Farfetch and BFC announce Fashion Trust 2016 grant recipients

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 25, 2016

Gareth Pugh, Prism and Marques’ Almeida are amongst the 12 fashion designers who have been awarded grants from the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Trust this year.

The charitable initiative founded in 2011 distributed £350,000 between the recipients, who also included Eudon Choi, Fyodor Golan, Hillier Bartley, Holly Fulton, Huishan Zhang, palmer/harding, Phoebe English, Rejina Pyo and Sibling.

Tania Fares and Kim Hersov, co-chairs of the trust said: “Once again we are delighted to support these talented designers for the year ahead. British fashion is globally recognised for its energy and originality which is why supporting the industry at grass roots is as vital as ever. These designers represent the future of the British fashion industry and we hope the Fashion Trust will further advance their position as global brands of the future.”

Caroline Rush CBE, CEO British Fashion Council, said the institution is “extremely excited to see how this initiative further enables their creativity and growth.”

The programme, which has seen previous recipients use funds to develop stores, website/e-commerce and in the production of pre-collections, is supported by Farfetch as its official partner.

José Neves, CEO and Founder of Farfetch said: “We recognise how important it is to be supporting and nurturing design talent throughout the growth of their brand and hope that our team of experts advising on digital, e-commerce and global market expansion will prove invaluable to the development of each of them.”

The BFC Fashion Trust also offers selected designers business support through mentoring awards and a wide range of seminars to help strengthen their knowledge and topics linked directly to their business.

Previous years’ recipients of grants and pro bono mentoring include Christopher Kane, Emilia Wickstead, Holly Fulton, House of Holland, Jonathan Saunders, Mary Katrantzou, Nicholas Kirkwood, Osman, Peter Pilotto, Roksanda Ilincic, Sophia Webster and Zoë Jordan.