`s proposal will apply unless another viable solution is found.

This agreement covers only 21 months, from April 2019 to Dec 2020, i.e. through the Brexit transition period ONLY. We therefore need clarity on what will be in place for business for January 2021. Hopefully the negotiators will be able to agree on the outstanding items as discussion on the future agreement will begin soon. EU Member States will adopt guidelines on the framework of a future agreement at the end of this week. At the end of this year both agreements have to be presented to the national parliaments

Press Release On The Eve Of London Fashion Week And London Modest Fashion Week

Fashion Roundtable Press Release 15/02/2018

With London Fashion Week starting tomorrow, we at the recently launched NFP Fashion Roundtable are excited to attend the shows and watch the best in British talent reveal their collections and promote sales which help generate the top end of our £28bn UK industry. An industry which grew 11% in 2015 – 2016 and a sector where growth is at 4x others. Fashion Roundtable are also excited to attend shows at London Modest Fashion Week this weekend, a slice of the fashion market which Reuters Thomson put at $243bn in 2015 and is forecast to grow by 51% to $368 by 2021. However, these markets are all at risk from a Brexit which fails to understand the core working mechanisms of this international supply and talent chain industry. 

At our roundtables with policy makers and industry stakeholders, Fashion Roundtable have lobbied for clarity on Brexit and the transition phase. A clarity we are yet to hear from the UK Government, while the EU Commission have made their position clear. Only yesterday, the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made a case for future regulatory divergence from the EU, an intention which could jeopardise the supply chain and trade deals for the UK fashion industry, the majority of whom are either freelance workers or part of our thriving SME fashion businesses. A single garment can travel through multiple countries: sometimes up to 12, from design to shop or online sales platform. Any delay on logistics will increase the likelihood of our global leading fashion tech businesses relocating their headquarters and logistics onto mainland Europe. World leading names such as Amazon, whose European base is here in Shoreditch, or Farfetch, whose business grew 73% last year and are headquartered in Old Street, or Net-A-Porter, which runs out of Westfield, Shepherd's Bush.  

UK fashion talent are the global leaders in this market: go to any fashion house or high street brand HQ across the world and you will meet Creative Directors, designers and CEOs from the UK. At the freelance end of the spectrum – itself a growing and vital part of our economy – many of our UK domicile talent travel weekly across numerous territories, but pay their tax here. Make their lives or international reputation in anyway lessened by poorly conceived Brexit and transition plans, and many of those talents will relocated, taking their taxes and creative brilliance with them. 

We have this week, lobbied cross party our UK Parliament, based upon our survey and roundtables. Our survey of fashion industry stakeholders highlights that 56% would change their voting pattern if the political parties discussed the fashion industry more and made policy promises which would improve their businesses. 96% of our survey respondents voted Remain, 27% said they will relocate their business if the Brexit trade terms do not support their business and 80% believe that Brexit will be bad for their business. This is not purely down to ideology, this is down to the realities of a global market, where we lead in innovation, tech and reputation, all at risk, from loss of these rights and access to the EU markets – our core business. 

These concerns translate as: 

1) The Customs Union: The fashion industry needs full membership at least until the end of 2020. In the EU (currently) there is no concept of partial membership. There are customs agreements, as the one with Turkey but that is not a membership and is restricted to a certain number of products. These Turkey-type customs agreements are tailor made for the specific country and is focused on the most commonly traded goods while protecting the interests of the internal market (that is why for example agricultural products are not part of the agreement). Even if the UK Government would like to have an agreement like that it would take more time than the remaining 10 months to draft it. Any one garment can have components travelling back and forth and be between up to 12 countries from design to delivery. The UK leads on online platforms, fashion tech and our retail offer is world class. Any cost or delay impact of materials or logistics, will see businesses taking their headquarters elsewhere. Portugal are offering 5 years tax free to fashion businesses and offers are coming thick and fast from many European nations to entice our global leading creative fashion brands to add value and reputation to their existing domicile talent. 

2) Remaining within the Single Market is key to our industry. 71% want to stay in the SIngle Market, while the majority of other respondents want to stay in the SIngle Market and make other non EU trade agreements. We have a fashion economy based on ease of movement for goods and services. Should the UK decide to leave the Single Market through these trade deals with the EU, not only must Freedom of Movement for creatives at all levels of the industry be factored in, so we can continue to build and grow our trade while exploring new non-EU trade deals. We have signed up to the #FreeMoveCreate http://freemovecreate.org) campaign and we add our support to this concern. 

3) The need for EU nationals to be welcomed into the UK to continue to expand our international presence, reputation and value, is inherent to our growing our domestic, international and tourism trade markets. As is the clear need for freedom of movement for UK nationals who work across Europe within the fashion industry. Only 8% of respondents felt there was a need for a skills based immigration system. 

4) Easy Visa Access: will the UK government agree to recognition of this, or of members of Fashion Roundtable, to allow for freedom of movement for fashion workers: many of whom are in insecure freelance work and need ease of access to the EU to make their business profitable and for whom many are last minute confirmations on work and therefore income. This kind of 21st Century way of fluid work,is not in line with hard borders and expensive carnet, red tape and visa cost procedures from another less economically fluid age. 

5) New Importer/Exporter Status: if the UK does leave the customs union the Government needs to be aware of the fact that businesses will need help in adapting to their new exporter/importer status with the EU. What will you do to ensure that this takes place? 

This includes: 

A) What are the UK Government doing to ensure that UK businesses familiarise themselves with the EU`s combined nomenclature. This annually updated document includes product classifications and accompanying tariff rates which will need to be declared when goods are sold to EU member states. As UK companies will become exporters/importers the price of imported goods will increase with the tariff rate and the additional VAT, which is calculated on the duty-inclusive value of the imports. Given that fashion is comprised of many supply chains for any single garment, this is something which we need to be aware of when it comes to pricing our products. 

B) What are the UK Government doing to inform UK businesses to attain an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status (both UK companies exporting to the EU as well their EU counterparts wishing to export to the UK). This provides access to custom simplification procedures and ensures faster transit procedures. What plans are in place from the UK Government to implement mutual recognition of AEO status with the EU and other important markets this for status after April 2019? What plans are there to raise awareness of the importance of AEO amongst UK businesses and will the Government mitigate the costs of meeting the requirements of an AEO status? 

C) Will the UK authorities adopt freely available EU online support tools such as the binding tariff information (BTI) system? This will support ease of travel for products through customs. If exporters would like to have legal certainty that they are applying the correct product classification (and tariff rate) to their goods they can either ask through the BTI website customs authorities to confirm the right product category and tariff rate or search the BTI database for previous decision on goods similar to theirs. A BTI decision is, as its name suggests, binding for both the exporter and the authorities for a period of three years. That means that once customs authorities grant a product classification number, exporters must use that. 

D) Will the UK be also implementing TARIC, the integrated online Tariff database of the European Union? As this includes the codes of the products, their tariffs, any other levy attached, restrictions etc. It gives all economic operators a clear view of all measures to be undertaken when importing into the EU or exporting goods from the EU. 

E) We would like to understand what plans the UK government has in place to ensure that illicit transfer of products and counterfeit goods will not increase and endanger the UK economy during the ‘transition period’? The fashion industry is concerned that at a time when UK-EU business transactions will become exports/imports burdening the customs infrastructure counterfeit operations can take advantage of this increased export/import flow and infiltrate the UK market. 

F) Does the UK Government plan to adopt the new anti-dumping policy of the European Union or is considering an alternative approach towards dumping of products? 

G) Will European Union Trade Marks (EUTM) and Registered Community Designs (RCD) be converted into equivalent UK national rights automatically without additional fees? Does the UK Government have a plan for mutually recognition of IP and trademark registrations with the EU? 

H) What plans, if any, does the Government have for a UK-EU bilateral agreement on access to Horizon2020 (and follow-up programme) participation and the future programmes post 2020? 78% of survey respondents felt the Government had failed to recognise these programmes and the value of our own UK fashion colleges and the global reputation and reach they add to our growing fashion economy. 

I) We would like assurances from the UK Government that they are working on a proposal to allow UK businesses duty draw back to refund the duty paid on imported EU goods. 

For an industry worth so much to the UK economy, our needs must be acknowledged, our economic value recognised and our concerns heard.  

Ends.

PRESS RELEASE: Fashion Roundtable To Host a Roundtable at Push PR 13/12 3.30pm -5.30pm. It's Time To Talk The Fashion Industry and Brexit

For an industry, which conservative estimates say voted 95% Remain, the need for dialogue around Brexit and the potential impacts to the fashion sector are clear.

A sector based on global trade and talent, with creative exchange and international travel at the heart of it's business model: how does it survive and indeed thrive through the upcoming UK and EU trade deals, as they begin in earnest next month in Brussels?

The UK fashion industry is founded on Heritage brands: from Charles Worth, to Barbour, launching digital global leaders: from Net-a-porter to Asos and world class designers and innovators: from Phoebe Philo, to Phoebe English.

How do we maintain that international reputation and continue to excel once the UK leaves the EU? Where are our opportunities for growth and on-going recognition?

What more can we do to achieve UK fashion excellence across bricks and mortar retail, online platforms, regionally and into which global markets?

These challenges and questions will be a part of the conversation of the first Fashion Roundtable tomorrow, since our recent launch.

Confirmed speakers are:

Nick Vinson writer, editor and creative consultant and in whose monthly Wallpaper*magazine column has written on Brexit and will share his concerns for the fashion industry and design sector: from SME, to global businesses.

Jack Karet from DCMS will present on where DCMS have been working hard on Brexit strategy.

Derin Adebiyi from ISM will present on #freemovecreate which Fashion Roundtable have joined and are supporting and will explain what this is about to support the creative sector and fashion industry though Brexit visa policy lobbying.

Jack Tindale from Policy Connect will present on the work of the Design and Innovation APPG and how that can link in with fashion industry strategy for Brexit and business.

Kate Wicklow Senior Policy Advisor for Guildford HE will present on the unintended consequences of the Ebacc in our education exam system and make the case for the need for STEAM not STEM education, for our post Brexit workforce and fashion talents

Confirmed Attendees Include:

Nick Vinson, Sarah Mower MBE, Katharine Hamnett CBE, The Design Council, The Right Project, Richard Malone, Karen Binns, Bev Malik, Valery Demure, LCF, BEIS, Black Neon Digital,

Tamara Cincik: Founder and CEO of Fashion Roundtable says: " I am excited to join the dots between policy makers and fashion industry visionaries, I have made in my work across both the political and fashion sectors. This first roundtable, as well as our next London one on 17/01/18, will offer us a key opportunity to make insightful recommendations to Government, while the UK enters the key trade deals next month, which we hope will benefit the fashion industry for sustained and long-term growth."

Ends.

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