Photo – British Fashion Council, Darren Gerrish ©
The British Fashion Council (BFC) is pleased to announce that its charitable initiative BFC Fashion Trust has in 2018 awarded grants totalling £380,000 between eight designers. Announced today, this year’s grant recipients have been chosen for their exceptional effort and development in the areas around e-commerce, sustainability, production and wholesale expansion.
The Fashion Trust is a British Fashion Council charitable initiative founded in February 2011, offering selected British based designers mentoring and financial support to promote the art and business of fashion. The philanthropic programme is developed in partnership with Co-chairs Tania Fares and Sian Westerman, along with the BFC, and the Fashion Trust Advisory Committee. As part of the structured mentoring programme delivered by the BFC, the eight awarded designers will benefit from the international expertise and mentoring from BFC Fashion Trust’s official partner HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. The grant recipients will also benefit from legal advice from Taylor Wessing, digital training from Google, as well as mentoring on sustainability and industry best practice from Livia Firth and her team at Eco-Age. The BFC Fashion Trust is also delighted to welcome Revlon as the Official 2018 Campaign Partner.
BFC Fashion Trust Co-Chairs Tania Fares and Sian Westerman said: “Thanks to the generosity and commitment from the Fashion Trust’s patrons and partners, we can continue our support to UK’s rising design talent and help them develop their creative identity while turning their brands into global businesses. We believe it’s important that London stays the most creative place for fashion and the support we are able to offer from the Fashion Trust is a truly unique opportunity.”
Caroline Rush CBE, CEO British Fashion Council, commented: “London is a city that has a special reputation for producing some of the fashion industry’s brightest new talents. Thanks to the Fashion Trust and their partners’ generous support and mentoring, the 2018 grant recipients are given the opportunity to become the creative leaders of tomorrow while reinforcing the UK’s reputation for fashion businesses.”
In addition to the grant awards, the BFC Fashion Trust Founder Patrons also support a Graduate Traineeship Programme which offers graduates 12-month paid placements with a British based designer. The programme has the dual benefit of allowing graduates to gain insight and experience and for the designer’s business to benefit from additional support. Previously partnered brands include E. Tautz, Erdem, House of Holland, JW Anderson, Mary Katrantzou and Roksanda.
Since its inception in 2011 the BFC Fashion Trust has awarded over £2m to 42 designer businesses to help with critical business support such as developing websites, e-commerce platforms and bricks & mortar stores. The BFC Fashion Trust is part of a group of BFC business support initiatives and charities aimed at supporting British talent from college to fashion start-ups through to future global fashion houses. Last month, the BFC announced that in 2017 it raised over £3.2m for its charities and business support initiatives.
