The British Fashion Council is delighted to announce that the fashion industry directly contributed £29.7billion to the UK GDP in 2016 ($41.7billion). Fashion’s contribution is on a par with other major economic sectors.

Data from Oxford Economics

  • Mintel estimates that womenswear value sales grew by 2.9% in 2017 to reach £28.1 billion and are predicted to rise to reach £28.77billion by 2021 (Mintel, 2017)
  • Over £1million worth of pro-bono support provided to BFC designers by BFC Fashion Network partners and mentors with over 10,000 hours of support provided in 2017
  • While the menswear sector only accounts for 26% of the total clothing market, it is growing at a faster rate than womenswear, rising by 3.5% in 2017 (Mintel, 2017)
  • Online fashion accounts for 24% of total fashion spend (Mintel Sept 2017)
  • Fashion remains a major UK employer with 850,000 jobs supported across the industry (this has seen a marginal increase since 2015 re-estimates which are now 847,200*)
  • Chinese tourists collectively are the biggest spenders in the UK luxury fashion market taking 23% closely followed by the Americans who take 7%. (Global Blue, 2017)
  • Instagram stories on the official London Fashion Week account received 792,696 views in total over LFW September 2017
  • 45,000 images shot by Getty photographers on and off the runway over five days
  • 32,000 miles driven between shows by a luxurious fleet of fuel efficient chauffeured Mercedes-Benz cars
  • 20,000 espressos served and 200kg of Lavazza coffee consumed on-site
  • New sponsor Bounce Balls will distribute over 15,000 Bounce Balls on site
  • 10,000 bottles of SASSY cider will be distributed on site
  • 10,000 LFW tote bags produced by Bags of Ethics in India and sponsored by Lavazza, by a team where 9 out of 10 employees are women, many of whom are the main breadwinners in their families
  • LFW account follower number increased by 7,832 increasing the accounts following to 97,527 over LFW September 2017
  • 5,000 serves of Scavi & Ray Prosecco consumed by guests at The Store Studios
  • Anya Hindmarch celebrates her love for London across 29 iconic London locations with her Chubby Hearts balloons
  • 21 shows will be filmed in VR via Digital Domain
  • The BFC International Guest programme sees international press attending from 10 countries and international buyers from 13 countries
  • 2018 marks the 10-year anniversary of the May Fair as the official LFW partner

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