LFW: The figures behind the scenes

The London Fashion Week has opened its doors to celebrate its AW13 session. Despite

the case point being creativity and fashion instinct alike, FashionUnited takes a peek behind the scenes to go through the figures that back up the quintessence of an industry that contributes 56 catwalk shows, 20 presentations to take place and 5 days for more than 120 British and international emerging and established, ready-to-wear and accessory designers to prove themselves at The Exhibition at London Fashion Week.

FashionUnited takes a look at the most relevant figures behind the London Fashion Week Autumn / Winter 2013:

Record number of American buyers to the LFW, attracted by the very first Tom Ford and L’Wren Scott shows in the London fashion show. Everyone at leading American department stores such as Barney’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks 5th Avenue will be seating by the even more influential American fashion magazines editors.

3 years to run for the new exclusive partnership that Marks & Spencer has nailed with the British Fashion Council. ‘Best of British’ will see the retailer working with the BFC to celebrate British fashion, home-grown talent and sustainability.

International press is attending from 43 countries while the numbers for international buyers attending are also up, to 39 countries.

Over 5,000 visitors are expected: buyers, TV & radio crews, journalists and photographers.

Media coverage equals or exceeds most major news and international sporting events.

Fashion means business, at least for media as the UK media coverage each season exceeds 130 million pounds according to the data collated by Precise. In the same vein, media coverage from the International Guest Programme exceeds 120 million pounds, adds the British Fashion Council.

100 million pounds in order are estimated for each LFW each season, while the International Guest Programme alone generates over 74 million pounds in orders.

2 years in a row for London to be voted as global fashion capital by the Global Language Monitor (GLM).

The direct value of the UK fashion industry to the UK economy is 21 billion pounds, according to the ‘BFC Value of Fashion Report 2010’.

In the same breath, Oxford Economics estimates that sales of UK designer clothing have been rising by around 20 percent a year in the last decade, and are currently worth somewhere between 2.5 and 2.9 billion pounds. (source: ‘BFC Future of Fashion Report 2012’).

Fashion’s wider contribution to the economy in influencing spending in other industries is estimated to stand at over 37 billion pounds as reported in the ‘BFC Value of Fashion Report 2010’.

816,000 jobs supported by the fashion industry, what means and is the largest employer of all the creative industries.