BFC makes second round of 'Covid grants' to UK designer labels

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 22, 2020

The British Fashion Council has announced the second round of recipients of the BFC Foundation Fashion Fund, supporting creative fashion businesses and individuals to help them survive the Covid-19 crisis. 

The fund is designed to help labels through an unprecedented period of business disruption that represents an existential threat to some brands.

Following on from the initial £1 million emergency fund distributed in May, it raised a further £500,000 that’s now being distributed in grants to more British designer businesses. The grants are allocated linked to them being “viable businesses depending on their urgency and capability to come through and thrive post crisis”.

Recipients include: Camilla Elphick, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Clothsurgeon, Cottweiler, Danshan, Emilia Wickstead, Eudon Choi, Feng Chen Wang, Fyodor Golan, Goomheo (Fashion East), Helen Kirkum, Liam Hodges, Marques' Almeida, Maximilian (Fashion East), Molly Goddard, Mother of Pearl, Nensi Dojaka (Fashion East), Nicholas Daley, Olubiyi Thomas, OsmanYousefzada, Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, Prism, Racil, Richard Malone, Roberts | Wood, Rokh, Saul Nash (Fashion East), Sharon Wauchob, Ssōne, Supra Lele, Teatum Jones, Teija, Thom Sweeney, Wicker Wings.

The BFC’s chief executive Caroline Rush said: “The UK leads the way in the number of highly creative, entrepreneurial and responsible SMEs in the global fashion industry. Protecting these businesses through the most challenging period we have all faced has been a priority and the need for funds is still great. We are extremely grateful for each and every one of our funders and hope to continue scaling the fund to help secure the future of the next generation of designer businesses. This is a critical moment to protect British fashion’s global position and reputation in terms of creative designer fashion businesses.”

As you’ll have seen from the list above, a number of Fashion East names are recipients and the BFC took the decision to support Fashion East designers in creating collections this season “to secure the pipeline of creatives from the talent launchpad”. A small number of start-up stage businesses were also supported “to create collections for continuity based on their exceptional creativity”.