The new strategy establishes the BFC as the fashion industry’s incubator, shifting from promotion to practical, sustained support.
Explore the strategy here.
Today, the British Fashion Council (BFC) unveils its new strategy, BFC 2030: Access, Creativity, Growth. Under the leadership of Laura Weir, Chief Executive, the strategy establishes the organisation’s position as the fashion industry’s incubator, shifting its role decisively from promotion to support for the designers, businesses and wider ecosystem that fuel British fashion.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION
The strategy brings together funding, education, skills, space, partnerships and global access into a connected system designed to nurture creative excellence, strengthen commercial resilience and drive long-term growth.
This transformation is defined by a series of deliberate shifts:
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From an IP-led organisation to an incubator-led organisation
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From fragmented designer support to connected pathways
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From London-centric access to UK-wide participation
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From events as moments to platforms as engines
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From IP-driven revenue to a revenue-potential model
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From promote and showcase to support and sustain
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From limited impact data to evidence-led insight
EVOLVING GLOBAL PLATFORMS
London Fashion Week and The Fashion Awards will evolve as high-impact growth platforms, driving commercial value, expanding consumer access and strengthening the UK’s global soft power:
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London Fashion Week becomes the world’s laboratory for innovation and creative exchange.
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The Fashion Awards evolves into a future-facing global fundraiser that amplifies British fashion’s influence and international authority.
FOUR STRATEGIC GROWTH INITIATIVES
The BFC will modernise membership, redesign Prizes and Programmes (previously known as BFC Designer Initiatives) and accelerate scholarships aligned to British craft, innovation and manufacturing, creating clearer pathways from education into industry. Four strategic growth initiatives will anchor long-term scale:
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BFC Fashion Assembly: reconnecting leading designers with the schools and communities that shaped them, championing arts education and demystifying pathways into fashion.
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BFC Fashion House: providing studio space, shared infrastructure and cultural resources across the UK.
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BFC Mini MBA: building the next generation of fashion leaders with business, technology and sustainability expertise.
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BFC International: unlocking global fundraising, trade partnerships and export growth for UK designers.
Delivered through a structured three-year growth plan and a fourth year focused on measurement and scale, the strategy positions the BFC not simply as a promoter of fashion, but as a steward of a national creative asset, convening partners, unlocking investment and enabling designers to build resilient, future-facing businesses and support long-term industry growth.
Laura Weir, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council:
“Fashion is not ornamental. It is strategic. What we wear speaks before we do. It shapes identity, expresses culture and signals what we stand for. The industry contributes £67.5 billion in gross value added annually to the UK economy, supporting jobs, exports, tourism and soft power. Yet the creative engine that drives this impact is under critical strain and if left unchecked, we risk weakening both the nation’s cultural influence and economic resilience.
This strategy sets out how we will act, unlocking smarter funding pathways, building stronger partnerships and supporting designers to create resilient, future-facing businesses. The British Fashion Council cannot deliver this alone. But we can convene, catalyse and lead, working collectively to ensure that Britain’s fashion creativity endures and thrives for generations to come.”