British Fashion Council raises more than 2 million pounds

The British Fashion Council has announced it has raised more than 2.2 million pounds to support emerging talent in the UK in 2017 for its charities and business support initiatives.

The news came as the British Fashion Council announced Molly Goddard as the winner of the prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, which comes with a 200,000 pound cash prize, alongside the 2018/19 line-up for its NewGen initiative that includes new names to the scheme: Alighieri, Isosceles, Matty Bovan, Per Gotesson, Supriya Lele and The Season Hats.

The British Fashion Council confirmed that in the twelve months to March 2018 it had allocated 1.1 million pounds by promoting excellence in British fashion, by supporting the future talent pipeline, from school level to emerging talent, and future fashion start-ups through to new establishment and global brands, through a range of charitable initiatives.

Caroline Rush, chief executive of British Fashion Council said in a statement: “We are extremely proud to have raised over 2.2 million pounds within a year for all of our charities and business support initiatives.

“I would like to thank all our supporters without whom this would have not been possible, from our patrons to all the funders, sponsors and mentors who give their time pro-bono to help us develop and grow the exciting designer businesses we have in the UK.”

Education is one of the British Fashion Council’s five strategic pillars and the BFC Education Foundation, which aims to raise funds to support students with the ability and potential to make an exceptional contribution to the fashion industry, confirmed it awarded over 134,000 pounds in the last year alone, across 12 BA and MA scholarships.

While the BFC Fashion Trust, a charitable initiative founded in February 2011 to offer selected designers mentoring and financial support to promote the art and business of fashion, has awarded over 1.6 million pounds to 39 designer businesses to help with critical business support such as developing websites, e-commerce platforms and bricks and mortar stores.

The philanthropic programme, developed in partnership with co-chairs Tania Fares and Sian Westerman, along with the BFC, and the Fashion Trust Advisory Committee, noted that in 2017, it awarded grants totalling 450,000 pounds between eleven designers; the largest annual grant allocation by the Trust to date. Recipients for 2017 were Edeline Lee, Eudon Choi, Fyodor Golan, Georgia Hardinge, Huishan Zhang, Isa Arfen, Marques’Almeida, Osman, Rejina Pyo, Sharon Wauchob and Teatum Jones. The 2018 line-up will be announced on May 23.

Also read: Molly Goddard wins BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund