British Fashion Council

But, you know, we've got a new...

We worked very closely with Caroline Rush, who was the head of the BFC for a long time.

Mm-hmm.

Who was fantastic.

If Paris is luxury and Milan is heritage, then London is creativity and innovation.

And we'll hear more from the CEO of the British Fashion Council as London Fashion Week gets underway.

Then, what's top of the pops in Slovakia? Fernando Augusto Pacheco has

the answers.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I spoke to Laura Weir, who we're going to hear more from soon.

But she was sort of saying when she became CEO of the British Fashion Council, she thought, hang on, the mandate says Britain in it.

I need to sort of be expanding beyond London.

The British fashion industry contributes £67.5 billion to our economy, but many of the beautiful garments from storied British fashion houses originate from an army of weavers, knitters, milliners and tailors all over the UK – But the fashion industry itself is overwhelmingly concentrated in London.

Does fashion need to be devolved around Britain? That's the aim of Laura Weir, the CEO of the British Fashion Council, who's launched a new initiative called Fashion Britain.

She joined me earlier, along with Keston Hare, the designer of the menswear brand Keston, headquartered in Edinburgh.

I started by asking Laura Weir how Fashion Britain can really take the industry beyond London.

But are you frustrated at the untapped potential and I'd say problem with encouraging skills base?

I think that there is untapped potential and it is frustrating.

I mean, for the British Fashion Council, manufacturing and domestic provenance is always something that we will champion.

So many of the things that this great nation is known for and recognised for, from our artisanal craft, cutting, pattern cutting, lace, wool production, so much of it is about what is native to the UK.

And for London Fashion Week, Barber will take over the Sochi Gallery from 17 to 19 September.

Its Tartan Reimagined exhibition will showcase the brand's Tartan Heritage, Autumn-Winter 2026 collection, British Fashion Council competition designs and reloved collaborations.

Elsewhere, Next has won an appeal against a 2024 ruling requiring store staff to receive the same basic pay rates as warehouse workers.

The earlier ruling covered more than 3,500 claimants, with potential back pay estimated at £30 million.

But, you know, with London you sort of get the privilege of, you know, seeing a young and up-and-coming designer like Derek, who I-- he's a menswear designer who's amazing, and sort of seeing into the early stages of someone's career before, you know, the pressures of commercialization [laughs] sort of have crushed their spirit, um, so to speak.

But I think, like, uh, the strength of London Fashion Week, and I was speaking to the CEO of the British Fashion Council yesterday, is the fact that you have to, like, champion these new names and foster that creativity.

It's really hard to be an emerging designer as well, especially in cities like New York and London, where, you know, the big elephant in the room is stuff like cost of living.

It's just really expensive to put on these shows.

[laughs]

You know, it, they're the London, uh, the BFC, the British Fashion Council, has tried to make their fashion awards global.

Mm-hmm.

They call it the Fashion Awards.

So I tried.

I actually contacted the British Fashion Council and I was like, can we make a model mentorship program? And I set it up and I was like, I will mentor

younger models

at my agency and I will create a network of older yeah