The British Fashion Council’s new national initiative Fashion Britain looks to move the focus away from London and champion local talent and creativity, as regional jobs and high-street investment gain prominence in government and industry discussions.
Launching this September, Fashion Britain will operate across six leading cities including London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Edinburgh.
Each city will host public events, designer conversations, cultural collaborations and retail experiences, with further partners and schedules due to be announced.
One of the first programme announcements is the BFC’s partnership with ELLE UK to launch the National Designer Panel Series, which will see live conversations with designers, industry voices and emerging talent taking place across participating cities.
The initiative forms part of BFC 2030: Access, Creativity, Growth, which repositioned the organisation as a business accelerator and set out a move from London-centred access towards UK-wide participation.
“British fashion is one of our greatest cultural exports, yet for too long participation has been concentrated in too few places, ” BFC Chief Executive Laura Weir.
“Fashion Britain is about decentralising fashion, not by diminishing London’s global importance, but by recognising that the future of British creativity depends on strengthening the connections between every part of the UK.”
Weir further highlighted that the new programme “represents a fundamental shift” in the role of the of the BFC, and that it sees its responsibility “to champion creativity wherever it exists”.
The programme builds on the BFC’s City Wide Celebration format, which previously brought designer talks, cultural activity and retail activations to cities including Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle. It also follows the pilot launch of Fashion Assembly, which takes fashion education into schools.
The BFC is also expanding its designer support. Its reworked NEWGEN programme now offers longer-term funding, infrastructure, mentorship and industry access, while the BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund provides its winner with £100,000 and year-long mentoring.
Regional growth becomes a policy priority
Fashion Britain arrives nine days after Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, bringing his focus on spreading employment across the country into government. Burnham has called for “good growth in every postcode” and pledged to reform business rates, support high streets and distribute jobs more widely.
The implications extend beyond fashion’s creative workforce. Across the UK, retail provides jobs for 2.8 million people, and according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), businesses in the sector have taken on £6.5 billion in extra employment costs since 2024.
The BRC’s Buy into Retail Manifesto has called for lower employment costs for young workers, business rates reform, competitive electricity prices and greater investment in retail locations.
The Council’s announcement coincides with Fashion Roundtable and other UK fashion industry signatories calling on Andy Burnham to introduce onshoring requirements for public-sector textiles, beginning with NHS and defence uniforms.
The open letter, published on this week, asks for a meeting before the government finalises its Number 10 North initiative. Signatories include presenter and Buffalo Systems co-owner Ben Fogle, alongside representatives from the fashion and textiles sector.
The wider UK fashion and textiles industry contributes £62 billion to GDP and supports 1.3 million jobs, according to figures cited in the letter. These totals cover the broader sector rather than domestic garment manufacturing alone.
Burberry points to fashion’s national footprint
Burberry has also pressed Burnham to consider fashion’s economic contribution outside London. Chief Executive Joshua Schulman recently highlighted the British luxury house’s manufacturing operations in Yorkshire and back-office facility in Leeds while calling for tax-free shopping to be restored.
Schulman said Burberry’s tourist business had fallen by about 50% since 2019, largely because the VAT Retail Export Scheme was abolished in 2020. He linked international retail competitiveness to the regional jobs supported by Burberry.
Fashion Britain’s first test will be whether September’s public programme develops into lasting commercial routes for regional designers. The BFC said participating partners and the full schedule will be disclosed in the coming weeks.