Dear BFC Community,
Today we are sharing our refocused strategy that places you, the BFC Community front and centre. With you in mind, we will focus our resources and the expertise available to us on responsible growth, relentless innovation and the global and local amplification of the British fashion industry.
Since my appointment as Chair in October 2022, Caroline, the Board and I have listened, reflected, sought further insights and worked with the BFC team to develop our strategy. After three years of turmoil from Brexit to Covid to War in Ukraine, to the Cost of Living Crisis, taking the time to re-set has been essential. The UK fashion industry is harder to navigate than ever, with new international trading terms post Brexit, challenges to access finance, longer payment terms, increasing regulation on the horizon as our industry transitions to net zero, the need to create a truly diverse workforce with equal access and the opportunity sighted through Digital Fashion.
Our mission is to champion British fashion as a creative force on the world stage. We will do this by continuing to bolster our pioneering world-class programmes that unlock and elevate creative talent. Our work and success is fuelled by you, an extraordinary diverse and inspiring community of creatives, advocates, icons, experts and fans.
Our approach is to convene our community to collectively achieve this
We will prepare businesses at all stages for positive change through embracing innovation.
Success will be positioning British fashion as a catalyst of change in core commercial and cultural areas of the industry through DEI & B, Digital Fashion and Environment through our Institute of Positive Fashion.
- By Fuelling Responsible Growth
We will create connections, insights and advisory opportunities for our dynamic, inclusive, and unified community to come together to collectively support our industry to grow, to prepare for regulation and for talent to gain access.
Success will be to see businesses grow responsibly year on year, to build their networks to support growth and to have the insights and advice they need at the different stages of their development. As part of this, the community will support us to support the next generation of talent through the BFC Foundation and early stage business mentoring progammes.
- By Amplifying our Narrative Globally
We will continue to evolve our platforms to amplify excellence in creativity and its role in the UK’s cultural influence.
Success will be constant iteration of London Fashion Week as the leading creative, diverse and culturally influential platform and the Fashion Awards as a celebration of London as Creative Capital and primary fundraiser for the BFC Foundation.
We have unwavering belief in the UK fashion industry, its creative heart beat and London as a global fashion capital. Our businesses are innovators, challengers and provocateurs and our ambitions are too great to be constrained by the small team at the BFC. We as an industry showed our strength as a Community through the pandemic, and harnessing that strength in community to collectively do what we all can to contribute to retaining and strengthening our pre-eminent position as creators, innovators and industry trailblazers.
On behalf of the BFC Board, I want to take this opportunity to thank you, our partners, BFC Patrons, BFC Designer members and the broader BFC Community, without whom this work would not be possible. Over the coming months, there will be more opportunities for us to hear from you, and for you to both find and offer connections, insight and advice as a key member of the British fashion community. We invite you to get involved.
David Pemsel
Chairman